In the quiet, rural landscape of Moundridge, Kansas, the life of 33-year-old Travis Street, a White male, came to a violent end on October 30, 2016. On that Sunday, the bodies of Street, his 37-year-old girlfriend Angela Graevs, and a friend, 52-year-old Richard Prouty of Newton, were discovered outside a home in a rural area. All three victims had been shot. The grim discovery was made after a passing motorist was flagged down by another driver and alerted to the scene.
When sheriff's deputies arrived, they found the three deceased individuals and, inside the residence, the unharmed and crying 18-month-old child of Street and Graevs.
The investigation into the triple homicide quickly pointed to a motive rooted in the world of illegal drugs. Authorities revealed that both Street and Graevs had been facing multiple drug-related charges, including distribution or possession of methamphetamine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, or hydromorphone, as well as aggravated child endangerment. Court records indicated that Street was a registered drug offender with prior convictions for drugs, theft, and burglary. Investigators believed the killings were not a random act but rather a targeted event, and the property owner where the couple lived was reportedly in the process of evicting them.
Within days of the murders, arrest warrants were issued for two suspects: 35-year-old Jereme Lee Nelson and 31-year-old Myrta Rangel. The two were charged with capital murder and three counts of first-degree murder. Believed to have fled to Oklahoma, and then to Mexico, they were eventually apprehended and returned to Kansas to face the charges against them. Further details of the plot emerged through court documents, specifically Myrta Rangel's plea agreement.
The plea agreement laid bare a drug trafficking conspiracy involving Rangel, her estranged husband in Mexico as the supplier, Nelson, and Travis Street. A dispute arose when methamphetamine shipments began bypassing Nelson and going directly to Street, creating a rift between the two men over a drug debt. On the night of the killings, Rangel provided Nelson with the handgun he would use. Nelson then drove to Street's home and shot Street, Graevs, and Prouty, who was there to purchase meth, in the head. Following the murders, Nelson and Rangel fled to Mexico. Rangel eventually pleaded guilty to federal charges related to providing the firearm used in the commission of the murders.
