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Thursday, February 6, 2025 at 4:16 PM

Curry jury trial delayed

A Labette County judge on Tuesday agreed to delay a jury trial, scheduled to start March 3, for a man accused of murder in Parsons.

Derrick Curry, 55, is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of 28-year-old Kylie Caldwell. Curry is also charged in Labette County District Court with aggravated criminal sodomy, or in the alternative aggravated sexual battery. The murder charge is an off-grid felony punishable by life in prison with a chance of having to serve 50 years before he would be considered for parole.

Curry, a transplant from Louisiana, where he served 51 months in prison for carrying a gun as a felon, is accused in the Sept. 24, 2023, murder of Caldwell. About 2:30 p.m. Sept. 24, hunters checking a trail camera called 911 after discovering Caldwell’s body one-half of a mile west of Ness Road on 20000 Road and about 75 to 100 yards north of 20000 Road.

According to testimony at Curry’s preliminary hearing, Caldwell had been beaten, sodomized and strangled.

On Sept. 25, 2023, law enforcement arrived at Mendota Creek Apartments, where Caldwell was last seen, to conduct a neighborhood canvass. Once there, law enforcement talked with Curry, who consented to have his apartment searched. Upon entering the apartment, investigators smelled bleach and saw evidence that the apartment had been cleaned. Law enforcement then left the apartment to get a search warrant.

On Tuesday, Cline Boone, Curry’s attorney, said he wanted to hire an investigator approved by the state Board of Indigents Defense Services to assist in investigating the case. The BIDS process can be slow so he asked to delay the trial while he worked through the process. The prosecutor agreed to delay the trial, which was set to begin March 3.

A status hearing will take place March 28. A new trial setting may result from that hearing.

Curry remains jailed on a $150,000 bond.


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