Cadaver dog’s alert wasn’t ‘disregarded’ in home where body was found, KCFD says
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- Kansas City police said they thoroughly searched Sanchez-Munoz’s home after last.
- KCFD said the cadaver dog alerted in the basement and officials on scene were made aware.
- KCFD left about 30 minutes after the fire and said it did not follow up because it was no.
The Kansas City Fire Department late Thursday afternoon expanded on earlier statements about a cadaver dog’s “soft alert” in the flooded basement of the home where police were searching for suspected highway shooter Oscar Sanchez-Munoz.
A battalion chief searched every area that was physically accessible after the alert, the department said, and told investigators he did not believe human remains were present in the portions of the home that could be examined.
The fire department said it wanted to clarify its earlier statements about its assistance in responding to the house fire in the 700 block of South Brookside Avenue in Independence on June 16, where Sanchez-Munoz was suspected to have been.
“We believe it is appropriate to provide that context so that our law enforcement partners are not portrayed as having disregarded the assistance that was provided,” the fire department said in the news release.
The fire department said that the decisions by investigating agencies were partly based on the battalion chief’s assessment.
Police department spokesperson Capt. Jacob Becchina said the department had nothing more to add at this time.
Law enforcement did not find Sanchez-Munoz’s body the night of the fire 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 clarification expands on what KCFD officials told The Star earlier in the day about how a cadaver dog’s alert a week prior to police finding Sanchez-Munoz’s body was shared with lead investigators before KCFD left the scene.
The earlier account also differed from statements by Kansas City Police Department spokesperson Officer Alayna Gonzalez, who said Thursday she was not aware the fire department had responded to the scene and said she would have to check with detectives before confirming whether investigators had been told about the cadaver dog’s alert.
Kansas City police said on Wednesday that they had “thoroughly” searched Sanchez-Munoz’s home following last week’s 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, Becchina 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?’”
Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins said on Thursday that the fire department was at the scene of the fire for only about 30 minutes 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.”
