Suspicious death investigation ruled a homicide after body found Sunday at KC park
A suspicious death investigation that began Sunday after a body was found at a park in south Kansas City has been ruled a homicide, police said Monday.
Officers responded at about 3 p.m. Sunday to an Emergency Medical Services call at Minor Park, in the area of Red Bridge Road and Blue River Road, Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman with the Kansas City Police Department, said Sunday.
They found the victim, an adult man, inside the park near a basketball court, Drake said. EMS, who also responded, declared the man deceased.
“Due to the nature of the injuries, at this time the death is being investigated as a suspicious death,” Drake said Sunday.
On Monday morning, Drake in an emailed update said the death has since been ruled a homicide, marking the 20th homicide in Kansas City this year. Kansas City ended last year with 182 homicides, the most in the city’s history in a single year, according to data maintained by The Star.
Drake said previously that detectives investigating the death are also looking to speak with anyone who was at the park Sunday.
“If you were here and you have some information, or you think you saw something — even if it’s small in your mind, it might be big to the detectives — they’re asking that you give the homicide unit a call,” she said.
Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call the department’s homicide unit at 816-234-5043. Anyone who wants to remain anonymous can call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).
An award of up to $25,000 is available for information leading to an arrest in any homicide investigation, police said.
Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
