GREAT BEND – A Florida man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 100 years after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
Michael Fowler, Jr., 56, of Sarasota, Florida, was sentenced Monday in Barton County District Court by Judge Mike Keeley.
Fowler was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for 50 years on each of two counts of first-degree murder. Keeley ordered the two sentences to run consecutively. Fowler was also sentenced to 21 months in prison for theft. Keeley ordered that sentence to run concurrently to the murder sentences.
Fowler pleaded guilty to the charges in March 2019. Fowler was charged with the crimes in connection with the July 2018 deaths of Alfred “Sonny” Carpenter and Pauline Carpenter.
Their bodies were discovered in July in shallow graves near Van Buren, Arkansas. Prosecutors say the Carpenters were killed at the Barton County Fair, where they were vendors. Fowler and other suspects worked for the carnival company at the fair.
The case was investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Great Bend Police Department in Kansas, as well as the Van Buren Police Department and Crawford County Sheriff’s Office in Arkansas.
Two additional defendants have been convicted on related charges and are awaiting sentencing.