OLATHE — A trial for Derek Deon Owens, 32, a former Iolan accused of murdering Laura Coltrane, rural Humboldt, began Monday in Johnson County District Court.
Coltrane died Feb. 18 in her apartment in Olathe. Owens was arrested the same day, when authorities arrived after being summoned to deal with a medical emergency. Authorities found that she had been beaten and strangled.
Owens has an extensive criminal record in Allen County and elsewhere in southeast Kansas, as a juvenile and adult.
Coltrane, 29 at the time of her death, was the…
