HUTCHINSON, Kan. (KAKE) - A Eudora man has been convicted of murder and other charges in the deaths of two men whose bodies were found in rural Reno County in 2021. 

A jury on Thursday found 37-year-old Kyle Hardwick guilty on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of theft and perjury. 

Deputies found the bodies of the two victims, 56-year-old Marion Bates and 58-year-old Phillip Anstine, both of Hutchinson, after responding to a "check welfare" call on August 27, 2021. Hardwick was arrested in Maize several days later. 

A witness told deputies that Hardwick was seen on the property where the bodies were discovered and was the last person to have seen the two men alive, the Reno County sheriff said. The three men were acquaintances who apparently agreed to meet at the rural site where one of the men wanted to show the others a new gun he bought.

During trial, prosecutors called more than 45 witnesses to testify and presented over 110 pieces of evidence.