LENEXA, Kan. — The man accused of brutally murdering a stepfather and stepson in Lenexa in the summer of 2014 was sentenced Monday in Johnson County to two consecutive life sentences and will not be eligible for parole for 50 years.
Alex Brune, 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Brian Baskind, 47, and Clifford Preston, 79.
The two men were found dead inside their home in Lenexa on July 9, 2014. They were stabbed multiple times and apparently died as a result of the significant blood loss and trauma.
During his sentencing hearing, the victims’ family members and close friends gave statements before the judge read the sentence.
John Baskind, Brian’s brother and Clifford’s son, spoke about his grief and asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence.
“It’s important to remember they were two real people that were savagely stabbed and tortured. Two people they are not just a crime statistic not two names connected to a brutal incident these were two beautiful people,” said John Baskind.
John Baskind also told the judge that their small, close-knit family spent holidays at the home where Baskind and Preston were murdered.
Shortly before 10 p.m., on Wednesday, July 9, 2014, police received a call from a man who had been shot in the stomach, but said he was unsure of his location. Police pinged his phone and determined he was in the 8500 block of Hallet Street in Lenexa.
When police arrived, they located Brune on the front porch, shot in the right side of the stomach, and telling them two people were dead inside the home at 8536 Hallet. Police found Baskind and Preston in the basement, in the back bedroom. Both suffered and died from multiple knife wounds and they had numerous defensive wounds, police say. There were large amounts of blood on the walls and floor. Officers saw that a basement window was open and there was a lot of blood around it on the floor and walls.
Through the course of the police investigation, police looked at surveillance video from area businesses and determined Brune’s white van and Baskind’s Mercedes were in the same location near Candlelight Lane and 87th Street at approximately 9:08 p.m. that night.
Then, at 9:10 p.m., a neighbor reported seeing a white van parked south of the address where the murders occurred.
At one point, Brune had claimed he was kidnapped by two men, one younger and one older. Instead, police say he went to their home to rob them, attacked them, and then was shot by one of the men during the attack.
During the victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing, Heather Brune said her husband’s actions changed her life and the lives of their three young children. She asked the court to find a line between justice and mercy.
“He felt great remorse for what he has done certainly one action changed the course of his life and all of the lives around him both for the victim’s family and friends as well as his wife,his children and his family,” said Courtney Henderson, Brune’s attorney.
When Brune finishes the first 25 years for the first murder charge, he will have to do another 25 years for the second murder charge before he is eligible for parole.
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