Woman convicted of killing husband with two-by-four up for parole for first time after 25 years

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV/Gray News) - A woman convicted of beating her husband to death with a two-by-four while he slept is up for parole for the first time.

Tyler Block Patton, now known as Tyler Ann Block, was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder in the January 2001 death of her husband, Ed Patton Jr., a well-known Overland Park real estate broker.

She was sentenced to life in prison in June 2002. She is now 75 years old.

Court records show Block staged the crime scene to look like a burglary.

Authorities said DNA evidence placed her at the scene and a taped argument between the couple revealed she was unhappy with the marriage, along with how much money Ed Patton Jr. made.

Prosecutors argued money was the motive.

Block called 911 on Jan. 16, 2001. However, Ed Patton Jr. had been dead for at least two days, investigators said.

Paula Swenson worked as a real estate agent for Ed Patton Jr. for years and called him a close friend.

“He was gentle. He was kind. He was funny,” Swenson said. “He had a very sweet, gentle, kind, generous personality.”

Swenson said she learned of his death when watching the evening news.

“I was watching TV and I saw his house ... and I thought, oh my gosh, that’s Ed’s house,” she said.

Swenson is now writing a letter to the Kansas Prisoner Review Board urging it to deny Block’s parole.

“25 years isn’t enough. Because it was so brutal. Normal people don’t bash somebody in the head over and over and over,” Swenson said. “She should not be on the streets. I wouldn’t feel safe with her out.”

Former Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison said that letters and testimony from the public genuinely make a difference to the parole board.

Morrison also says he has never seen the board release someone convicted of premeditated first-degree murder at their very first eligible hearing.

Block’s earliest possible release date is July 5, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The Kansas Prisoner Review Board is accepting public comment on Tyler Ann Block’s parole consideration.