Texan admits role in deaths of pair killed at Kansas fair

GREAT BEND, Kan. — A Texas woman has admitted to having a role in the deaths of a couple killed at a Kansas fair after another suspect in the case ordered the killings as part of a “carnival mafia” initiation.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Christine Tenney, 39, of La Marque, Texas, pleaded guilty last week to aggravated robbery and obstruction of justice.

Tenney was charged after the July 2018 deaths of Alfred “Sonny” Carpenter and Pauline Carpenter, both of Wichita, at the Barton County Fair in Kansas, where they were vendors. Their bodies were found in Arkansas in a national forest near Van Buren.

Three other people were charged with murder in their deaths. Michael Fowler Jr., 54, of Sarasota, Fla., pleaded guilty in March to first-degree murder. Another man is charged with obstructing apprehension.

Investigators say there is no “carnival mafia.”