In the early evening of Thursday, September 10, 2026, a burst of violence shattered the creative and cultural atmosphere of the popular NOTO Arts District in Topeka, Kansas. Police were dispatched to the 900 block of North Kansas Avenue shortly before 7 p.m. following reports of a shooting. Upon their arrival, they discovered a grim scene. One man, 75-year-old Larry Smutney, was found with fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. A second victim, also a 75-year-old man named Warren Eteeyan, was rushed to a local hospital but ultimately succumbed to his injuries. The brazen nature of the crime in such a public area sent a wave of concern through the community, prompting an immediate and intensive investigation into the double homicide.
The investigation moved quickly as the Topeka Police Department sought the public's help in identifying a person of interest. A local business provided authorities with security camera images that captured a clear picture of an individual they believed to be connected to the shootings. The release of these photos to the public proved to be a critical turning point in the case. Within hours, tips and information began to pour in, leading to the swift identification and location of the suspect. On Friday, September 11, just a day after the tragic killings, police arrested 21-year-old Kristen Knight Wahquahboshkuk of Mayetta, Kansas. Wahquahboshkuk was subsequently booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on two counts of first-degree murder, with the charges specified as intentional and premeditated.
As the legal process began to unfold, further details about the victims emerged. Public records indicated that both Larry Smutney and Warren Eteeyan had prior sex-crime cases on file. Smutney was listed as a lifetime registrant on the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's offender registry following a 2001 conviction for conspiracy to commit rape. Eteeyan had been booked on charges of rape and sexual assault in April 2026, though the final disposition of that case was not immediately clear. The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities have not yet released a motive for the killings or detailed what, if any, relationship existed between Wahquahboshkuk and the two elderly men. The case against Kristen Knight Wahquahboshkuk is now proceeding through the court system, with a scheduling conference noted on the court's calendar for September 24, 2026. This double homicide case is marked by the rapid apprehension of a suspect, facilitated by community cooperation, and the unsettling questions that remain about the circumstances that led to the violent deaths of two men in a well-known arts district.
