KCFD says its cadaver dog alerted of a body a week before police found highway shooter
As fire crews and investigators responded to an Independence house fire on June 16, where police were searching for a suspected gunman on the run, Kansas City Fire Department officials say a cadaver dog alerted them to possible human remains.
Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins said on Thursday that the dog’s alert was pointed at the flooded basement of the home and this information was shared with lead investigators before leaving the scene.
The dog’s alert was most likely for the body of Oscar Sanchez-Munoz, 22, of Independence, whom police were searching for in connection to a series of highway shootings earlier that evening that killed one and injured four.
Law enforcement did not find Sanchez-Munoz’s body that night and launched a week-long manhunt that came up empty until Wednesday, when his family members reported that they found a body in the same flooded basement police had already searched.
The revelation appears to be a remarkable disconnect between responding agencies and a failure to follow up on an important lead to finding a person considered to be armed and dangerous.
Hopkins said KCFD was asked to assist the Independence Fire Department and local police in responding to the house fire in the 700 block of South Brookside Avenue in Independence on June 16.
Hopkins said the Fire Department deployed its cadaver dog to help search for human remains. He said the dog alerted its handler to the basement of the home but fire crews could not search any further at the time.
“Due to the significant amount of debris and standing water in the basement, a physical search at that time did not result in locating any human remains,” Hopkins said.
The Fire Department was at the scene of the fire for only about 30 minutes, Hopkins said, before sharing the information with the lead agencies and leaving. He said KCFD did not follow up on the alert over the next week because the department was no longer involved in the case.
Hopkins said he could not speak to why it took another week to find the body and directed further questions to the other responding agencies.
“All officials on scene were made aware that the dog had alerted in the basement,” Hopkins said. “What actions or searches were conducted after our departure, I cannot speak to.”
Officials for the Independence Fire Department, which led the fire response, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Independence Police Department officials did not immediately respond to questions about whether they were informed of the dog alerting to human remains.
Meanwhile, KCFD Chief Craig Buckley said in a statement that regional partnerships are important to public safety.
“The Kansas City Fire Department is fortunate to have specialized resources, including search dogs and drone technology, and we are always willing to support our neighboring fire departments and law enforcement agencies whenever those capabilities are needed,” Buckley said. “Working together allows us to better serve the communities throughout our region.”
Missed body
Kansas City police said they had “thoroughly” searched Sanchez-Munoz’s home following the June 16 shootings and hadn’t found him. Investigators and police dogs went through the residence after the fire was extinguished, police said.
When asked how the body was missed by investigators and others who were inside the home, Capt. Jake Becchina, a spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department, repeatedly said that the basement of the home was cluttered with debris and initially flooded.
“This home was very thoroughly searched,” Becchina emphasized on Wednesday evening. “I can completely understand it raises the question, ‘How could this happen?’”
Becchina said that there are things to learn from the search, as well as things to “iron out with our partners in Independence.”
Police Department spokesperson Officer Alayna Gonzalez said Thursday she was not aware that the Kansas City Fire Department had responded to the scene, saying she believed the response involved the Independence Fire Department and the Missouri State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Gonzalez said she checked with investigators and was informed that they were never made aware of a cadaver dog alerting to anything within the residence or on the property.
When asked if the Fire Department had any concerns about the information slipping through the cracks, Hopkins said the fire department did its duty.
“KCFD is not concerned with how the information was relayed on scene,” Hopkins said. “It was provided to those on scene who needed to know it.”
End of a search
The discovery of the body on Wednesday marked the conclusion of the manhunt that stretched over several days after Sanchez-Munoz was accused of firing shots along a stretch that included Interstate 670, Interstate 70 and Truman Road on June 16.
Among those injured was an Uber driver taking fans to the Argentina-Algeria World Cup match. And a woman who had just left work and was heading to pick up a family member heard a noise as she was exiting Interstate 70 and was shocked to find she had been shot in the leg.
Jeremy Keenan, the man who died, was found in a vehicle that crashed along Truman Road.
He had been shot and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Police also linked Sanchez-Munoz to a June 11 shooting in Kansas City, Kansas, where another vehicle was struck by gunfire.
No one was injured in that incident, but the shooting set off an alert to officers in the metro.
This story was originally published June 25, 2026 at 1:03 PM.
