Man pleads guilty to 2023 fatal strangling of woman, is sentenced to 23 years in prison
A Kansas City man charged with strangling a woman after a crime spree in 2023 was sentenced to more than two decades in prison.
Darion Hall, 26, pleaded guilty on Monday to second-degree murder, and Jackson County judge sentenced him to 23 years in prison. Hall was convicted of fatally strangling 31-year-old Elizabeth Stivers near her home in east Kansas City. The crime happened on March 14, 2023.
Police responded to 4300 E. Seventh St. in the Lykins neighborhood around 9:16 p.m. after Stivers’ mother found her unresponsive and called 911, according to court documents. Stivers was brought to a nearby hospital, where she was declared deceased.
Around 6:45 p.m., a family member had notified police that Hall had taken the family member’s truck, according to court documents. Around an hour later, surveillance video places Hall at a Phillips 66 gas station on Independence Avenue, where he allegedly attempted to pick a customer’s pocket before attacking them and chasing them out of the store.
Hall can be seen on surveillance footage taken at a nearby Walgreens 6 minutes later, court documents read. There, he allegedly went behind the counter, tried to open the register, then shoved a clerk and broke a Plexiglass COVID protective shield before leaving the store.
Shortly after strangling Stivers, Hall was arrested nine blocks from the scene, according to court records. The stolen car that Hall was allegedly driving was found two blocks from Stivers’ home.
Hall was initially also charged with tampering with a motor vehicle and attempted stealing, according to court records.
Elizabeth Anne Stivers, who went by Liz, was born and raised in Kansas City and graduated from Overland Christian Schools, according to an obituary shared online. Stivers was deeply passionate about animals and worked at several animal rescues in the Kansas City area, most recently as a manager at KC P.A.W.S., the obituary reads.
Loved ones remember Stivers as a joyful woman with a big heart, who loved late-night movies and walked her friend’s dogs on her lunch breaks.
“She always made sure family and friends knew they were loved and appreciated,” Stivers’ obituary reads.
Stivers’ death was the 30th homicide reported in Kansas City in 2023, the city’s deadliest year on record (185 killings), according to data tracked by The Star.
