Casey McDonald Dye was sentenced to 206 months, or just over 17 years, in prison for the 2022 murder of Ryan Holcomb Tuesday in Allen County District Court. Chief District Judge Daniel Creitz was the judicial officer.
Dye, age 46 of Petrolia, was convicted of three felonies: second-degree murder, aggravated burglary, and interfering with law enforcement. In November 2025, Dye pleaded guilty to the three charges and a plea deal was reached in the case.
Two other misdemeanor charges, theft of property and criminal damage to property, were dismissed by the prosecutor on Oct. 31, 2025. An original charge of first-degree murder was also amended to second-degree on that date.
All three felony convictions were given the aggravated sentence by Judge Creitz. The sentences will be served consecutively, and Dye was also ordered a post-release supervision period of 36 months.
Dye is prohibited from having any contact with the victim’s family upon possible release; the court also ordered Dye to pay $500 to the victim’s family in restitution. The maximum good time credit is 15% of the sentence; Dye will receive credit for all time served, a total of 1,137 days.
TUESDAY’s sentencing brings an end to the legal proceedings of Holcomb’s murder, which occurred on Dec. 3, 2022. That afternoon, Dye arrived at the Allen County Sheriff’s Department and gave a statement to sheriff’s deputies.
Officers later found the body of Ryan M. Holcomb, age 45 of Chanute, in a vehicle inside an automotive glass shop at 7545 K-39 in Chanute. He had been shot and was pronounced dead at the scene.
While Tuesday’s sentencing in the State of Kansas vs. Casey McDonald Dye closes the case, the tragic impact of Holcomb’s murder was on full display Tuesday afternoon.
THREE VICTIM impact statements were given in the courtroom before sentencing. Hope Unlimited’s Brandy Foster and Donita Garner read statements on behalf of the victim’s mother, Emma Holcomb, and the victim’s daughter, Rahley Holcomb, while Holcomb’s widow, Tammy Holcomb, read her own statement.
“We have been in our kind of prison because of him,” she said, referencing Dye. “When Casey’s sentenced, our lives will have to continue on without our lives together as a family. This is just a drop in the bucket of the man he was and the suffering we have endured every single day without Ryan.”
Holcomb concluded her statement by saying, “The courts may legally find justice, but there will never truly be justice for Ryan.”
