Court records said Joshua Orlando would keep a pistol and Ivy Unruh would keep a Nintendo Switch before the handoff turned deadly.
WICHITA, Kan. — A pending divorce that listed a pistol for Joshua Orlando and a Nintendo Switch for Ivy Unruh is now part of a murder case after police say Orlando shot Unruh outside her apartment.
The detail appears in a probable cause affidavit that describes the couple’s final encounter as a property handoff that did not happen as planned. Unruh, 25, had filed for divorce in August 2025. By April 17, police say she was living apart from Orlando, 29, and had made statements to others about wanting distance from an abusive relationship. Orlando is charged in Sedgwick County with premeditated first-degree murder. The case connects family court records, a disputed meeting outside an apartment stairway and a 911 call made moments after the shot.
The divorce paperwork did not end the contact between the two. Orlando told police he contacted Unruh in the days before the shooting about a study night because both were taking classes and could share notes. According to the affidavit, that idea led to another argument and to the conclusion that their relationship problems could not be fixed. The plan became narrower: Orlando would leave some of Unruh’s property at her door. Among the items was the Nintendo Switch, the game console that Unruh had listed as hers in the divorce documents. The affidavit says Orlando instead went to the apartment and waited at the foot of the stairs with the console in a bag.
Police say the fatal encounter unfolded shortly after 8 a.m. at the Remington Apartments, 7272 E. 37th St. Surveillance video reviewed by investigators showed Unruh leaving her apartment at 8:00:15 a.m. The gunshot came at 8:00:52 a.m., according to the affidavit. A 911 call was placed 21 seconds after 8:01 a.m. Officers were dispatched at 8:03 a.m. and found Unruh near Building 5 with a gunshot wound to her upper body. A firearm was recovered at the scene. She was taken to a local hospital in grave condition and died April 20. Orlando was arrested at the apartment complex, first booked on an aggravated battery allegation and later charged with murder.
In the 911 call, police say Orlando described the meeting as an argument that turned physical. “I came to drop some stuff off and she got really mad that I was there,” the caller said, according to the affidavit. He said Unruh hit him and that he tried to defend himself. The account stopped and started, but the caller also said, “I shot her, I shot her.” After officers arrived, Orlando was placed in handcuffs and asked emergency medical workers to help Unruh, authorities said. He allegedly cried and said, “I know she didn’t mean to hurt me.” The call and those statements are expected to be central to how prosecutors frame Orlando’s actions before and after the shooting.
The affidavit gives a stark description of what officers found. Unruh was lying on her back near a stairway, with her head on the bottom step and blood coming from her nose. She still had a black backpack on her right shoulder. A purse was on her left arm. Her right hand held a plastic bag containing the Nintendo Switch. Police said a black Sig Sauer P365 semiautomatic 9 mm handgun was on the left side of her body. The position of the items suggested she was ready to leave, investigators said. The same affidavit says Orlando told police Unruh had swung the bag containing the console and struck him on the left side of his face.
Orlando told investigators the strike hurt, made him see lights and triggered a memory of an earlier fight. He said that earlier incident involved Unruh attacking him with a replica Zelda sword after he threw a slipper at her. He said that after the April 17 strike, he pulled out his handgun, covered his face with his left arm and fired one round without aiming. Police summarized his account as a “blind fired” shot. The state’s charge says something different in legal terms: that Orlando intentionally and with premeditation killed Unruh. That gap between his account and the charge is one of the main issues the court process must address.
Investigators also examined why Unruh had moved to the apartment complex and what she had told others before the shooting. A leasing agent said Unruh rented the unit because she wanted to get away from her abusive ex and was interested in the property’s security features. The agent also said Unruh did not want the office to contact her former landlord because that person was a friend of her ex. At PBS Kansas, where Unruh worked as a broadcast engineer, her supervisor told police Unruh had separated from Orlando due to verbal and physical abuse. The supervisor said she had seen bruises on Unruh both in person and in photographs. Orlando told police the divorce had several causes, including his claim that Unruh had cheated on him.
Unruh’s life outside the divorce case gave the killing wider public attention. She had served in the Marine Corps 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, where station President Victor Hogstrom described her as motivated, trustworthy and dependable. Public tributes said she was a daughter, sister and friend. Her family later said her donated organs saved six people. Those details have become part of the public record around the case, even as prosecutors focus on the apartment encounter and the charge against Orlando.
The legal process began with Orlando’s arrest on the day of the shooting and shifted after Unruh’s death. Wichita police said the case was presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office the morning of April 21, one day after Unruh died. Prosecutors charged Orlando with premeditated first-degree murder, and online jail records cited in public reporting listed his bond at $1.5 million. He was scheduled for preliminary hearing proceedings before Judge Jeffrey Goering. At that stage, the judge decides whether the state has shown probable cause for the case to move forward. The hearing does not decide whether Orlando is guilty.
The case also raises unresolved factual questions that can only be answered through the court record. Public reports have not established what defense Orlando may present at later hearings or trial. The affidavit describes his claim that he was struck first and did not aim, while prosecutors allege premeditated murder. Investigators also gathered accounts about alleged prior abuse, the property terms in the divorce filing and the short surveillance timeline. Those pieces do not all serve the same purpose. Some describe history, some describe motive or context, and some bear directly on what happened during the seconds before the shot.
Orlando remains charged in Unruh’s death and the case remains pending in Sedgwick County. The next milestone is the preliminary hearing process, where the property handoff, 911 call and police timeline are expected to face early courtroom review.
Author note: Last updated June 20, 2026.