The Murder of Levi BOOTHE

BOOTHE, CARSON, EVANS, KIRKLAND, MCCOY, PERRY

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 5/8/2009 at 15:54:22

Friday, August 30, 2002

FUNERAL SET FOR RAYMOND "LEVI" BOOTHE

by Mark SAYLOR, KSIB, Creston, Union County, Iowa

Services have been scheduled for an Iowa boy allegedly killed by his father in Kansas. 11-year-old Levi BOOTHE of Creston was found dead on the side of the Kansas Turnpike after allegedly being stabbed by his father Raymond and then struck by a vehicle. Services will be Sunday in the United Church of Diagonal. The Kansas City Star reports Levi's mother grew up in the Diagonal and his family lived in Diagonal until two years ago. Ringgold County sheriff's officials say a farmer found leg braces and a nearly complete set of clothing with Levi's initials, just west of the interstate [Iowa] on Tuesday.

Radio Iowa News

The Afton Star-Enterprise
Afton, Union County, Iowa
September 5, 2002

LEVI BOOTHE, 11, DIES

Levi BOOTHE, 11 of Creston died August 27, 2002 near Lawrence, Kansas.

Services were 2 p.m. Saturday, September 1 at United Church of Diagonal with Rev. Karen GARRISON and Rev. Lee GARRISON officiating the service. Burial was in Graceland Cemetery Creston. Family had received friends 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday at Wilson-Watson and Armstrong Funeral home in Diagonal. Memorials will be established in his name.

Levi BOOTHE, son of Lisa A. (CARSON) and Raymond BOOTHE, was born September 18, 1990 in Creston. He attended Irving Elementary School and was a resident of Midwest Opportunities in Creston for the past seven years.

Survivors include his parents Raymond and Lisa BOOTHE of Cameron, Mo., brother, Mitchell Dean BOOTHE; two sisters, Nichole RayAnn and Makayla Leann BOOTHE, all of Cameron, Mo.; grandparents, Linda (husband Kenneth) EVANS of Renville, Minn.; Eldon (wife Mila) CARSON of Diagonal, Carol BOOTHE of Osborn, Mo., and Eugene (wife Regina) BOOTHE of Eaglesville, Mo.; and great-grandparents, Lucy KIRKLAND of Macksburg, Dean (wife Virginia) McCOY and Loraine BOOTHE of Eaglesville, Mo.

NOTE: Levi BOOTHE was an 11-year-old mentally handicapped boy, autistic and suffered from brain tumors. He was unable to speak and had been fitted with a leg brace. Levi also suffered from tuberous sclerosis, a genetic disease that left a rash on his face. Those close to the family said that Levi was a happy boy, making gains and learning, and in good health in spite of his disabilities.

On August 27, 2002, Raymond took Levi from the Midwest Opportunities Group Home in Creston, Union County, Iowa, where the boy was residing. Later, some of Levi's clothing and his leg brace was found in a yard in Kellerton, Iowa. Investigators did not know how the clothing got there or why the leg brace had been removed.

Raymond took his other children, Nicole (9), Mitchell (7), and Makayla (6) from his sister Stacy PERRY's home in Osborn, Missouri. The three children were residing at the PERRY home while their mother was in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program [other accounts state that Lisa, the mother was at work while Stacy watched the children].

Outside of Lawrence, Kansas on Interstate 70 [Kansas Turnpike], Raymond stopped the car and attempted to choke his son. Then he took Levi to the bottom of a a ditch along the Interstate and stabbed the boy several times with a pair of needle-nosed pliers. After the attack, Raymond dragged Levi back onto the side of the pavement, leaving his son for dead. Levi's body was hit by at least one vehicle before it was discovered around 9:30 that night after the Leavenworth County Sheriff's Office received an anonymous 9-11 call. The caller said that a pedestrian had been hit on the interstate [perhaps the person who ran over Levi's body?].

Authorities said that during the attack, the other three BOOTHE children remained in the vehicle, screaming and begging for their father to stop. BOOTHE later told authorities that Levi was still moving when he drove off. He thought that eventually someone would run over the body.

