Kugadt v. State

Appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree, and his punishment assessed at death; hence this appeal.

As the principal questions presented involve the sufficiency of the proof as to the corpus delicti, we will summarize all of the testimony bearing on this subject. The deceased, Johanna. Kugadt, was an elderly maiden sister of appellant. She came from California to live with him, at his home in Washington County, in the year 1893. In the spring of 1894 she went to California on a visit to her relatives, and in the fall of the same year she returned to her brother's (appellant's),…