CRAWFORD COUNTY, Ark. (KFSM) — Charges in a Crawford County Circuit Court have been dropped against four carnival workers accused of killing an Arkansas couple.
In July 2018, carnival workers killed vendors Alfred and Pauline Carpenter at the Barton County Fair in Great Bend, Kansas and then disposed of their bodies in a shallow grave in Arkansas.
Kansas AG Derek Schmidt says charges were filed Thursday (Dec. 6) and arrest warrants were executed Friday (Dec. 7). Those charged with capital murder include 52-year-old Kimberly Younger, of McIntosh, Fla., Michael Fowler, Jr., 54, of Sarasota, Fla. and Rusty Frasier, 35, of Aranas Pass, Texas.
Two others identified as Christine Tenney, 38, of Santa Fe, Texas and Thomas Drake, 31, of Van Buren, Ark., face charges of obstruction in connection with the case.
In August, Younger, Fowler, Frasier, and Tenney were charged in Crawford County Circuit Court with abuse of a corpse, theft by receiving and tampering with physical evidence in the deaths of both victims.
The Crawford County charges have been dropped so the suspects can face murder charges in Kansas. The suspects have been extradited back to Kansas.
Younger allegedly posed as a carnival mafia member named “Frank Zaitchik” and texted others to kill the Carpenters on the fairgrounds at Great Bend, Kansas, where the couple were vendors, according to Van Buren police. Detectives discovered Younger had a Facebook page in the name of Frank Zaitchik while examining her phone, according to police reports.
Police said Fowler told investigators that Frasier stabbed Alfred Carpenter before Fowler shot him. Fowler then went into the couple’s camper and shot Pauline Carpenter, according to police reports.
Fowler told investigators that the killings were an initiation into the carnival mafia, police said. Zaitchik also told texted others to clean the inside of the camper and to dispose of the bodies, Fowler allegedly told investigators.
The four suspects loaded the couple’s bodies into the camper and dumped them in a creek bed north of Cedarville, according to police reports. Tenney’s sister-in-law told authorities Tenney called and said she was kidnapped by three others who had murdered an elderly couple and that she’s being held against her will, police said. Authorities found the suspects at an apartment complex.