After leaving his son on Interstate 70, approximately 3 miles east of Lawrence, Kansas, Raymond BOOTHE drove to Lawrence, apparently driving around for about three house with his three surviving children in the vehicle. Then Raymond crashed his four-door Dodge Neon at 27th Street and Lawrence Avenue in an apparent suicide attempt. The three children were not seriously injured in the crash. The vehicle went airborne, crashed through sevral fences, struck trees, then rolled before landing upright.

Raymond and the children suffered cuts and bruises from the crash. The police found them early the following morning walking along a street in Lawrence.

After being treated at the hospital, the three BOOTHE children were turned over to the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

Raymond BOOTHE was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder by the Leavenworth County District Court. Leavenworth County Attorney Frank KOHL stated that Levi had been killed in an excessively "callous and cruel" manner with some evidence of an attempted strangulation. The autopsy report revealed that Levi had been stabbed multiple times in the chest and back. It was determined that Levi died from multiple blunt trauma, probably from when he was struck by a vehicle[s].

Raymond BOOTHE was ordered to undergo mental evalution, housed for a 60-day psychiatric evaluation at Larned State Hospital. BOOTHE's background included drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness. He was later found competent to stand trial. Levi's mother Lisa BOOTHE stated that Raymond's mental state was deteriorating about two weeks before Levi's murder.

"It's like you knew something was going on, but you didn't know what it was," she said.

After his arrest, Raymond BOOTHE, age 34 and a carpenter from Cameron, Missouri, told police that he killed his disabled 11-year-old son Levi because the boy "had the devil in him," was an "abomination" and had given him "the finger." BOOTHE said he became angry after Levi made the obscene gesture at him. BOOTHE also stated, "I had to rid the family of him."

Raymond BOOTHE entered a not guilty plea on May 16, 2003. After several delays by the defense team, proclaiming they needed more time to gather psychiatric evaluations, Leavenworth County Frederick STEWART denied court-appointed defense attorney Gary FULLER's motion to keep BOOTHE's confession out of evidence on November 13, 2003. The judge also set the trial date for January 26, 2004.

After the 5-minute hearing, Raymond's father, Eugene BOOTHE of Eagleville, Missouri, told the press that Raymond had been hospitalized in 1987 and in 1992 for mental illness. He also stated that in the early hours of July 4th of 1987, Raymond had called him from St. Louis, saying that he was "seeing thing and hearing thing." Furthermore, Raymond had been fearful that someone was attempting to kill him.

"We feel like he doesn't really comprehend what's happened," Eugene BOOTHE remarked.

Eugene BOOTHE added, "Levi couldn't talk. [Making Raymond's] statements about things that definitely aren't so," referring to allegations that Levi had also called his father names prior to the attack.

Other family members had stated they were stunned and described BOOTHE as an average guy with no apparent problems. They thought BOOTHE was a good family man.

Family members said that Raymond and Lisa had married and raised their family in Diagonal, Iowa, before moving to Cameron, Missouri, to be closer to BOOTHE's family.

On December 24, 2003, Raymond BOOTHE entered a no contest plea to a reduced charge of second-degree murder. Leavenworth County Attorney Frank KOHL commented after the 20-minute court hearing, stating, "He acknowledged what he did. He made a plea offer and we accepted it."

On January 30, 2004, Raymond BOOTHE addressed the court. His voice cracking with emotion, BOOTHE apologized for stabbing his 11-year-old son Levi with a pair of needle-nosed pliers and leaving him for dead on the interstate. "I regret everything that happened that night," BOOTHE told the court, reading from a statement he pulled out of his jail-issued trousers. BOOTHE then asked the court for leniency. BOOTHE was sentenced to sixteen years and three months.

In 2005 BOOTHE was sentenced to and additional 12 1/2 years for the attempted injury and battery upon his other three children, incurred when he crashed his vehicle through a fence in his suicide attempt.

SOURCE: Articles from Lawrence Journal-World, Lawrence, Kansas
Articles from Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa

Transcription & compilation by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2009