Kansas City man gets 20 years in prison for fatal 2015 shooting of local rap artist
A Kansas City man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting a local rapper in 2015, prosecutors said Monday.
Derius Taylor, 32, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the killing of 20-year-old Dominique Stafford. His body was found inside a car April 23, 2015, near East 37th Street and Elmwood Avenue.
Police were called to the scene after a person walking nearby spotted Stafford’s body slumped over in the car.
Taylor had arranged to buy drugs from Stafford, according to charging documents. But Taylor planned to rob him of drugs, large sums of cash and a diamond-encrusted necklace that Stafford frequently wore, detectives said.
The men met near East 31st Street and Van Brunt Boulevard and Taylor climbed into the front passenger’s seat. He pulled out a gun and shot Stafford twice, according to police.
Taylor took the necklace and a rifle that was inside the car, according to court records. He got out and went to another car waiting nearby. Another person got in the car with Stafford’s body and drove away while Taylor followed in the second car, records allege. They reportedly left the car with Stafford’s body inside where police found it.
Detectives later learned Taylor pawned off jewelry taken from Stafford, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
The month before Stafford was killed, his brother, Arthur Stafford Jr., 22, was found fatally shot outside Tony’s Market in the 3900 block of East 31st Street, The Star previously reported.
The Stafford brothers were rap artists with Duced Out Records, a Kansas City-based record company.
