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1999 Murder Case Reopened

By Associated Press

12/27/2015

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Investigators have reopened the Kansas case of a 1999 shooting death for which a man served more than 15 years before his brother confessed in suicide notes that he was the killer.

The chief detective in northeast Kansas’ Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department says that while Tom Bledsoe’s November suicide notes helped free Floyd Bledsoe from prison this month, “we are open to all possibilities that (Tom) may have had assistance” in 14-year-old Camille Arfmann’s death or in hiding her body. Kirk Vernon wouldn’t elaborate about that probe.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is assisting, telling The Associated Press only that even before Floyd Bledsoe’s prison release it had assigned staff to review the original investigation for errors.

Vernon said the inquiry won’t target the county’s former elected prosecutor and sheriff over their original handling of the case. One of Tom Bledsoe’s suicide notes claimed the prosecutor, Jimmie Vanderbilt, told him to “keep my mouth shut” and continue blaming his brother. He eventually provided the key testimony that landed Floyd Bledsoe a life term on a first-degree murder conviction.

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