Ex-parolee admits killing elderly woman to get ‘assets’

HOT SPRINGS — A Wisconsin parolee who killed an 80-year-old Hot Springs woman in 2018 “to obtain her assets” was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday after pleading guilty to capital murder during a brief hearing in Garland County Circuit Court.

Kevin Kay Buerke, 28, who has been in custody since his arrest Aug. 23, 2018, on a second-degree forgery charge stemming from his trying to get the assets of Betty Slaughter after murdering her, told Judge Marcia Hearnsberger that he used a Taser on the woman, then tranquilized her, causing her death, and then took her body to a Royal cemetery where he burned it.

Buerke was charged with capital murder Aug. 26, 2018, and prosecutors indicated the next day at his arraignment that they planned to seek the death penalty.

Buerke “will never get out of prison,” Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kara Petro told The Sentinel-Record shortly after the hearing.

“He will never be able to inflict harm on this community again,” she said.

“We did not make the decision to not go to jury trial lightly. I strongly feel that we would have gotten the death penalty. I spent years speaking with the person closest to Betty Slaughter about what was the best course of action.

“Ultimately, if we would have gone to jury trial, Betty’s loved ones would never have heard the defendant admit what he had done. There is closure in hearing his admission to what happened, which is not something that comes from trial.”

Buerke’s plea also ensures that Slaughter’s loved ones will not have to endure decades of appeals.

Buerke, wearing a standard orange jail jumpsuit with his hands and feet shackled, appeared with his attorney, Tony Brasuell of the Brasuell Law Firm of Little Rock, and seemed to be crying as he answered questions from Hearnsberger.

At one point, Hearnsberger asked, “Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?”

Buerke answered, “Yes, your honor.”

In briefly describing what happened, Buerke told the court that he went to Slaughter’s house Aug. 21, 2018. He said Slaughter stepped outside and he Tased her, then took her back inside and tied her to a chair. Buerke said he injected her with a tranquilizer and after she was dead, he drove her to the cemetery. He said he went to the bank the next day to obtain her assets.

Asked if he knew Slaughter, Buerke said he knew of her through his grandparents and that she was his grandparents’ landlord. He said he couldn’t recall the exact nature of the tranquilizer he gave her but he knew it would kill her and that it was his intention to kill her at that time.

He also admitted to burning her body at the cemetery.

Buerke admitted his status as a habitual offender, having been convicted of three previous felonies in Wisconsin.

As part of Wednesday’s plea deal, Petro withdrew a second-degree forgery charge but amended the information to indicate that Buerke had caused Slaughter’s death “with premeditation and deliberate purpose.”

Garland County sheriff’s investigators developed Buerke as a suspect early in the investigation and worked with the Arkansas state Crime Lab and the prosecutor’s office to obtain enough evidence to file the charge against him Aug. 26, 2018, according to earlier reports.

Friends reported Slaughter missing from her home Aug. 22, 2018, and sheriff’s investigators sent to her house found evidence of foul play. Footage from a neighbor’s surveillance camera indicated a white male in a gold Ford Explorer was at the residence the previous day, the last time anyone heard from Slaughter.

Investigators located the vehicle and determined that Buerke was in possession of it. They also obtained information that Buerke had gone to a local bank Aug. 22, 2018, with paperwork granting him power of attorney for Slaughter, which was later determined to be counterfeit and resulted in the forgery charge.

Buerke was arrested the next day when he met with his parole officer and was driving the Ford Explorer. Evidence found in the Explorer linked him to Slaughter’s death, including blood that was matched later to Slaughter.