Grandview man charged for intentionally running victim over with truck
A Grandview man was charged Saturday after prosecutors say he killed a man by intentionally running him over with their truck. His wife hid the truck.
Joshua Brooks, 38, is charged with first degree murder, armed criminal action and tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution. His wife, Cassie Brooks, 36, faces a charge of tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution. The charges were announced in a news release by the Jackson County prosecutor Saturday.
The charges stem from an April 13 hit and run crash near the intersection of Second and Third streets in Grandview that killed 28-year-old Erick McDonough. The man died at the hospital several days after he was hit.
Crash reconstruction showed that McDonough had been intentionally run over when the car that hit him veered off the road into the grass. Police said there were no skid marks in the road that would indicate an attempt by the driver to stop the vehicle, court records said.
Following the incident, police were told that the Brooks’ truck was missing and that the couple “had issues with the victim,” prosecutors say.
Joshua Brooks allegedly told police that McDonough had been staying with the couple but he had a “falling out” with him when McDonough entered the house to retrieve tools when Joshua Brooks wasn’t there and Cassie Brooks wasn’t dressed.
A couple of days after that incident, McDonough allegedly made rude comments to Cassie Brooks and Joshua Brooks told his wife that if McDonough ever talked to her again he would “hurt him,” court documents say.
The day of the car crash, Cassie Brooks told police, she had another encounter with McDonough.
She said she told Joshua Brooks about the encounter and later that day saw him driving in his 1987 Chevy truck. He allegedly told her “I (expletive) up, I don’t know what to do.”
According to court records, when police asked Cassie Brooks if her husband had tried to kill or hurt McDonough, she nodded her head.
“When you are in an ’87 Chevy and there is a person in front of you, there is something there that you are trying to do and it’s not that you are going to bake them a pie,” she allegedly said.
She told police she didn’t believe her husband meant to kill McDonough but that he is “soulless and dark,” court records say.
When asked about the truck, the couple told police that Cassie Brooks had driven it to Holden, Missouri, in order to sell it, prosecutors say.
Police located the truck and determined it matched the parts found at the crime scene.
In phone calls obtained by police, Joshua Brooks allegedly told his wife he would not let her go down with him, and he would tell police, “I ran him down with my pickup truck and killed him with no help from you whatsoever,” court documents said.
Joshua and Cassie Brooks are being kept at $250,000 bond and $10,000 bond respectively.
This story was originally published June 8, 2019 at 1:53 PM.
