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#1
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09-05-2026, 01:33 PM
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Dane Owens Convicted of Felony Murder in Wichita
A Sedgwick County jury convicted Dane Thomas Owens of first-degree felony murder and aggravated burglary in the October 3, 2016 shooting of Rowena Irani at her family's home in west Wichita, Kansas, while acquitting him of premeditated first-degree murder. Irani, 22, was a psychology student at Wichita State University who lived with her family in Sedgwick County. Owens, 27 at the time of the shooting, had attended Kansas State University. The two had been in a relationship, which Irani ended on September 23, 2016, about 10 days before the shooting. Owens drove his truck to Irani's neighborhood and parked away from the house because, he told detectives, he did not want the family to call police. Carrying a loaded handgun, he walked to the home, let one of the family's dogs in from the front yard and followed it through an unlocked front door. He fired one shot when Irani came around a corner from the kitchen, took her phone and left without calling for help. Irani died on October 4, 2016. Owens was arrested later on the day of the shooting, initially on a charge of attempted first-degree murder, which was upgraded to murder after Irani died. Detective Robert Chisholm, the case agent on the homicide, interviewed him that day. Owens said he was angry that Irani had broken up with him and brought the gun so she would take him seriously. He first said it went off when she came around the corner, then admitted he pulled the trigger. Owens told detectives he had discarded the handgun in one pond, the magazine and ammunition in a second pond, and Irani's phone in a third before returning to his mother's house in Andover. The gun was recovered. At trial, the state's evidence included video of the interviews, which was played for the jury, along with testimony about threats Owens had made and text messages between the two. Owens was charged with first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder in the alternative, and aggravated burglary. The jury returned its verdicts on November 6, 2018. On December 20, 2018, he received a hard 25 life term on the murder count, meaning life with no parole eligibility for 25 years, plus 43 months on the aggravated burglary count. He was ordered to pay $7,470.64 in restitution. Reporting at sentencing put his minimum time before parole eligibility at about 29 years. The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and sentence on October 15, 2021, and he remains in Kansas custody. The video is the police interview-room recording and runs about 139 minutes. It presents the interview itself, without narration or a presenter.
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#2
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09-05-2026, 01:48 PM
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Re: Dane Owens Convicted of Felony Murder in Wichita
Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.
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