Ivy Unruh was 25, worked behind the scenes at PBS Kansas and had filed for divorce months before the shooting.
WICHITA, Kan. — Ivy Unruh had served in the Marine Corps, taken a broadcast engineering job and moved into an apartment she chose for security before police say her estranged husband shot her during a divorce-related property exchange.
The killing of the 25-year-old PBS Kansas employee is now the center of a first-degree murder case against Joshua Orlando, 29. Police say Orlando was married to but separated from Unruh when officers found her wounded April 17 outside Building 5 at the Remington Apartments in northeast Wichita. She died three days later. The case has drawn attention not only because of the charge, but because investigators say Unruh’s efforts to separate from Orlando were documented before the shooting.
Unruh’s public life included military service and technical work that kept a public television station running. The Marine Corps said she served from 2020 to 2024 and reached the rank of sergeant while in the Individual Ready Reserve. Her last assignment was at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. She later worked at PBS Kansas as a broadcast engineer, a role that usually places employees behind cameras, computers and signal equipment rather than in front of viewers. PBS Kansas President Victor Hogstrom said Unruh’s death stunned the station. He said his first reaction was disbelief, then grief for a worker he called motivated, trustworthy, smart and dependable.
People who knew Unruh also described a woman trying to get out of a relationship marked by alleged abuse. A fundraising page for her family said she was “more than a Marine,” calling her a daughter, sister and friend who brought light to others. The same tribute said she had the courage to walk away from a dangerous situation. Investigators later collected similar statements from people around her. A supervisor at PBS Kansas told police Unruh had separated from Orlando because of verbal and physical abuse and said she had seen bruises on Unruh both in pictures and in person. Police also interviewed a leasing agent who said Unruh chose her apartment because she wanted to get away from an abusive ex and was interested in security features.
That apartment became the scene of the shooting on April 17. Wichita police said officers were sent at 8:03 a.m. to 7272 E. 37th St. after a reported shooting. They found Unruh with a gunshot wound to her upper body near Building 5. A firearm was recovered at the scene. Orlando was arrested there, taken to the Wichita Police Investigations Bureau for questioning and first booked on an aggravated battery allegation. Unruh was taken to a hospital in grave condition. When she died April 20, the case changed. Prosecutors presented the matter April 21 and filed a charge of premeditated first-degree murder.
Investigators say the minutes before the shooting involved a plastic bag, a Nintendo Switch and a property dispute linked to the couple’s pending divorce. Unruh filed for divorce in August 2025, and records cited in the affidavit say she listed Orlando as keeping his pistol while she would keep the game console. In the days before the shooting, Orlando told police, he had contacted Unruh about studying together because both were taking classes. That contact turned into an argument, and the two concluded their problems could not be repaired. The plan, according to police, was for Orlando to leave some of Unruh’s belongings at her door. Instead, he told investigators he waited near the foot of the apartment stairs with the Switch in a bag.
The affidavit says surveillance video captured a short, deadly encounter. Unruh left her apartment at 8:00:15 a.m. The shot was fired at 8:00:52 a.m. The 911 call came 21 seconds after 8:01 a.m. Police say Orlando made the call. “I came to drop some stuff off and she got really mad that I was there,” the caller said, according to the affidavit. He also said, “We were arguing and she hit me.” His account trailed off at points. Later in the call, police say, he said, “I shot her, I shot her.” The affidavit says Orlando asked for emergency medical help after officers arrived and, through tears, said, “I know she didn’t mean to hurt me.”
The scene described by police suggested Unruh was not standing still for a long exchange. She was found on her back, her head near the bottom step of a stairway. A black backpack was still on her right shoulder. Her purse was still on her left arm. Her right hand still held the plastic bag with the Nintendo Switch inside. Police said a black Sig Sauer P365 semiautomatic 9 mm handgun was near the left side of her body. Orlando told investigators Unruh had swung the bag and struck the left side of his face. He said the blow made him see lights and brought back a memory of a past fight involving a replica Zelda sword. He said he covered his face with his left arm and fired one shot without aiming.
Prosecutors charged the shooting as intentional and premeditated, a serious allegation that will have to be tested in court. Orlando’s account, as summarized by police, included his claim that Unruh hit him first. Other evidence collected by investigators included the timing on surveillance video, the 911 call, witness accounts about prior alleged abuse and divorce paperwork describing who would keep the pistol and the Switch. Police have not said in public reporting that all questions are resolved. The case still must move through hearings, and the defense has not yet had a trial forum to challenge the state’s version of events. Orlando is presumed innocent unless convicted.
Unruh’s family also said her organs saved six people after her death, a detail that added another layer to public tributes after the shooting. Coworkers described the station’s loss in personal terms, saying her absence was felt in the newsroom and technical areas where she had worked. Her military background became part of how friends and strangers understood the case, but police records focused on the more immediate facts of separation, divorce and a brief encounter outside the apartment. Investigators listed the shooting as a domestic violence case. The charge followed Unruh’s death, not the initial hospital response, because she was still alive when Orlando was first booked.
Orlando was held on a bond listed at $1.5 million and was scheduled for preliminary hearing proceedings in Sedgwick County District Court. The hearing is a key early step where a judge decides whether prosecutors have presented enough evidence for the murder case to proceed. The court record is expected to center on the affidavit, the 911 call, the surveillance timeline and statements from people who knew Unruh before she died.
Unruh’s death remains an active criminal case, and Orlando remains charged but not convicted. The next court steps will determine how much of the police account becomes evidence in open proceedings.
Author note: Last updated June 20, 2026.