COLUMBIA — The Boone County prosecutor has dismissed a domestic assault charge against Kraig Kahler, who is awaiting charges in the shooting deaths of his wife, two daughters and his wife's grandmother.
The Columbia Tribune reports that assistant prosecutor Andrea Hayes says she dismissed the third-degree assault charge against Kahler because it depended heavily on the testimony of his dead wife, 44-year-old Karen Kahler. Hayes also cited the expense and difficulty of transporting Kahler to Columbia from Kansas.
Kahler is awaiting trial of charges of capital murder in the Thanksgiving Day deaths in Burlingame, Kan. He is scheduled for a March 18 preliminary hearing in Osage County, Kan.
Kahler, the former director of the Columbia Water and Light Department, was charged in Boone County with misdemeanor domestic assault in March after an alleged altercation with his wife, who was seeking a divorce.
