Kyle L. Romey appears in a booking photo from October 2021. (Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office)
A Kansas man who brutally beat his mother to death and then invited his sister over to look at the dead body will spend the next several decades in prison, a judge ruled earlier this week.
In November 2023, Kyle L. Romey, 44, was convicted on one count of murder in the first degree for the October 2021 slaying of Denyce Breit, 67, at her home on U.S. Route 54 in Sedgwick County.
On Jan. 2, Romey was sentenced to 653 months — or roughly 54 years — in a Sunflower state prison. After that, he will be eligible for parole.
The victim’s undoing was never much in doubt.
“It was very obvious to the deputies that there was blunt force trauma to the body.” Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter said at a press conference the day after the grim discovery and quick arrest.
Fewer than 10 hours separated the initial welfare call in the case and the apprehension of the eventually convicted killer, according to the sheriff’s office. Responding deputies were told Breit had suffered a medical emergency. When no one answered at her door and calls to several local hospitals failed to locate her, law enforcement forced entry and found the victim, dead, on the living room floor.
During the initial investigation, a second 911 call came in. Deputies made the trek into inner Wichita where the caller was more explicit: they believed Romey was responsible for hurting his mother.
Earlier on the morning of the murder, Romey told his sister that he blacked out after arguing with their mother about vodka, according to court documents obtained by The Wichita Eagle. When the argument began, Romey said, Breit was “cold and thirsty” and wanted a drink — which the son refused to provide. Then came the supposed blackout. By 6 a.m. or so, Romey said he woke up again to find Breit dead.
When Romey arrived at his sister’s house that morning, he was “acting odd” and wanted a hug, she later told investigators, because, in her brother’s words: “it may be the last hug we get to have.”
After that, Romey smoked something out of a glass pipe and “told her she needed to go with him” because “he had something to show her,” according to the affidavit obtained by the paper.
Alarm bells raised, the since-convicted man refused to explain in detail what was happening. On the ride over, in their mother’s vehicle, Romey told his sister that he “wanted to spend time with her” because “he was going to go back to prison,” the affidavit says.
Inside, their mother was “swollen and bruised,” the sister told authorities.
In a final act of contrition, Romey placed a blanket over the deceased woman, laid down next to her and sobbed, his sister would relay, according to the affidavit. Then, he retrieved a broken necklace from his mother’s feet and handed it over to the grieving daughter, saying: “This is yours now.”
“My mother was an amazing woman, she would help or do anything for anyone, even if she didn’t know you,” the victim’s daughter wrote in an online fundraiser for funeral expenses. “She had a huge heart and I am truly blessed to be able to call her my mom. Now she is in heaven with Jason (her oldest son) whom she missed terribly. I love you mommy, you will always be with me in my heart.”
In April 2021, Breit offered her home to her son upon his release from prison on parole. His prior record includes one conviction for aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, and multiple convictions for criminal threat, and criminal possession of a weapon — not a firearm, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
