MITCHELL COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office are investigating after a suspect was found dead Monday following a standoff at a residence near Glen Elder, according to a media release from the agency.
On Saturday, Oct. 23, at approximately noon, the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call from a 78-year-old man who reported that he was forcibly taken at gunpoint and held for around 26 hours by his 59-year-old acquaintance, John Roudybush, of Glen Elder.
An arrest warrant for Roudybush for aggravated kidnapping was obtained, and a search warrant for Roudybush’s residence was secured.
At approximately 9 p.m. Sunday, the KBI’s High Risk Warrant Team attempted to execute the warrants at 2446 190 Road in rural Glen Elder. Roudybush refused to come out of the house and a standoff began. During the standoff, negotiators attempted to communicate with Roudybush for many hours.
Two shots were heard inside the house at approximately 4:30 a.m. Monday morning. Then at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Monday, control of the scene was transferred to the Kansas Highway Patrol’s Special Response Team, due to the length of time it was requiring to resolve the incident.
At approximately 8:30 a.m., KHP reported hearing a gunshot inside the residence. They later breached an external wall of the house and were able to locate Roudybush deceased in an upstairs room at around 12:45 p.m. on Monday. He died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. No shots were fired by any law enforcement officer during this incident. An autopsy will be performed.
The KBI and the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the death of Roudybush, as well as the aggravated kidnapping case. There is no indication that any other subjects were involved in the kidnapping incident.
Roudybush had a connection to Saline County
In February 2014, Roudybush was arrested on requested misdemeanor charges that included two counts of trespassing and damage to property, obstruction and criminal littering for an incident on W. North Street.
According to a Salina Post story from Feb. 25, 2014, deputies were sent to the 2100 block of W. North Street for the report of trespassing. Deputies found Roudybush in a front-end loader moving items on the access road that belonged to another property owner without that owner's permission. The loader apparently caused damage to the dirt access road. That same day, a district court judge had issued an injunction to prevent the operation of a salvage yard Roudybush owned.
Then Saline County Sheriff's Lieutenant Brent Melander said at the time that deputies took a report and returned to the sheriff’s office to prepare a request to the Saline County Attorney for arrest warrants for trespassing and damage to property, according to the Feb. 25, 2014, Salina Post story.
The next morning, deputies returned to the location for a second report of Roudybush in the front-end loader again moving items using the access road that belonged to someone else.
Melander said at the time that Roudybush, in the front-end loader, crashed through a locked iron cattle gate that had been put across the road. Melander said that Roudybush was uncooperative with deputies and began to turn the loader toward the deputies. When he refused to get out of the loader, deputies then drew their weapons. Roudybush did leave the loader at that point and was taken into custody.
Roudybush moved to Mitchell County several years ago.