Paroled murderer charged in beating death of Kansas City woman two years ago

A Kansas City man on parole after serving 30 years in prison was charged Tuesday in the beating death of a woman whose body was found in a garbage bag two years ago.

Kevin O. Hurley Sr., 59, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Brandy K. Castaneda, 42, whose body was found in January 2016 near 49th Street and Brooklyn Avenue. Jackson County prosecutors said Tuesday that DNA linked Hurley to the homicide, which had remained unsolved for two years.

At the time of the killing, Hurley was on parole after serving time in prison for robbery and murder.

According to court documents, Castaneda — who also went by the name Helbock-Castaneda — had been reported missing Dec. 23, 2015 when her sister walked into a police station and said Castaneda had not been seen in nearly three weeks.

Castaneda's roommate reported having last seen her at home in the 1300 block of East 82nd Terrace on Dec. 5, 2015. Castaneda was last seen alive that day at a nearby apartment complex in the 8100 block of Campbell Street.

During the missing person investigation, officers realized that Castaneda's purse and cellphone were missing.

On Jan. 8, 2016, officers were called to 49th Street and Brooklyn Avenue where city workers had found Castaneda's naked body in a black trash bag.

Castaneda's purse and cellphone remained missing. The Jackson County Medical Examiner's office reported the cause of death as blunt force trauma.

Cellphone records showed that Castaneda had used her phone up until about 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 5. Her phone received phone calls and text messages from her roommate and father but did not dial out any numbers until the next day, 24 hours after she was last seen alive.

Police traced three outgoing calls from Castaneda's cellphone to a person living at an apartment building across the street from where Castaneda was last seen alive. Detectives questioned that person, who said she did not know the victim but that her uncle, Hurley, had been at her home with her fiance at the time Castaneda was last seen nearby.

At some point, DNA evidence from the crime was matched to Hurley, who had been released from prison on parole in 2013 after serving nearly 30 years for first-degree robbery and murder convictions in Jackson County.

A probable cause statement, dated Monday and released with charging documents in the Castaneda case, does not indicate when that DNA evidence was processed.

The probable cause statement says that when detectives interviewed Hurley, he did not recall his whereabouts in December 2015 or January 2016 and denied knowing the victim. He refused consent for another DNA test.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for the additional DNA test and compared it with DNA from a rope that had been found around Castaneda's hips. It was a match for Hurley, according to court documents.

Further tests showed the DNA from the crime scene matched either Hurley or "someone from his paternal lineage."

Investigators learned that Hurley had a son. But a DNA test showed that they were not biologically related and excluded the son as a potential contributor to the crime scene evidence.

Ian Cummings: 816-234-4633, @Ian__Cummings

This story was originally published March 6, 2018 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Paroled murderer charged in beating death of Kansas City woman two years ago."