SEDGWICK COUNTY— A jury this week convicted a man on parole for murder in the 2019 Christmas Eve murder of his girlfriend.
On Tuesday 43-year-old Ahmad Bey was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 41-year-old Melinda Sprague, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's offie.
Just after 2p.m. on Christmas Eve in 2019, a co-worker of Sprague contacted police about her not showing up for work, according to Wichita Police Captain Brett Allred. Police made a missing person report.
During the investigation, police located Sprague's missing 2017 Ford Focus behind a business in the 1500 Block of East Harry in Wichita, according to Allred. They also located her body inside the vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police developed information that led to Bey's arrest on a requested charge of first-degree murder and a Kansas Department of Corrections warrant. At the time, police also arrested 34-year-old Vanessa Waner on a requested charge of first-degree murder, according to Allred.
Police investigators learned that Sprague and Bey were in a dating relationship, according to Allred. Bey and Waner lived together. Charges against Waner were later dismissed.
At the time of the Sprague's murder, Bey was on parole for 2nd degree intentional murder in Crawford County in 1999. He is set to be sentenced on March 22.
She was reported missing on December 24, 2019 after she didn't show up for work. Her body was found in her two days later in the 1500 block of East Harry. Bey and a second suspect were booked into jail on December 27.
Police said Bey and Sprague had been in a relationship. A charge of interference with law enforcement against the second suspect was dismissed in February 2020, records show.
Bey is set to be sentenced on March 22. He faces jury trial in April on two counts of violating the Kansas offender registration act. At the time of Sprague's death, Bey was on parole for a second-degree murder conviction in Crawford County. He was paroled in that case on July 1, 2019.
Online jail records show Bey was also charged with trafficking contraband into a correctional facility in August 2021. A hearing in that case is also scheduled for March 22.