Kansas City man is accused of killing three people during 2017 drug deal gone bad
More than nine months after two women and a man were shot and killed in an east Kansas City home, prosecutors have filed murder charges against a 27-year-old man linked to the three by an alleged drug deal.
Deaundre J. Brown of Kansas City faces three counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the deaths of Jennifer L. Zimmerman, Victor Portillo and Yesseria Ahumada.
He was in custody Wednesday morning at the Jackson County jail with bond set at $250,000.
The shootings occurred Nov. 10, 2017, inside a house in the 4900 block of East 17th Street.
Prosecutors say a witness told police that Brown was Ahumada’s ex-boyfriend and may have been involved in the killings.
According to court records, the witness told police he overheard a conversation between Portillo and Brown about a potential drug deal, with Ahumada setting up the sale.
Brown was looking to buy 20 pounds of marijuana from Portillo for $34,000, the witness said.
Cellphone records, surveillance video and another witness account allegedly placed Brown and his vehicle in the area before and after the shooting.
Cellphone records obtained by investigators showed Ahumada and Brown were in contact the night before the drug deal was supposed to happen. One text message allegedly from Brown asked Ahumada if she was still meeting him in the morning. She replied, “Yep.”
Surveillance video allegedly showed Ahumada’s and Brown’s cars together on the morning of the shooting.
One witness told police he heard gunshots that morning, looked out his window and saw a white sedan parked in the middle of the road in front of the house where the killings happened. The witness said the car sped away.
This story was originally published August 22, 2018 at 10:12 AM.