Texan convicted of killing couple who were buried

GREAT BEND, Kan. -- A Texas woman was convicted Friday of capital murder for her role in the slayings of a Wichita, Kan., couple who were killed after a carnival worker ordered their deaths as part of a fictitious carnival mafia.

The couple's bodies were found buried near Van Buren, Ark.

A jury in Barton County, Kan., found Kimberley Stacey Younger, 57, of Aransas Pass, Texas, guilty of capital murder, conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, solicitation to commit murder in the first degree and theft, the Kansas attorney general's office said in a news release.

She is one of several people convicted in the July 2018 deaths of Alfred and Pauline Carpenter, who were working as vendors at the county fair in Barton County, Kan.

Prosecutors have said the Carpenters were killed at the fair and their bodies were taken to Arkansas, where they were buried in a national forest near Van Buren.

Four other people have been convicted in the crimes, according to the news release.

Sentencing was set for Nov. 29 in Barton County, Kan. Kansas is not seeking the death penalty, so the only authorized sentence is life without parole, the attorney general's office said.

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