Grandview mother mourns teen daughter lost to KC gun violence: ‘I’m in disbelief’
Traelynn Sibley was days away from starting her junior year at Grandview High School when she was shot and killed inside a friend’s home in Kansas City Saturday night.
Now, instead of Traelynn picking out her outfit for the first day of school, her mother, Cassandra O’Dell, has to lay out what Traelynn will wear at her own funeral. It’s a black lace dress, one O’Dell wore to her grandfather’s funeral years before.
“I’m in disbelief,” O’Dell told The Star. “I’m in total disbelief.”
Traelynn was at a sleepover in the 3600 block of Norton Avenue when the shooting happened. Police were called to the home just after 10 p.m., where they found the 16-year-old unresponsive, according to Capt. Jake Becchina, spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department.
The friend was a relatively new one, according to O’Dell. She recalled wanting to pick Traelynn up that night, but Traelynn begged her to let her stay.
“She even sent me a message saying, ‘Mama, I’m safe. I’m okay. It’s summertime. I don’t have anybody to chill with at home,’ and I keep reading that message,” she said through sobs, adding she regrets letting her stay.
Preliminary evidence indicated Traelynn was inside the home when gunfire from one or more people outside struck her, according to police. No suspect had been named by police as of Wednesday afternoon.
An artist and aspiring beautician
From the age of three, Traelynn was painting and snipping her own hair, sparking her love for cosmotology, her mother said.
“I caught her one time when she was three,” O’Dell said. “Her grandmother had bought her finger nail polish for her third birthday... It was meant for me to put on her, but she got a hold of it and had done her own toes.”
As she got older, Traelynn started painting various designs and portraits on nails. She also developed her passion for hair, and would get together with her friends to do each other’s hair and nails.
“She had really beautiful curly hair. She was just happy, fully of energy, bubbly, smart, sweet. A blessing,” O’Dell said.
Aside from cosmetology, Traelynn loved to dance, and had been involved with cheerleading through the school since 7th grade.
“She was a light, she was a light in our life. She was so much personality in one little person,” O’Dell said. “...the impact of losing her, our family is broken right now. This is horrible.”
‘I can not believe that this happened’
O’Dell was still awake when she got a random Facebook call from someone around 1 a.m. Thinking it was strange, she attempted to call her daughter, but got no answer. Knowing her daughter was out and given the time, she decided to ask the person who they were.
“I asked, who is this to the person calling me, and they said, ‘It’s about Traelynn, I need you to call me,’” O’Dell said.
On the line was the aunt of one of the girls who was in the home. The aunt explained Traelynn had been killed. O’Dell screamed, and said she continued screaming for hours.
O’Dell said her family lives in the Grandview and Belton area for the most part, and that though she knew where Traelynn was, it was not an area she was particularly familiar with. Traelynn had assured her mother she was in a safe home. But O’Dell said had she have known there was any potential for danger, she would’ve picked her right up.
“She’s not normally in that area,” she said. “It isn’t normal for her. “
Neighbors on Norton Avenue said there had been a shooting at the same home weeks before Traelynn was killed. Alayna Gonzalez, spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department, said police didn’t receive additional calls for shootings to that address, but did say there was a call for sound of shots on July 30 at the residence, but that there were no indications later it was a shooting.
“I don’t believe that girl who had passed away had anything to do with it,” said Shahn Johnson, who lives across the street. “I just think that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
O’Dell had always been hyper aware of her daughter, never allowing her to be outside walking by herself and always keeping tabs on her location. All in effort to prevent Traelynn from going missing like O’Dell’s cousin, Jody Ledkins.
Jody, then 14, was last seen on May 23, 1985, walking northbound on Winchester from 14th Street, according to the Kansas City Police Department’s unsolved missing person’s page. Police suspect foul play.
“I was brought up and my dad was so strict about it because of her. So he was extremely strict on me not being out past dark and things like that because of her. So it’s like, it kind of like trickled down, because of that. It made me super paranoid,” O’Dell said.
”I would never have her be in this kind of situation. I cannot believe that this happened,” she said.
Funeral plans have yet to be finalized, but O’Dell is planning on having a celebration of life with a butterfly release, likely in Grandview. She also hopes to start a fund on Venmo, where people can donate money to buy billboards with Traelynn’s face on it, bringing attention to problems with gun violence.
“I want everyone to see how tragic it is when you lose a child to gun violence. I mean, it’s not like anything that you could ever feel in your whole life,” O’Dell said. “She was taken violently. She was so sweet. She did not deserve this. She wouldn’t have done anything for anybody. She was sweet, beautiful soul.”
Rosilyn Temple, founder of Mothers in Charge, a group that works with police to provide trauma informed crisis information to families, went and visited O’Dell the day after Traelynn was killed to bring her comfort and answer questions. She describes it as the mothers being a part of a group they never asked to join.
“She was a young, 16-year-old still in school. And we would never know what her potentials would have been. The community has to step up and get these people off the streets.”
Alayna Gonzalez, spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department, said Wednesday afternoon that detectives are making progress identifying a person of interest.
This story was originally published August 14, 2025 at 10:35 AM.
