SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man is going to prison for the death of a man who body was found in the truck of a car in August.
Judge Jeffrey Goering sentenced 24-year-old Daitrez Birch to 272 months for killing Kyce Barnes, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.
On Christmas Eve, Birch pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated battery and desecration of remains.
Just after 8a.m. August 21, police responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in a vacant lot located in the 8200 block of West Irving Street in Wichita, according to police spokesman Andrew Ford.
Officers were directed to a white four door Mercedes and discovered a victim later identified as Barnes in the trunk of the vehicle wrapped in blood-stained bedding with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper and lower body. His remains were transported to the Sedgwick County Medical Examiner's Office for further examination.
During the investigation, detectives identified the Deluxe Motel at 8401 W. Kellogg Drive as the original crime scene.
Barnes had a long history of crime. He spent time in the Kansas Department of Corrections for drug convictions in Cowley County. He was released from prison in 2020. On August 20, police booked Barnes into the Sedgwick County Jail on requested charges that included possession of stolen property and drug possession, according to jail booking records. He was released from the Sedgwick County jail just after 3p.m. August 21.
Police in Wichita also arrested him in 2022 on requested charges of theft, violation of a protection order, domestic battery and failure to appear.
Officers responded the morning of August 21 to the report of a suspicious vehicle in a vacant lot near Kellogg and Tyler. Police were then directed to a white four-door Mercedes.
According to police, Barnes was found wrapped in blood-stained bedding with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper and lower body. Investigators later identified the Delux Inn at 8401 West Kellogg Drive as the crime scene.
Two other people, Taryn Bowman and Demetrius Hill, were charged with concealing, altering or destroying evidence. Hill's case is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in April, court records show. Bowman pleaded guilty last week and was sentenced to a year of probation.