Police ask for help identifying badly burned body found in barrel in KCK
Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a homicide victim whose body was found badly burned last week in a barrel in Kansas City, Kansas.
The body was found about 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 11 by a passerby near 18th Street and Kansas 5 highway, said Officer Jonathon Westbrook, a police department spokesperson. Officers found the body inside the barrel after a passerby reported seeing a human limb sticking out of it, Westbrook said.
Investigators were working to identify the victim. In a statement Tuesday, Officer Thomas Tomasic said the victim was described as being in his late teens to early twenties. He had black hair, stood about 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 120 to 130 pounds.
The letters “DIOS...” were tattooed on the inside of his right forearm, Tomasic said. A heart-shaped design with the numbers “15 8 1973” or 1977 could be seen on the left side of his chest, Tomasic said.
Police have said detectives think the body was there for less than 24 hours because the area is regularly patrolled for illegal dumping.
Anyone with information was asked by police to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
