Raytown couple killed in their home leaves kids, community with memories of love
Kenneth McKenzie Jr. placed his hand on his sister’s shoulder as they looked at their mother, lying in a white casket next to their father’s, red roses at her feet the day before the funeral.
In one of the last conversations Kenneth McKenzie Jr. had with his mother, she told him how much she loved his father, her “person.” They were best friends. At the end of the day, all they needed was each other.
On Jan. 13 Kenneth and Etta McKenzie were killed in their home.
At the live-streamed funeral at Friendship Baptist Church, Kenneth and Kamille McKenzie talked about what they learned from their parents.
“I am sad that they’re gone,” the younger Kenneth said. “But somehow … they prepared me for this because they touched all of you. And I know that I’m not alone.”
The deaths of Kenneth and Etta McKenzie marked the first two homicides in Raytown this year.
Through it all, their children have managed to find one slim silver lining in the death of their parents: At least they died together.
Their story — from eloping to dying together — is one of never-ending love, laughter and making the world a better place for everyone who came after them, family and friends said.
A love story
At ages 69 and 67, they were still dancing together.
Kenneth McKenzie was born on April 16, 1951, in Byromville, Georgia. Etta McKenzie was born Dec. 8, 1953 in Marshall, Texas. But both moved to Kansas City at a young age.
They met at Southwestern Bell — now a subsidiary of AT&T — in the 1970s in Kansas City when Kenneth was working in human resources and Etta came in for an interview.
As soon as he saw her, Kenneth knew she was the one. Etta would say, however, that she didn’t even notice him, family told The Star.
In 1977, the pair eloped in Vegas. When they returned to Kansas City, they threw a huge reception at Kauffman Stadium — Etta knew how to throw a party.
They waited five years before bring kids into their lives, but spent more than four decades together, loving and supporting each other. They were each other’s favorite person.
What happened that night
When police arrived to the McKenzie’s home in the 8300 block of Hedges Avenue around 2 a.m. on Jan. 13, they heard gunshots coming from inside.
Officers saw a man walking around inside the home, but, according to the Raytown Police Department, he refused to come out which initiated a standoff. SWAT officers were called to the scene.
About an hour later, the man came to the door. He had gunshot wounds and was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Police found Kenneth and Etta McKenzie inside. They had been shot to death.
Kamille and Kenneth McKenzie Jr. said they could not talk about the case, which is still under investigation.
Leaving the world ‘a better place’
Everyday since Kenneth and Etta McKenzie’s deaths, their children have learned of the “phenomenal” things their parents have done for others, down to the simple moments in which they took the time to make people feel special.
Etta, a State Farm agent and a Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. member, launched a 24-hour daycare center to help parents who worked overnight jobs.
Her daughter recalls Etta always mothering, even when the kids weren’t her own. If she saw a child playing too close to the street, she would pull over, roll down her window and parent the child.
“’Somebody needs to teach these babies,’” Kamille McKenzie recalled her mother saying. “That’s their whole mission in life is helping and doing.”
She loved her State Farm job because it allowed her to help people on a daily basis. She would leave home at 1 a.m. if someone’s house caught on fire or if someone got in a car accident.
Kenneth, who worked at AT&T, would be out at 6 a.m. shoveling snow off a family member’s driveway or raking the leaves out of their yard, just so they couldn’t stop him.
The pair also ran a nightclub for several years, owned a convenience store, as well as several rental properties.
“They didn’t believe in just being a member of the community but leaving it a better place,” said Sharon “Shay” Franklin, who knew them for 15 years.
When Franklin was going through chemotherapy and the pandemic hit Kansas City, the McKenzies would bring her groceries and toilet paper.
And when Etta and Kamille fell sick with COVID-19 in December, Franklin dropped off gifts for Etta’s birthday in a container in the garage. By Franklin’s birthday in early January, Etta tested negative and told her it was her birthday gift.
She dropped off a gift and waved goodbye. That was the last time Franklin saw her.
‘You’re sad because there’s no more memories to create’
As she reminisced over the years of memories with her parents, Kamille McKenzie closed her eyes and let the sun wash over her face.
“I’m just thinking of my momma,” she said.
Even as she and her brother entered adulthood — she is 33 and Kenneth Jr. is 38 — the parenting part never ended. But she would call her parents often, even 10 times a day, and had entered the friendship stage. Now, she feels robbed of that.
But she also feels that they moved into her spirit when they died, she said.
“I feel them,” Kamille said. “I cherish that and I hold onto that and I hope that lasts for the rest of my life. Because I just don’t know what this world is like without them.”
Anytime Kenneth Jr. would call his mother when he was sick, she would offer to drop everything to come take care of him. He lives in Dallas with his wife Dawn McKenzie; they’ve been together for 25 years.
His mom would ask, did he have Kleenex? Did he have his Vicks Vaporub? Yes, he would tell her, and yes, Dawn was there to take care of him.
When Dawn’s mother died in 2018, both Etta and Kenneth were there for her, she said. Kenneth would take out the trash or check on the house without being asked — that’s just how they were.
The couple essentially adopted Dawn for much of her life. They welcomed her into their family, brought her food, helped her navigate through college and continued to provide career advice later on — she even went on to work for Etta at State Farm.
Dawn and Kenneth Jr. both still work at State Farm. Kamille too worked for her mother there at State Farm for 11 years; now she’s at Cerner.
Last year, she took her mother and a friend to the Super Bowl in Miami — one of her lasting memories with her mother.
“You’re sad because there’s no more memories to create,” Kamille said. “But I have — every second of my life is a memory with my parents that I will cherish forever.”
Through the process of laying their parents to rest, all three are focused on making sure everyone else feels comfortable. It’s just one way Kenneth and Etta instilled the value of service into them.
At the wake last week, Kamille embraced two of her mother’s co-workers. And Kenneth Jr. wrapped his arms around his aunt.
There isn’t much left unsaid. They always said “I love you.”
But if they could, they would tell their parents “thank you.”
