‘Couldn’t get a break’: Mother of Kansas City homicide victim searches for answers

Melinda Mueller’s Blue Springs house is filled with framed pictures of her son Quintin Dewberry. In them, Dewberry is doing what he loved: playing pool, hanging out with his mom and making music.

The newest addition to the array of frames is Dewberry’s obituary. The 23 year old was shot and killed May 18 near 49th Street and Agnes Ave.

Mueller said it’s difficult to be at the home where they both lived.

“I drive a lot now. I hate it here,” she said. “This was his home, but it’s so empty now.”

No one has been arrested.

Mueller said someone sent her a video of the shooting which she watched once. She believes she knows who did it and is angry that no charges have been filed.

“It makes me sick to my stomach to not know what his last 30 minutes were. I don’t know if he was scared, if the lights were going out,” Mueller said. “I just don’t know if he was able to pray or if anybody prayed over him.”

‘I know he struggled’

Mueller said she and her son had a special bond — they were all each other had for years after she escaped an abusive relationship with Dewberry’s father when he was six.

“Regardless of the fact that it was harmful to stay, I know leaving his father had an impact on him as well. I know he struggled. I did the best that I could, and I know he knows that,” Mueller said. “Knew that.”

Dewberry fell into drugs as a teen, and his mom sent him and his then girlfriend to Teen Challenge, a religious rehab program. After he left, he quickly got arrested and spent two years in prison.

Two weeks before he was set to be released in early 2019, he was at a job interview as part of a work release program. He did not show up to the bus stop on time to be taken back, and was charged with aggravated escape and sentenced to another two years, Mueller said.

“My son didn’t deserve none of that,” Mueller said.

Dewberry was released on his birthday, Sept. 9, 2021. After getting out, he couldn’t find a job because he was a felon.

“He struggled because nobody would hire him. Nobody wanted to pay him and you’ve got to have money to live out here,” Mueller said. “I know he turned in the last few weeks to other things to make money and that was his downfall.”

Dewberry loved music, and wrote songs for Mueller about how they struggled and made it work. In a video, he hit a table for a beat, singing and rapping about his relationship with God, his mother and how they were figuring things out.

Despite what he went through, Mueller said he was passionate about religion, his music and was always a joyful kid. She said she called him a monkey when he was a baby because he was constantly climbing on furniture, even before he could really walk.

The two loved to play pool together, swim and go on trips. Mueller particularly enjoyed a vacation they took to New York City, where she taught him about the 9/11 attacks because he was only three in 2001. She said he cried when learning about it.

Mueller said she believed her son was on the other side of prison and drugs and was going to live a good life if his had not been cut short.

“He struggled, but he was a good kid. He just couldn’t get a break. He couldn’t get a foot up, ever,” Mueller said.

He also loved kids and wanted to be a dad when things got better, she said.

“He wanted to help kids that were in the same position as him. He was very passionate about being a parent,” Mueller said.

She has found comfort in talking to his friends. Even though they are much younger than her, they knew him too, she said.

“For 17 years, it was just me and him. Even though he was in jail, or wherever he was, I was still there. I was right there. I never left my son,” Mueller said.

A month after the shooting, she said it feels like it happened yesterday. She still owes $6,900 for her son’s funeral. A GoFundMe has been started to help her with expenses.

Anyone with information about Dewberry’s death can call the Kansas City Police Department’s homicide unit at 816-234-5043. Anonymous information can be submitted by calling the TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS. There is up to a $25,000 reward for an arrest in the case.

This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 2:03 PM.