The case grew from a missing-child search into charges in two states after Airen Andula’s body was found in a Missouri ravine.

PLEASANTON, Kan. — A Kansas man accused of moving a 13-year-old neighbor’s body after a fatal dog attack now faces a second-degree murder charge tied to the boy’s death during a December bike ride near Pleasanton.

The new Kansas case against Damon Leonard, 47, raises the stakes in a death that first led to a Missouri conviction for abandonment of a corpse. Prosecutors say Airen Andula died from multiple dog bite injuries after Leonard’s unleashed dogs attacked him. The boy had been riding his bicycle in the Holiday Lakes area before a search ended with his body found about 30 miles away in rural Bates County, Missouri.

Airen was reported missing the evening of Dec. 21 after he did not return home from a neighborhood errand. His family said he had been riding his bike to a nearby home to care for animals while that family was away. Searchers looked through the night and into the next day. Leonard, who lived nearby, later contacted authorities and said he knew where the child was and that he was dead. The call shifted the search from Linn County, Kansas, to a remote Missouri creek bed. Airen’s father, Charles Andula, said the family had asked Leonard during the search whether he had seen the boy, and that Leonard said he had seen him earlier but did not know where he went.

Court records and police statements outline a case that crossed county and state lines before the murder charge was filed. Leonard was first charged in Bates County, Missouri, with abandonment of a corpse. He later pleaded guilty in that case and received a four-year prison sentence, with credit for time already served. Kansas authorities then brought additional charges linked to the alleged attack and the movement of the body. Those charges include second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, interference with law enforcement, criminal desecration, unauthorized control of a dead body and permitting a dangerous animal to be at large. Officials have said several dogs were seized from Leonard’s property. The exact number of dogs involved in the attack has not been fully detailed in public filings.

The Wyandotte County Coroner’s Office determined that Airen died from multiple dog bite injuries. Police said the finding followed an autopsy after the body was recovered from a ravine in a creek bed in Bates County. Authorities have described the dogs as mixed mastiff and pit bull breeds. Neighbors had raised concerns about dogs near Leonard’s property, and the child’s family said aggressive dogs were known in the area. The case has drawn attention in Linn County partly because of where Airen was found: not near his home, not at the scene of the alleged attack, but in another state after a search that left family members and neighbors believing he was still missing.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office and the Linn County Attorney’s Office are now pursuing the Kansas case. The second-degree murder charge is the most serious count. The involuntary manslaughter charge gives prosecutors another path tied to alleged reckless conduct. The other counts focus on what authorities say happened after Airen died, including the alleged concealment and transport of the body and the handling of information during the search. Leonard’s Missouri sentence does not end the matter because Kansas prosecutors say the death and key conduct happened in Kansas. A court schedule for the Kansas case will determine when Leonard appears on the newer charges and whether he enters pleas to each count.

The grief around the case has been sharpened by the search itself. Airen’s parents have said they struggled not only with the dog attack but with the time they spent looking for their son while authorities say Leonard already knew he was dead. Charles Andula said he might have viewed the attack differently if Leonard had reported it right away. He said what he could not accept was the allegation that Leonard hid the child from his family. Airen’s mother, Anita Gunn, described the loss as a nightmare that the family still did not want to believe was real. Their comments put the focus on the hours between the boy’s disappearance and the discovery of his body.

The Holiday Lakes community near Pleasanton is a rural area where a bike ride can take a child past open yards, gravel roads and scattered homes. That setting became part of the investigation after Airen’s bicycle trip ended and multiple agencies became involved. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office, Bates County authorities and Kansas City, Kansas, police all had roles as the case moved from a missing-person report to a death investigation. Police in Kansas City, Kansas, were asked to lead parts of the inquiry, including the work that preceded early Kansas charges. The later murder count shows prosecutors now believe the dog attack itself can support a homicide case, not only charges tied to what happened afterward.

Leonard’s guilty plea in Missouri addressed only the abandonment of a corpse charge there. It did not resolve the Kansas allegations about Airen’s death. Prosecutors in Kansas must still prove their case in court, and Leonard is presumed innocent of the Kansas charges unless convicted. The next phase is expected to center on court filings, possible extradition or custody arrangements, and evidence about the dogs, the location of the alleged attack, the movement of the body and Leonard’s statements to law enforcement.

Author note: Last updated July 7, 2026.