KC police investigating death of man found in backyard pool

Police are investigating after a man was found dead in his backyard pool under suspicious circumstances in south Kansas City.

Officers were called to the home in the 10900 block of Poplar Avenue at 10:37 a.m. on a reported drowning. Officers found a man, thought to be about 70, in the pool. A relative who lives in the house told police that the victim went into the back yard Saturday and that he had not seen him since.

The victim’s wife, who lives with their daughter next door, told police that she had been out of town over the weekend and that she discovered the body Tuesday.

Police did not release the victim’s name or cause of death. He suffered some head injuries, but his body bore no other signs of trauma, police said.

Neighbor Eugene Lundy told The Star that the relative who lives with the victim stopped by his house Saturday night, asking to borrow slices of bread to make a sandwich. The relative, who recently lost his job, told the neighbor that the victim was “driving him crazy.”

On Monday, Lundy saw the relative in the front yard playing with his three dogs.

Neighbors were used to hearing the victim fire up his pickup truck at the same time each morning, but they said they did not hear his truck start Sunday, Monday or Tuesday.

Police said they think the body had been in the pool for several days. It was unclear how much water was in the pool.

The relative had been living with the victim for several years, neighbors said. The victim’s wife moved into their daughter’s house next door about a year ago, neighbors said.

The victim did not speak to most of his neighbors and was considered “aloof,” they said.

But Lundy said he got along with the victim, who served in the Vietnam War and retired from a job at a roofing or asphalt company five or six years ago. The victim, who appeared to be in good health, collected guns, worked to maintain his lawn and last was seen Friday watering his grass, Lundy said.

The victim had lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years and had the pool installed shortly after his family moved in, neighbors said. But neighbors didn’t think the family had used the pool in years.

This story was originally published May 13, 2014 at 11:14 AM with the headline "KC police investigating death of man found in backyard pool."