Federal lawsuit filed over Larrison investigation
A Holton man arrested last year in connection with an investigation into the death of one wife and the disappearance of another has filed a federal lawsuit against the Jackson County detective who initiated the investigation last year, saying the detective acted “in reckless disregard of the truth” and “egregiously and unreasonably omitted matters” that would have “destroyed” the investigation.
On Monday, March 17, Kansas City, Mo. attorney Arthur Benson II filed a civil complaint on behalf of Rex D. Larrison, who said that Phil McManigal, listed as a deputy sheriff and detective with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, was “failing to act under… the color of state law” in seeking a search warrant that included possible charges of first-degree murder and criminal desecration against Larrison.
According to court documents provided by Benson, McManigal’s affidavit in support of a search warrant related to the investigation into the disappearance of Yulia Shevtensko, reportedly the first of two Russian “mail order brides” to marry Larrison, in 2001 and the death of the second, Elena Kristova, in 2006 was false and incomplete, resulting in “willful, wanton, reckless and malicious” conduct on McManigal’s behalf.
In April of last year, McManigal and the sheriff’s office obtained a search warrant for Larrison’s property, and Larrison was arrested and charged in Jackson County District Court with criminal use of an explosive in connection to the discovery of what was believed to be a pipe bomb on the property. That criminal case against Larrison was dismissed last October in district court.
Benson’s filing states that McManigal “had only a bare suspicion — a hunch — that Larrison had committed a crime or even that a crime had been committed” and furthermore “lacked arguable probable cause and his conclusion that a search was warranted did not rest on an objectively reasonable belief that probable cause existed.”
As a result, Larrison is seeking “an award of punitive or exemplary damages in an amount sufficient to punish McManigal or deter McManigal and others from like conduct in the future,” according to the filing. He is seeking a jury trial to be held in Topeka.
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