Sharon claimed that their two-year-old daughter, who had often been allowed to play with James' guns, had accidentally shot him, and police were initially unable to disprove her story.

A January 1962 trial on charges of murdering James ended in conviction and a sentence of life imprisonment, but the verdict was overturned because of procedural irregularities.

In Mexico, Sharon, claiming to have been acting in self-defense, killed a Mexican-born American citizen named Francisco Paredes Ordoñez, who was shot in the back.

[7] Sharon, reportedly deeply interested in finding a partner with prospects who could take her away from Independence,[7][8] wrote a letter to James informing him that she was pregnant by him.

[7] Sharon was reportedly a lavish spender who expected finer things out of life,[10] but on James' salary they lived first in a rented home next to his parents' residence, then in a ranch-style house they had built at 17009 East 26th Terrace, Independence.

By the time the couple had a second child, Troy, Sharon was carrying on a regular extramarital affair with a friend from high school, John Boldizs.

[3][10] He spoke to his parents about the possibility of divorce on March 18, 1960, telling them that Sharon had agreed to give him one if he allowed her to keep the house, gave her custody the couple's daughter and paid her US$1,000 in alimony.

[17] Police were unable to recover any fingerprints from the well-oiled grip of the pistol,[8] and a paraffin test for gunshot residue was not performed on either Danna or Sharon.

[26] Suspicious of the identity of the unknown woman based on the carpoolers' general description, Walter called Sharon and asked if she had seen or spoken to his wife.

[20] Based on Sharon's admission over the phone, Walter met with her late Friday evening and insisted she give him more details about where his wife was; he later admitted to going so far as to hold a key to her throat threateningly.

Shortly before midnight, within hours of Sharon's conversation with Walter, she and Boldizs found the body of a woman in a secluded area[26][note 2] approximately one mile outside of Independence.

Repeated[32] attempts were made to find the murder weapon and the bullet that had passed through Patricia's body, including the sifting of dirt at the crime scene[26] and the deployment of a troop of Boy Scouts.

[32] Buildings near where the body had been located were also searched for blood and gunshot evidence, in accordance with police's theory that Patricia had been attacked elsewhere and then transported outdoors.

[22] A "white, powdery substance"[22] found in Patricia's hair was initially believed to be trace evidence of some other crime scene area—an idea that fueled the search of nearby buildings—but was later determined to be fly eggs.

[9] Patricia's body was exhumed on June 17 in order to collect the bullets that had been left behind at the original autopsy, as well as to gather what samples of tissue and stomach contents were possible.

[35] Sharon's arraignment on July 11 resulted in denial of bail, but the Kansas City Court of Appeals struck down the ruling days later based on the prosecution's reliance on circumstantial evidence.

[36] After a delay in her trial date due to her advanced pregnancy, Sharon gave birth to a daughter she named Marla Christine on January 16, 1961.

[44] Sharon's defense, which took less than two days and involved fourteen witnesses other than Sharon—who did not testify[44]—focused on breaking down the State's claims of motive and means, arguing that she had no reason to kill Patricia and that the pistol she was alleged to have owned had not been proven to be the murder weapon.

[41] After slightly over one and a half hours of deliberation,[note 4] the jury, citing "just too many loopholes" left in the prosecution's case, acquitted Sharon Kinne.

[46] The prosecution's case rested largely on their contention that Sharon had been so interested in seeing her husband removed that she had been willing to pay for his murder, supported by the grand jury testimony of Boldizs.

[49] Later interviews with jurors from the trial revealed that "three or four ballots" had been taken before the "guilty" verdict was reached, beginning with the jury solidly divided and moving progressively toward unanimity for conviction.

[53] A subsequent defense motion requested that the conviction be vacated because the jury had delivered its verdict based on "surmise and speculation" rather than "substantial evidence", listing a series of procedural errors that Sharon's counsel alleged had taken place before and during the trial; these included a juror taking "incomplete"[54] notes, disputes over Boldizs' testimony, and an incorrect number of potential jurors being provided for selection.

[49] The State's request that the Missouri Supreme Court re-consider its position on Sharon's conviction was granted, but in October 1963 that hearing resulted in further grounds being found for a new trial, this time on the basis of the prosecutor having been allowed to cross-examine a prosecution witness.

The eventual jury, all men, were immediately sequestered,[58] but days later,[59] a mistrial was declared after it emerged that a law partner of prosecutor Lawrence Gepford had once been retained by one of the jurors.

[3] She encountered Francisco Paredes Ordoñez, a Mexican-born American citizen,[64] at a bar and accompanied him back to his room in Hotel La Vada.

[3] According to Sharon's account, she went with Ordoñez to see photographs he offered to show her,[64] but he soon began to make sexual advances toward her and she was forced to fire her gun at him in an attempt to protect herself.

[83] A manhunt was then arranged, initially focusing on the northern Mexican states[84] due to authorities' belief that Sharon may have been heading for the last known whereabouts of a former inmate to whom she had grown close while they were in prison together.

[92] Sharon was reportedly concerned about the monetary implications of this forfeiture: "I could always use the money"; the Altus, Oklahoma, Time-Democrat quoted her as saying: "I don't intend to spend all my life in jail".

This was discovered after the Jackson County Sheriff's Office received an anonymous tip that advised that Kinne had been living in Alberta under the name Diedra "Dee" Glabus.

Former FBI profiler Candice DeLong supported this assertion, stating that Sharon was a sociopath, lacking in remorse and empathy, and therefore had no compunction about killing to get what she wanted.