A 48-year-old Missouri woman has been charged in the death of a woman whose body was found nearly 30 years ago in Kansas City, Kansas, authorities announced Thursday.
Carolyn J. Heckert was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the December 29, 1989, death of Sarah DeLeon, Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman said in a release. DeLeon, 18, was found stabbed to death along railroad tracks, police said. She had also suffered a head wound, police said.
Heckert was arrested Wednesday in Smithville, Missouri, which is about 20 miles north of Kansas City,Kansas. She was being held Thursday in the Clay County jail on $1 million bond, awaiting extradition to Kansas. A lawyer for Heckert didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment Thursday.
Independence, Missouri, police spokesman Officer John Syme said Thursday that department hasn’t had any contact with Kansas City, Kansas, police, regarding the Ault case and he could not comment on whether Heckert is a suspect in Ault’s death, which he said remains an open investigation.
Ault’s father, Bill Laskey, said Thursday that his daughter was “murdered in front of her kids” after returning home from watching the Super Bowl. He said he didn’t know Heckert, but was pleased at least that an arrest had been made in DeLeon’s death, calling it “way overdue.” He said he was still waiting for charges to be filed in his daughter’s death.
“We’re not looking for just anybody, any warm body to be hung for the murders of either of these two girls,” he said. “We’re just looking for the right person to be held accountable.”
