Man sentenced to prison for 2018 killing of Shawnee, Kansas, woman in possible hate crime
Ronald Lee Kidwell was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison Wednesday for killing a Shawnee, Kansas, woman in 2018 in what many have called a hate crime.
Kidwell pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbing of MeShon Cooper, 43, on July 6, 2018, before hiding her body in a trash can at his home. Kidwell had a prior history of physically and sexually assaulting women of color, and his family has spoken at length about his ties to white supremacist organizations.
Kidwell was initially charged with second-degree murder in July 2018. In January of this year, he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Cooper, who was Black, was last seen on her way to work at Subway, according to court documents. She was reported missing on July 7 after her car was found abandoned.
Kidwell confessed to killing Cooper when he was arrested 6 days later, according to court documents. Police tracked Cooper’s phone to Kidwell’s home in Shawnee after discovering blood in Cooper’s abandoned car, court documents show.
Cooper’s body was found in a trash can in Kidwell’s garage, wrapped in trash bags, court documents show. Police reported that Kidwell’s house smelled strongly of bleach. They also found blood-stained bedding in his garage.
Kidwell told police that Cooper attacked him first at his home, pulling a knife out and threatening to “tell everyone” that he was HIV positive, The Star reported in 2018. When Cooper hit him in the hand, Kidwell claimed he retaliated, fatally stabbing Cooper, The Star reported.
Kidwell told police, “When I get mad, I make the exorcist look like a bitch,” The Star reported.
He initially told police that another person slit Cooper’s throat during an argument, court documents show, at which point he drove her home and hid her body.
Kidwell previously worked at a Little Caesar’s pizza parlor in Shawnee, according to court documents. Police believe Cooper and Kidwell knew each other, and Kidwell’s neighbors reported seeing the two interact, The Star previously reported.
The case was complicated by the fact that Kidwell was not read his Miranda rights before he first spoke to police at his home, court documents show. Since 2018, Kidwell filed multiple complaints with Johnson County courts against Judge Timothy P. McCarthy, who sentenced him Wednesday.
Those who know Kidwell and Cooper have called Cooper’s death a hate crime. Kidwell’s estranged daughter, Crystal Foster, said Kidwell was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, The Star reported in 2018.
Foster told The Star in 2018 that Kidwell had threatened to kill her, along with her three children, saying he would “kill his daughter and her three children “if I ever spoke to a person of color.”
Kidwell spent 15 years in prison on various assault charges before killing Cooper, The Star reported. He was most recently incarcerated from 2011 to 2016 after pleading guilty to raping a Black woman, according to court documents. Kidwell told police that he had been diagnosed with HIV, and that he did not use a condom during the assault, The Star reported.
Cooper is survived by an adult son.
Previous reporting by Katie Bernard, Max Londberg, Aaron Randle and Tony Rizzo was used in this article.
