A grand jury indicted Farler on the same day of the visitation and graveside burial for his daughter, identified as Kendra Mae Farler by Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Kent Harshbarger. She was a Dayton Public Schools student at Belmont High School.
Dayton police and medics were dispatched April 14 on a report of a shooting inside an apartment in the 400 block of Bowen Street, just south of U.S. 35 near Xenia Avenue and Steve Whalen Boulevard. The 15-year-old girl had been shot in the chest with a shotgun.
Kenneth Farler initially told officers that his 15-year-old stepson ― who is autistic and nonverbal — shot his daughter by accident.
“Upon further investigation and interviews, that was later proved to be false and that the young lady was shot and killed by her father inside the Bowen Street address,” Dayton police Maj. Brian Johns said during a media briefing last week.
Inside the apartment, police found four firearms, which Johns noted that Farler is not allowed to possess following prior felony convictions.
“This defendant was on probation at the time of the shooting, having been convicted of trafficking in cocaine less than a month ago. He has been arrested approximately 40 times over the past 20 years and has previously been sentenced to the penitentiary,” said Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. in a statement released Monday. “This defendant should never be allowed anywhere near a firearm and deserves to be in prison. A completely innocent 15‐year‐old girl has lost her life at the hands of her father.”
Farler is held on $1 million bail in the Montgomery County Jail.
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