Inset: Linda Oeding (Kingman County Sheriff”s Office). Background: Main Street in rural Spivey, Kan. (Google Maps).
A septuagenarian Kansas woman is behind bars after prolonged abuse and neglect that caused her nonagenarian mother to die.
In January, Linda Oeding, 71, pleaded guilty to two counts of mistreatment of an elder person, according to the Kansas Attorney General’s Office. The underlying incidents in the case ultimately led to the death of the defendant’s 94-year-old mother, Betty Oeding.
Earlier this month, Linda Oeding was sentenced to 32 months in prison on the abuse count and an additional eight months for the neglect count. The court ordered the sentences to run consecutively, or one after another, for a total 40-month sentence.
“Elders in Kansas deserve dignity, respect, and protection — especially from those entrusted with their care,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a statement. “My office will continue to hold accountable anyone who abuses or neglects vulnerable Kansans.”
The defendant had positioned herself as the only person available to serve as her mother’s caregiver, according to court records obtained by the Junction City Post.
Additionally, Linda Oeding prevented other family members from contacting her mother — preventing them from visiting or checking on the victim as she deteriorated under the defendant’s watch.
The woman’s poor treatment came to a head last year, according to a press release issued by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
On Sept. 5, 2025, the defendant called emergency services to report that her mother had become unresponsive at the family’s home in Spivey, a tiny town located some 50 miles southwest of Wichita.
The defendant even turned down first responders who offered a variety of medical care for the victim, according to court records. Such treatment included transport to the nearest hospital, IV fluids, medications, and lifesaving resuscitation, authorities said.
“When EMS arrived, they observed Betty was experiencing malnourishment and improper living conditions, and recommended she be transported to a nearby hospital,” the press release explains. “Linda declined and insisted her mother be transported to [Hutchinson Regional Medical Center].”
Hutchinson Regional Medical Center was located nearly an hour away, the attorney general’s office noted in its own press release on the sentencing.
After the victim was transported to the regional hospital, she developed sepsis linked to her condition and living environment, according to law enforcement. Betty Oeding was discovered in a “shocking state” and said to be “severely emaciated, covered in advanced, infected pressure sores from prolonged immobility, and unwashed after extended neglect,” according to the AG’s office.
Five days later, the defendant’s mother died in hospice care.
On Sept. 11, 2025, the Kingman County Sheriff’s Office asked state investigators to step in after deputies “observed signs of neglect.”
On Sept. 12, 2025, Linda Oeding was arrested and booked on a broader array of relatively higher charges including murder in the first degree, mistreatment of a dependent adult or elder person, abuse and neglect, and interfering with medical care.
The plea deal resulted in the state dropping most of the charges.
“Unfortunately, elder neglect often goes unnoticed and unreported — we are so grateful for the medical professionals and law enforcement teams in this case who took immediate action to care for the elder victim and document the mistreatment,” Deputy Attorney General Jessica Domme, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement.
