Kansas carney will spend the rest of his life in prison

A Kansas carnival worker faces two mandatory life prison terms after his conviction Thursday for two killings in northeast Iowa. After less than an hour of deliberation, the Allamakee County jury found 25-year-old Clay Irwin Thomas guilty of killing 25-year-old Angela Hyke and her eight-year-old daughter Ashley Lucas in July of 2001 in Cresco. Their bodies were recovered from a shallow grave in Kansas. As a carney, Thomas traveled through Iowa, including the Howard County Fair, where he ran a Tilt-a-whirl and met Hyke. Today would have been Lucas’ ninth birthday. The trial was moved from Howard to Allamakee County due to pre-trial publicity.