Grand jury indicts Burns, Luther on first-degree murder charges

Posted on October 30, 2020

A local grand jury handed down capital murder indictments on Tuesday, Oct. 27, against two Taylor County men currently in jail for two separate violent attacks that resulted in the deaths of three people earlier this year.

Kenneth Brian Burns, 45, was indicted on one count of first-degree murder while armed for the May 9 stabbing death of his ex-wife, Lorianne “Lori” Burns at a home on Foley Cut Off Road.

Joseph Earl Luther, 33, was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder while armed for the shooting deaths of his estranged wife, Heather Mae Luther, and her friend and co-worker, Kirk Jansky, on July 17, in a terrorizing sequence of events that played out in public on Jefferson Street.

Subscribe to our e-Edition and read the rest of the story. Already a subscriber? Click here to sign in.