A Doniphan man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the 2010 deaths of two elderly couples whose bodies were found in their burned homes.
Keith A. Boyles, 26, appeared Wednesday morning before Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett for sentencing after having earlier been convicted of four Class A felonies of first-degree murder and four unclassified felonies of armed criminal action (ACA).
Following a three-day bench trial in January, Pritchett found Boyles guilty of the June 23, 2010, shooting deaths of Loyd Piatt and Gladys Irene Piatt, and the July 10, 2010, shooting deaths of Edgar Atkinson and Bonnie Chase.
On Wednesday, Pritchett heard victim-impact statements from members of the Piatt and Chase families, as well as testimony from three people who knew Boyles prior to his arrest.
The defense also read a letter from a man, who has known Boyles during his three-year incarceration in the Butler County jail and provided transcripts of prior testimony from mental health professionals.
“I had the opportunity to review the transcripts (and) the testimony today provided by the defense and all the exhibits submitted into evidence,” said Pritchett.
As he stood before Pritchett, Boyles turned to the Piatts’ daughter-in-law, who was in the galley, and said, “Mrs. (Imetta) Farrar, I apologize to you and your family …”
Pritchett then sentenced Boyles to life without the eligibility for probation and parole for all four deaths. He ordered the sentences to be served concurrently to each other in each couple’s deaths. Boyles received four 30-year sentences on the ACA charges.
Pritchett further ordered Boyles’ sentences for Atkinson and Chase’s deaths to be served consecutively to his sentences for the Piatts’ deaths.
Agreeing Boyles’ sentencing was “symbolic,” given life without the eligibility of probation and parole is the only punishment for first-degree murder, Assistant Attorney General Kevin Zoellner asked for his sentences to run consecutively, while Boyles’ attorney, Thomas Marshall, asked for concurrent sentences.
“I’m happy with the sentences,” Farrar said. “He apologized to me. I thought it was big of him to apologize to me.”
Family remembers hardworking couple
Farrar earlier read a prepared statement to the court.
In it, she described Loyd Piatt as a “very hardworking, generous person who would share if he knew somebody to be in need.
“ … He could drive you crazy with his corny jokes, but he was the love of Irene’s life after they married in 1973.”
Farrar also described Irene Piatt as a hardworking and kind person, who worked several jobs to raise her three children as a single mom.
“She was a very strong woman,” Farrar said. “She buried two of her kids in 2002,” including Farrar’s husband.
Family, Farrar said, was very important to Irene Piatt.
“Her mother grew up in orphan homes and always stressed to take care of family … ,” Farrar said. “That’s how I believe the Youngbloods conned themselves into the Piatts’ lives.”
David Youngblood, who was the father of Boyles’ then girlfriend, was Irene Piatt’s nephew.
Boyles had been accused of acting with David Youngblood, as well as his daughter, Chantale, and wife, Melissa, to commit the murders. The murders reportedly were a “trial run” for a bigger plan to rob a bank and flee the area.
The Youngbloods are serving their own sentences for their roles in the deaths.
The Piatts, Farrar said, were “killed in their home, the place you should feel the safest. You shattered that safe feeling for all of us.”
Zoellner also read a statement from Chase’s daughter, Angela Reed.
“Our lives are forever changed with the reality that she has been taken from us,” Zoellner read. “Later this month, her picture will be placed at a table of remembrance at her granddaughter’s wedding … we continue to be aware of her absence and loss.”
Reed said her family has fought to “press on with our lives and pick up the pieces … We are motivated by knowing … that is what she would have wanted …”
Reed said her family welcomes “the closure of the trials and sentencing of those individuals willfully responsible for taking her life and the life of Ed Atkinson, who we loved as well and miss.”
Convicted had
difficult youth
Testifying for the defense were Joyce Sandlin, Angel Allen and Boyles’ older sister, Mallory Snow.
Sandlin said she grew up in the same neighborhood as Boyles, living across the street from his father.
Sandlin said trash was “all over the place” on the Boyles’ property, as were abandoned vehicles.
Boyles, she said, often walked to her home, and she saw him “pretty much every day. … He was like one of the kids.
“He would do chores, work around the house, feed the animals. He helped take care of my kids.”
Sandlin described one instance in which Boyles, in protection of her and her children, laid across “our truck because his brother came out of the house with a gun.”
Boyles’ older brother had moved in with her family, said Sandlin, who indicated Boyles just wanted to “belong.”
Allen said Boyles “pretty much came” to her house in 2006-07 as a “very active” part of the youth group.
“He was a normal teenager,” who “fit in with the group,” she said. “He also helped out a lot,” including helping her around the house.
“He enjoyed one-on-one time,” Allen said. “We talked a lot (about) anything and everything, (including) life, what we wanted to do.”
Snow said she predominately lived with her mother after her parents divorced when she was 7.
There were no rules at her father’s house nor was there running water or electricity, said Snow, who indicated she stopped visiting at 12.
“We had a bad cockroach problem,” she said. “Animals (squirrels, birds, raccoons and all kinds of pigs, even cattle) were running through the house.”
Snow said a portion of flooring was missing underneath her bed.
“We had a limited food supply,” Snow said. “It was disgusting to be honest. … It was filthy.”
Snow said her brother, who was a “very kind child,” had lots of acquaintances growing up, but only two “who were actually his friends.”
Boyles’ attorney, Heather Vodnansky, read a letter from Kevin Vandermark with John 3:16 Ministries.
Boyles, according to Vandermark, has had a “positive impact on my jail ministry” and has been a part of his Bible study in the Butler County jail for three years.
Boyles, Vandermark wrote, has attended nearly every Sunday. At first, he said, Boyles was quiet and listening, but by the third visit he was “opening up.”
Vandermark said he has seen a change in Boyles’ life, and he has “watched him grow in the Lord.”
For the past two years, he said, Boyles has held his own Bible studies, something he decided to do on his own.
Vandermark described Boyles as being a “blessing to me. … I know in my heart and spirit that Keith Boyles is sincere in his walk with God.”