Five years after shooting in Belton, Missouri woman charged with accessory to murder
About six months after charges were filed against the suspect in a five-year-old Cass County murder case, a southeastern Missouri woman has been charged as an accomplice in the fatal shooting.
Amy Lynn Kestner, 47, is accused of being with Charles E. Branson in the early hours of March 30, 2017, at the trailer park where 29-year-old Gabriel Brito-Ramirez was fatally shot.
Kestner was charged Monday with felony murder in Cass County Circuit Court, a crime that carries a maximum term of life in prison. Detectives recently investigating the case heard from witnesses who claimed Kestner — a distant relative of Brito-Ramirez through her ex-husband — admitted to being involved, including one who said she described being a getaway driver, according to charging documents.
Brito-Ramirez was killed during a suspected robbery. He was fatally shot near the front door of a trailer after a struggle with a man, identified by police as Branson, who allegedly came to the door before sunrise armed with a gun and demanded money.
As of last week, Kestner was living in Sikeston, a town of about 16,000 in the Bootheel region, when she was approached by a Belton detective and another officer with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Court papers say they were there for two reasons: To question her about the homicide and to arrest her for an unrelated federal gun charge. She allegedly told the investigators “I know why you’re here” and said the victim was her “family” when told the detectives were seeking to bring justice for Brito-Ramirez’ relatives.
According to court records, Belton police officers were dispatched to the scene shortly after 3 a.m. in the 1500 block of North Scott Avenue after a 911 hangup. On the way, updated information was provided by dispatchers that a person had been shot.
The arriving officers were met outside of a trailer home by a witness who directed them inside. Brito-Ramirez, who was shot in the neck, did not appear to be breathing. Officers attempted CPR and he was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Two witnesses, both juveniles, said they were asleep in the living room when they woke to the sound of an argument between a gunman, Brito-Ramirez and their father. Both described hearing gunfire and seeing a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt leaving through the front door.
At the scene officers learned there was a second gunshot victim: Brito-Ramirez’s brother-in-law. During an interview at the hospital, he recalled being summoned by Brito-Ramirez to the front door as a man, wearing a bandanna that covered his face, was pointing a gun and demanding cash.
The brother-in-law said he told the man there was no money at the home and he was welcome to look, court records state. Then he described a struggle to wrestle the gun away during which Brito-Ramirez was shot first and then he was shot in the shoulder.
A hat worn by the suspect fell off during the scuffle. It was collected as evidence along with photographs, two 9mm shell casings and other swabs for DNA.
Eight months later, the Kansas City crime lab issued a report to Belton police stating Branson was a likely contributor of DNA found at the scene, court records show. His genetic profile was in a statewide database from an earlier criminal case. But the crime lab wanted more samples from Branson, which were later obtained through a search warrant.
Results from the lab allegedly showed Branson as a “possible major contributor” for DNA back in May 2018. But the case did not move forward for roughly three years.
Branson, 36, was charged in connection with the crime in late December after a Belton detective took a new look at the cold case. DNA from a hat found at the crime scene and cellphone data analyzed by the FBI were used as the basis for six felony charges, including second-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty to the crimes.
In 2021, after the new detective was assigned to the case, interviews were conducted with witnesses, including relatives of Brito-Ramirez, that apparently led to suspicion of Kestner as an accomplice. Witnesses recalled she needed money after her then-husband, Brito-Ramirez’s cousin, had been deported.
One witness told investigators Kestner had sent her messages and a news article about the homicide, and once told her she “had a bloody shirt to prove it.”
Another witness told the detective she recalled hearing about a “drug rip-off gone wrong” that happened several years before in Belton.
Along with witness statements, authorities allege cellphone records show Kestner and Branson drove from St. Clair to Cass County on the day of the killing.
Kestner appeared in federal court Tuesday on a federal gun possession charge, where she was ordered held in law enforcement custody. A warrant issued in the murder case calls for her to be held in Cass County on a $500,000 bond.
An attorney for Kestner was not listed in court records as of Thursday morning.
