A PBS employee has died after she was allegedly shot by her estranged husband.
Ivy Unruh was a retired U.S. Marine and an engineer at PBS Kansas. She was shot on April 17 in what police are describing as a domestic violence homicide. She had recently been estranged from her husband.
Police arrested 29-year-old Joshua Orlando at the scene and took him to the Wichita Police Investigations Bureau for questioning and later booked him into the Sedgwick County Jail on a single charge of aggravated battery. When Unruh died, he was rebooked overnight April 20 on a charge of premeditated first-degree murder. The case was presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office on April 21 and is still in custody.
“She filed a divorce, she moved out,” Hogstrom said. “She just did what the professionals advised her to do.”
Hogstrom said PBS even put a protocol in place in case Orlando ever showed up at the TV station, where the receptionist would get on the P.A. system and announce a code.
Unruh was a Marine with a background in radio frequency and satellite communications, Hogstrom said, which translated well to her job at the station. He was frequently surprised with how broad the spectrum of her abilities was.
“Sometimes I’d ask her, can you do this, because I didn’t really know how far her background took her,” Hogstrom said. “She said, ‘oh yes.’”
Hogstrom said the station employees were devastated by her loss, and extended his condolences to her family.
Besides covering the funeral expenses, the crowdfund also aimed to "bring awareness to the reality of domestic violence. If you or someone you know is experiencing it, please know you are not alone—there are people who care and want to help."
An update posted by the family stated that she was an organ donor, and Unruh's organs would help save 6 people in need of transplants.
"She saved those 6 people but it will impact well beyond that for every loved one that gets to hug their family member a little longer," the post read.