Kansas City man sentenced in 2018 fatal stabbing of mother of 4
A Kansas City man has been sentenced to more than two decades in prison after pleading guilty in the fatal stabbing of a mother of four.
Xzavier C. McDowell, 20, was sentenced to 23 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the killing of Deandrea R. Vine in 2018, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release Sunday.
The 27-year-old woman was found stabbed to death on July 28, 2018, in front of a home in south Kansas City where she and her four children were living with other family members, The Star reported at the time.
Vine’s mother, with whom she lived, told The Star in 2018 that her daughter lived her life overcoming learning disabilities and with epilepsy. At the time of her killing, Vine was a mother to a 7-year-old daughter, a 5-year-old son, a 3-year-old daughter and a 21-month-old son.
McDowell, who was 17 at the time, worked with Vine at the Walmart on Missouri 350. He was charged shortly after with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and tampering with physical evidence.
He pleaded guilty in February 2020. He was sentenced on Friday to 23 years for the murder conviction and five years for the armed criminal action conviction. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively.
Police at the scene found “a large amount of blood” in the driveway at the home in the 8500 block of East 92nd Street, according to the prosecutor’s office. Vine had been stabbed multiple times.
At the time of McDowell’s arrest, police said he admitted to tossing away the knife he used in the stabbing and burned his bloody clothes.
Police said McDowell told them he had a “lust relationship” with Vine but that he was upset when she told him she was pregnant and he was the father.
According to court documents, McDowell told police he and Vine had sex in a vehicle in the driveway of the house. He said she then tried to stab him but he was able to grab the knife away from her and stabbed her “a bunch of times.” Police said McDowell told them he kept stabbing Vine because he was “trying to make it happen faster.”
A witness said she heard a female screaming “stop” and “help” at 1:45 a.m., court records show.
Police said McDowell told them he left for about five minutes but returned to make sure Vine was dead and stabbed her several more times, including in the head, because “she had to die,” according to court records.
Vine was found with stab wounds to her head, face, neck, chest, stomach, arms and hands.
Police said McDowell called Uber to take him home. Police found evidence of blood in McDowell’s bathroom and ashes from clothing in the yard.
