WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A Sedgwick County judge sentenced a Wichita man who sodomized and murdered 72-year-old Rita Golden back in July 2019.
Sedgwick County Judge Bruce Brown sentenced 57-year-old John D. Pepper, of Wichita, to life with parole eligibility after 25 years for first-degree murder and 195 months for aggravated criminal sodomy. The sentences will run consecutively together, meaning Pepper will serve just over 41 years in prison before he’s eligible for parole.
According to court documents, Golden had been allowing Pepper to stay in her yard for about two weeks before her death. The documents stated that he would “occasionally come into the residence to eat or take a nap, but only when the decedent’s (Rita’s) daughter was home.” However, shortly before Rita’s death, she stopped allowing him on the property.
On the day of Rita’s death, it was her daughter who found her dead on the floor of her home covered in blood. When police searched the home, they found Pepper in a bedroom closet with blood on his hands.
Rita’s autopsy showed that she died as a result of “hypertensive cardiovascular disease with atrial fibrillation” and pointed to “significant conditions,” which include “multiple blunt force injuries and possible asphyxia (smothering).” Results also showed that she had heart disease and emphysema. The report listed the cause of death as a homicide and that the injuries she sustained “would have resulted in severe physical and/or emotional stress,” leading to her death.