A Wyandotte County District Court jury this afternoon found Jason Lanell Rucker, 35, of Kansas City, Kan., guilty in the Oct. 22, 1997, death of Vicky Ernst.
Ernst died from blunt force trauma and slashing of her throat at a residence in the 900 block of Shawnee in Kansas City, Kan.
Rucker, who was 16 at the time of the murder, was charged as a juvenile in April 2015. He was subsequently waived to stand trial as an adult for the crime.
At the time of the original police call, the crime scene investigation, autopsy and interviews by police detectives did not identify the person or persons responsible for Ernst’s death, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office stated.
While the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department never closed the investigation, there were periods where no new leads meant the investigation was not active, the spokesman said. Over the course of years, forensic reports of the physical evidence were issued by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation laboratory, and more recently, the district attorney’s staff and detectives from the major case unit at the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department undertook a comprehensive review of the case.
Police followed up on newly developed leads, and the district attorney charged two men in April 2015 with Ernst’s murder.
Rucker’s sentencing is set for Jan. 22, 2016, in division 15 of the district court.
Torry Mashone Johnson, 35, was also charged with the death of Ernst. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Sept. 3, 2015. His sentencing is set for Dec. 8, 2015, at 9 a.m. in division 15.
