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Husband charged with killing wife: records indicate a history of criminal offenses

Posted at 5:26 PM, Jan 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-27 17:26:37-05

KALAMAZOO COUNTY, Mich. - A husband accused of killing his wife and leaving her body in a field is behind bars with no bond.

Open murder, two felony firearm charges, and possession of a weapon by a felon; those are the charges against 40-year-old Kevin Stanfill. Online records with the Michigan Department of Corrections and local court records show a long list of criminal offenses on his record dating back to 1997.

According to the prosecution, Kevin Stanfill allegedly killed his wife, Kelly Karl, back in December. Her body was found about a week ago on the edge of a field in Kalamazoo county off West AB Avenue, about a half-mile West of Douglas Drive.

Stanfill was formerly arraigned Thursday, but was already incarcerated on an unrelated malicious destruction of property charge. The suspect has also done time in prison for home invasion, operation a meth lab and weapons charges. It's a criminal history Scott Brower, Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, says should make the entire community upset.

"Crimes of violence like this are very disturbing," Brower said. "The allegations themselves are very disturbing, there's a loss of trust. I'm sure that the community as a whole can and should be upset by conduct that's alleged."

The Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Department cannot disclose how Karl was killed, but they're calling it a brutal murder. Undersheriff Paul Matyas told FOX 17 News he was unable to get into specifics because the investigation is still ongoing.

"If we disclose too much, then you don't get a pure answer from a potential witness," said Undersheriff Matyas. "You get an answer that's tainted by information they've heard."