Erin Lynn Smith, a 17-year-old girl from Hoisington, Kansas, was killed during the early morning hours of September 5, 2026, in Great Bend. At approximately 12:30 a.m., Great Bend police officers were dispatched to the 1400 block of Lakin Avenue after authorities received a 911 hang-up call. When officers arrived, they were told that someone had been shot in the backyard of a residence. Smith was found there suffering from an apparent gunshot wound and was pronounced dead.
Investigators treated the shooting as a homicide from the outset.
As officers began piecing together what had happened, investigators identified Keegan Ray Martens as the suspected gunman. Police said Martens had left the scene before officers arrived. The search quickly expanded beyond Great Bend, with the Barton County Sheriff's Office and Kansas Highway Patrol assisting local police. Authorities established a perimeter during the search, and a Kansas Highway Patrol aircraft was used as officers attempted to locate Martens.
The search eventually led investigators approximately 80 miles away to Salina. Salina police later disclosed that officers developed information connecting Martens to people in their community and used the department's automated license-plate reader system to identify a vehicle associated with him traveling toward Salina from the Barton County area. Less than an hour after receiving the alert from Great Bend police, officers located the vehicle at a Salina gas station and took Martens into custody. Great Bend investigators traveled to Salina to continue the investigation, and Martens was returned to Barton County.
Prosecutors subsequently filed a second-degree murder charge and a charge of aggravated endangering a child against Martens. His bond was set at $250,000 cash or surety with GPS monitoring, and he remained in the Barton County Jail following his first court appearance. The Kansas Attorney General's Office took responsibility for prosecuting the case after the Barton County Attorney's Office forwarded the matter to the state. No trial or conviction had been reported as of September 24, 2026, and the charges remain allegations unless proven in court.
A second man, Daylan Kane Sherwood, was also charged in connection with the circumstances surrounding Smith's death. Sherwood was formally charged with aggravated endangering a child, interference with law enforcement, and criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. His bond on those charges was set at $100,000. He was also being held without bond because of a probation violation connected to a May 2026 aggravated domestic battery conviction. Publicly available reports have not established that Sherwood was the person who fired the fatal shot, and the exact actions prosecutors allege he took in connection with Smith's death have not yet been fully detailed publicly.
Smith had been preparing for a future that included graduating early and attending cosmetology school. Her family remembered her as creative and deeply interested in makeup, hair, nails, art and music. She had begun working at Taco Bell and, when she was younger, operated Kool-Aid stands and sold flowers, including efforts that raised money for Kans for Kids. She was also active in the Church of the Nazarene and regularly brought friends to youth group activities. Family members described her as someone who made others feel noticed and included.
Authorities have not publicly released a complete account explaining what led to the shooting, a motive, or the nature of Smith's relationship with Martens or Sherwood. The investigation therefore remains significant not only for establishing criminal responsibility but also for determining the circumstances that brought Smith to the Lakin Avenue residence and resulted in the fatal shooting. The criminal cases against Martens and Sherwood were still pending as of the latest publicly available information.
