Woman pleads guilty to murder ahead of trial in shooting of man who fought with son

Amy Renee Leiker
·1 min read

A woman who fatally shot a 53-year-old Wichita man after he argued with her adult son last summer pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder and criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon on Monday ahead of her jury trial.

In an interview with Wichita police after her arrest, Amber Kay Ahrens admitted to shooting David Leddy in the head on June 17, 2020, after confronting him for allegedly beating her then 19-year-old son with a baseball bat, according to an affidavit released by the court last year. Ahrens told police she had left a local casino and drove around Wichita looking for her son before going to Leddy’s home at 1214 N. Pinecrest and fighting with him in the driveway.

She claimed she pulled a revolver that she kept in her purse for protection and fired after Leddy threatened her, the affidavit says.

The bullet hit Leddy above his left ear, according to his autopsy report. He died at the scene.

After the shooting, Ahrens left the house with a friend and tossed the revolver in a vacant lot where she later led law enforcement, the affidavit says. Police arrested her on July 7, 2020, after witnesses who knew her by the name “Odyssey” identified her.

Ahrens, 43, is scheduled for sentencing Feb. 3 before Sedgwick County District Court Judge Jeffrey Syrios, according to court records and the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

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