HUTCHINSON, Kan. (KSNW) — A Eudora man has been bound over for trial following a preliminary hearing in Hutchinson on Thursday.
Kyle Hardwick was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 58-year-old Phillip Anstine and 56-year-old Marion “Ed” Bates in September of 2021.
Hardwick was arrested by Maize police in August 2021 when officers received a tip about his location. At the time of his arrest, he was wanted for questioning following the murders in Reno County.
The Reno County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were called on August 27, 2021, to a property east of Hutchinson. Some friends were concerned about a person they had not seen or heard from in two days.
As officers searched the property, they found one of the bodies and obtained a search warrant, subsequently finding the other body.
According to the Reno County Sheriff’s Office, the three men; Hardwick, Anstine, and Bates, were acquainted and had plans to meet up to apparently look at a new gun one of them had purchased.
In September 2021, the Reno County Sheriff’s Office requested the public’s help in finding a red pickup truck they thought was stolen from one of the two men who were killed.
Hardwick is due back in Reno County District Court on July 5.
