Kansas City woman, 32, charged in shooting death of man found near construction site
Clay County prosecutors have accused a 32-year-old woman in the shooting death of a man whose body was found near a residential construction site in Kansas City, North.
Francesca A. Hernandez of Kansas City was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder, robbery and armed criminal action in the March 31 killing of Travis Stamper.
According to court records, officers were sent to a residential construction site in the 7300 block of N.E. 46th Terrace, where they found Stamper sprawled on the pavement. He had been shot. Investigators recovered bullet fragments near his body, police said.
Residents who live near where the shooting occurred told investigators they heard a loud bang and a pickup with a loud muffler moments after the shooting.
Investigators recovered a cell phone in Stamper’s front pocket that showed he had exchanged several text messages with an unknown woman. In one of the messages, Stamper agreed to pick up the woman near 12th Street and Askew Avenue.
The woman described herself as “having short, shaved head, dressing and looking like a male,” but reassured Stamper that she was in fact a female. Investigators learned that Stamper drove a green 1998 Ford F-150 with a loud muffler.
Hours after the shooting, police recovered the pickup after it had been towed off private property in the 3200 block of Gillham Road. Investigators obtained video surveillance taken in the area where the pickup had been towed. The video showed a woman getting out of the pickup and grabbing what appeared to be small luggage, clothes and a metal pot out of the bed of the truck before walking away.
The female in the video had short, buzzed hair, wore an over-sized T-shirt and was short and masculine. The woman appeared to match the description that appeared in a text message to Stamper, prosecutors allege.
Detectives later identified Hernandez as the woman who allegedly exchanged text messages with Stamper.
Police took Hernandez into custody. She told investigators that she and another woman “met’’ Stamper over a chat service and began texting each other. Stamper agreed to pick up Hernandez near East 12th Street. Stamper, Hernandez and another woman drove around for several hours until they eventually ended up near North Corrington Drive and NE 46th Terrace.
Once there, Stamper was shot after he got out of the pickup and handed over the keys and some methamphetamine to the women.
They drove to 10th Street and Monroe and then later abandoned the pickup on Gillham Road, according to court records.
Clay County prosecutors requested a $1 million bond.
This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 4:03 PM.
