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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two people were charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the death of a 3-year-old Kansas boy whose body was found encased in concrete.
The remains of Evan C. Brewer were discovered Sept. 2 inside a Wichita house where he lived with his mother and her boyfriend.
Charges filed in Sedgwick County District Court against the boy's 36-year-old mother, Miranda Miller, and her 40-year-old boyfriend, Stephen Bodine, allege that the couple inflicted injuries that killed the boy sometime between March 17 and Sept. 1.
A landlord cleaning out the home after Miller and Bodine moved out alerted police after finding a suspicious concrete structure emitting an odor.
Evan had been the subject of a custody battle for months between his mother and father, Carlo Brewer, who had contacted state officials and local police over the welfare of his son.
Miller and Bodine are each being held on $500,000 bail. Both were already in jail on prior charges — Miller on a charge of aggravated interference with parental custody and Bodine on aggravated assault and property damage charges stemming from an Aug. 11 incident in which he is accused of threatening Carlo Brewer with a hatchet and slashing his vehicle's tires. Brewer was looking for his son when that alleged attack occurred.
Their defense attorneys did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment.
The boy is the grandson of former Wichita mayor and gubernatorial candidate Carl Brewer.
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