In Shawnee stabbing case, man is accused of killing girlfriend’s ex-husband: testimony
A Kansas City man is accused of stabbing his girlfriend’s ex-husband to death last summer in Shawnee, according to testimony in a Johnson County courtroom.
Vincenzo Lucasta, also known as Morgan Speakman, appeared in Johnson County District Court for a preliminary hearing Tuesday. He is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of David Paterno, 57, at Paterno’s home in the 21900 block of W. 51st Place.
During the hearing, police and other witnesses described the events surrounding Paterno’s death.
Lucasta sat in an orange jumpsuit listening to the testimony. He has previously been convicted, under the name Morgan Speakman, of forgery, aggravated false impersonation, armed robbery and drug charges.
According to testimony, police were called to Paterno’s home early in the morning Aug. 8 by a neighbor, Candice Craus.
Craus testified that she was sitting in her garage when a white pickup truck, without its headlights turned on, drove slowly past her house and stopped in front of Paterno’s home.
“I heard the sound of the glass door slamming open and David’s voice,” Craus said.
She then began to hear loud, guttural noises that sounded “like a fight” coming from the home, she said.
Craus testified that she walked to the bottom of her driveway and yelled, asking what was going on. She said she then saw a man, who appeared to be holding a knife, walk out of the house and toward the truck.
She ran inside and called the police.
When Shawnee police officers arrived they found Paterno sitting in his home, surrounded by blood.
One of the officers, testifying Tuesday, said Paterno had multiple stab wounds all over his body, including his head.
The officer said he called for medical assistance, but Paterno wasn’t breathing and his heart had stopped by the time an ambulance arrived.
About 3 a.m. a Bonner Springs police sergeant assisting in the investigation checked on the home of Paterno’s ex-wife. The sergeant was also looking for the truck seen driving away from the crime scene.
While the sergeant was leaving the neighborhood, she saw the truck drive in.
Shawnee police came to the house to question the people there, including Lucasta, who admitted to owning the truck.
A Shawnee police detective, John Stirling, testified that Lucasta showed no signs of having been in a fight or recently showering to remove evidence from his body.
According to Stirling, Lucasta said that he had been at Nick and Nino’s Pub in Kansas City from 10 p.m. until 1 a.m. and had stopped at QuikTrip for gas before heading home.
The pub’s owner Nino Sokoli, testified that surveillance video from the pub showed Lucasta coming and going around midnight. He said Lucasta visited the bar more than once each week.
The hearing was expected to finish Tuesday afternoon.
This story was originally published July 30, 2019 at 3:46 PM.
