‘He was too perfect’: Family, friends remember slain Kansas City father of eight
Before he died, Roman Yslas hid a special gift for his soon-to-be wife and helped arrange the other presents for the eight children in their blended family to be placed underneath the Christmas tree.
Shell Campbell, his fiancee, had a surprise of her own: She was expecting to receive by mail the wedding band he would wear once they officially tied the knot. It was all going to be part of a big Christmas production in their new home.
“He always makes me sappy and makes me cry from all the sweet things. I was going to get him this time,” Campbell told The Star.
“I didn’t get a chance.”
Yslas, 46, was shot and killed early Tuesday morning, four days before the family gathering, in the parking lot of his Kansas City apartment complex in the Northland. His sudden and violent death has stunned those close to him, and future plans have since been replaced by thoughts of all the things he will miss.
Now, Campbell is trying to figure out how to explain to their daughter why she can’t hold her dad anymore, and to their son why he isn’t around to play ball.
“He’ll never be able to walk any of his daughters down the aisle. Won’t be able to help his daughter with homework. Go to her first school play. His son’s next baseball game. Nothing,” Campbell said.
“I’m gonna have to try and stand in his shoes,” she added. “And they’re pretty damn big shoes to fill.”
‘Too perfect’
A native of Arizona, Yslas first arrived in the Kansas City area during high school. He became a top fan of all the professional teams — especially the Chiefs — and enjoyed pitching in friendly softball leagues throughout his adult life.
In 1994, he joined the U.S. Air Force, serving four years, which included overseas deployment. Until recently he had worked with Children’s Mercy Hospital for five years before being laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, and began work in sales.
When Yslas first came across Campbell’s online dating profile roughly four years ago, she had only filled out two words: Busy, busy.
At the time she was a working single mother of four children and had little time to sleep let alone date. He messaged her first, and they quickly clicked. For their first outing she brought him to meet some of her closest friends, a group that would become extended family to him as well.
“I sent him into the deep end,” Campbell said, with a laugh. “I decided if he was going to stay around then he needed to meet my other family, and if they didn’t like him there probably was something wrong with him.
“Nothing was wrong with him. He was too perfect.”
Before long the couple became a full-fledged nuclear family, with a cluster of kids ages 5 to 26. Yslas treated Campbell’s four children as he did the three from his previous marriage. Eighteen months ago, Campbell and Yslas welcomed a baby girl into the world.
Goofy and fun-loving, Yslas was known by many as the life of the party. When he popped the question to Campbell, he organized as a ruse a fake scavenger hunt that landed them in the Sprint Center, where they had their first one-on-one date years before. He brought T-shirts that said: “That’s what she said” on one side and “Yes” on the other.
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Yslas also was a source of strength when life grew tough.
While pregnant, Campbell was diagnosed with cancer that required five rounds of chemotherapy treatment. There were fears that their unborn child might not make it through. After she was born, Yslas spent every day with her while she stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit. He also solely fulfilled the family’s financial obligations, and he assumed many of the caretaker duties for the kids while Campbell was ill.
Despite some of those recent trials, there were bright spots emerging in their lives. A few months ago, after Yslas had spent the past 16 years living in Lake Waukomis, they had arranged to move to a new place closer to Campbell’s parents. The cancer had gone into remission. And the baby was healthy and happy.
“We thought we made it through the hard stuff already,” Campbell said.
Dec. 21 shooting
Around 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 21, Kansas City police officers were dispatched to the 8700 block of North Kansas Place, a cul-de-sac within the Barrewoods Apartments complex.
Few details have been released yet as detectives work the investigation. But police were alerted by calls of neighbors reporting a person who had been shot in the street. First responders pronounced Yslas dead on the scene.
Campbell was inside the apartment when the gunshots rang out. Her daughters thought they sounded like fireworks. Yslas had just taken the family dog out for a quick walk. She opened the door, yelled out his name and heard no reply.
She threw her shoes on and rushed out the door to find him bleeding, facedown on the ground, halfway on the sidewalk and halfway on the street. A neighbor who came outside helped her call 911. Campbell could not stop screaming.
Neighbors interviewed by The Star the following day said they were shocked to learn of a shooting in their quiet community. One described seeing someone fire approximately seven gunshots from a golden, dark-colored car, driving away and returning before firing again.
Family and friends can only speculate as to why Yslas was shot at this point. Angela and Jay Parker, best friends of Yslas and Campbell, said he was the last person they would consider to be targeted by gun violence. They wonder if he perhaps had gone outside seeking to help someone or break up some form of criminal activity that led up to the shooting.
“He’d be the last person that I know that anyone would want to hurt,” Angela Parker said.
‘Justice for Roman’
In the few short days since his killing, Campbell has been in contact with police and a victim advocate assigned to help with the trauma. Funeral services are being planned, and Yslas parents are making the trip up from Arizona soon. His younger brother is in the Navy and stationed in California awaiting a deployment.
The only thing the family truly wants is for Yslas to be back in their lives, Campbell said. Recent days have been spent pondering the countless what-ifs that may have led down another path where he would still be alive today. They want answers, and for the person who shot him to be found — but it will not change what is done, Campbell said.
“I want justice for Roman. He deserves that. But it’s not going to give me any peace,” she said.
There are constant reminders everywhere of the man she planned to marry in August 2023. The wedding band Campbell ordered finally arrived by mail — the day after Yslas was shot dead. The Christmas gift Yslas hid for her in their apartment is still there somewhere. No one but him knew where he left it.
Campbell thinks she’ll find that last gift someday soon when she goes back to pack up her things. She can’t stand to live in a space so close to where Yslas was killed.
“It’ll be a bittersweet day,” she said.
A GoFundMe has been created to help raise money for Yslas’ family.
The Kansas City Police Department is encouraging anyone with information about Yslas’ killing to contact homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS. A reward of up to $25,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest in the case.
This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 7:48 AM.
