Remains dug up on Jackson County lot belong to missing Kansas City area woman, police say
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Human remains found in Jackson County
Buried human remains recently found in the yard of an unincorporated Jackson County residence were apparently discovered after a teenage girl told police that the homeowner admitted to killing a woman and hiding the body, according to court records.
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Human remains found on an eastern Jackson County residential property belong to Kensie Renee Aubry who had been reported missing in Independence since October, police said Thursday.
Investigators were searching for the 32-year-old woman who had not been in contact with family members since Oct. 7.
Authorities unearthed the remains while executing a search warrant at the property located in the 4000 block of South Buckner Tarsney Road, near Grain Valley. A teenage girl told police that the homeowner admitted killing a woman and hiding her body on the property, according to court records.
Investigators have not said how the victim died but DNA recovered from the crime scene matched one of Aubry’s relatives.
No arrests have been made and no criminal charges have been filed in connection to the killing.
The property owner, Michael Hendricks, 40, and a woman, Maggie Ybarra, were identified as subjects of the investigation, according to the search warrant obtained by The Star on Thursday.
In April, a teenage girl Hendricks is accused of sexually abusing told police that Hendricks confessed to killing a woman whose dismembered body was shown to her in photographs.
The teenage girl led investigators to his property in unincorporated Jackson County. The human remains were located in white garbage bags with orange pull ties. Part of the remains appeared to have been stapled, according to the search warrant.
Hendricks admitted to choking a woman to death and putting her in the freezer, the girl told the detective. He also allegedly told the teenager “it turned him on when people die.”
Among the remains were also gray duct tape, white Styrofoam, wood and white zip ties.
The teen was showed photos of the dismembered body and was told it had been buried, according to the search warrant.
Aubry, who is originally from Pearland, Texas, was last known to be living in the 6000 block of East 14th Street in Kansas City, Kansas. She was last seen with two men and a woman, according to a flyer released by Kansas Missing & Unsolved.
According to the search warrant, Aubry was contacted by Ybarra, who is dating Hendricks, and asked her to meet up over Facebook.
Ybarra told Aubry to turn off her cell phone when she met with her and Hendricks. Those messages were the last ones received from Aubry’s Facebook account. Relatives told investigators that Aubry worked as a sex worker on occasion, according to court records.
A second witness told investigators that Hendricks also shared photographs on his cell phone of Aubry. One included Aubry in a freezer and a body part was missing. Other images included a dismembered body, the search warrant stated.
The witness said Ybarra and Hendricks said he used a chainsaw in the basement of a residence and placed the body parts in a box.
Hendricks allegedly told the witness they tried to dispose of the body by dropping part of the body in a box from a helicopter and when that didn’t work, Hendricks allegedly dug a hole near or under a septic tank at his residence and buried the remains there, according to the search warrant.
Authorities were summoned to the property, located along a two-lane highway in eastern Jackson County around 9:30 a.m. Heavy construction equipment was used to dig a massive hole in the yard adjunct to the house.
A forensic evaluation was used to identified the remains. A criminal case file was sent to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office to determine whether to file criminal charges.
Hendricks and his girlfriend, Ybarra, 30, currently face criminal charges in Jackson County Circuit Court for allegedly having sex in front of a minor, child molestation and attempting to impede a felony investigation. The teen said both of them sexually abused her between October and April, according to court filings related to the criminal charges.
Prosecutors allege Hendricks and Ybarra tried to coerce the girl into having sex with them. Hendricks allegedly assaulted her while he was having sex with Ybarra at the time.
Clarification: Kensie Aubry was reported missing in Independence. Her last address was in Kansas City, Kansas. The headline has been updated.
This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 3:28 PM.
