Kansas City police arrest suspect in fatal weekend stabbing: Court documents
A 25-year-old man who is a suspect in a stabbing death Saturday in the Palestine West neighborhood in Kansas City has been arrested, according to court documents.
The man, whom the Star is not naming because he has not been charged in the killing, was being held Wednesday in the Jackson County jail on unrelated felony warrants. He faces charges for separate alleged crimes, including unlawful firearm possession, and is accused of violating probation on early felonies.
Documents filed in Jackson County Circuit Court show the man is suspected of killing 26-year-old Jesus Diaz-Deleon. On Saturday, shortly before noon, Kansas City police officers were called to the 3800 block of Bales Avenue on a reported cutting. Responding officers found the victim, Diaz-Deleon, suffering from apparent trauma inside a home.
He was declared dead on scene by emergency medical personnel. The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office found that the cause of death was multiple stab wounds.
Witnesses told police Diaz-Deleon had lived at the residence off-and-on but was recently kicked out in part because of problems between him and another man. On the day of the stabbing, witnesses also described hearing an argument in the basement before finding Diaz-Deleon covered in blood and then calling 911.
One witness told police she awoke to the sound of Diaz-Deleon banging on the door and asking for help. At the door, she saw him holding his neck and saying he was “going to die” as he collapsed, according to an affidavit prepared by Kansas City homicide detectives investigating the case.
On Monday at 12:17 p.m., detectives with KCPD’s Illegal Firearms Squad arrested the suspect on outstanding felony warrants near the intersection of Independence and Lawn avenues, according to court documents.
The suspect was placed on a 24-hour hold for homicide. During a video recorded police interview on Tuesday, he allegedly told detectives he was not present when the stabbing occurred.
Detectives on Monday were granted permission by a Jackson County judge to seize the suspect’s cellphone, an item among his personal property when he was booked into the Jackson County jail, as part of the homicide investigation.
According to court documents, the suspect had a warrant issued for his arrest in Jackson County Circuit Court in late December. He was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm following a July traffic stop in Kansas City where he and another person locked and left a vehicle to be towed by KCPD.
Before towing the vehicle, officers conducted an inventory search and discovered a loaded 9mm handgun underneath the passenger seat where the suspect had been sitting, according to court documents.
In October, a test conducted at the Kansas City Crime Lab allegedly showed the suspect’s DNA on the firearm. Previous felony convictions bar him from possessing a firearm.
In 2020, the suspect pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree robbery and unlawful use of a weapon. He was given probation and faced suspended prison sentences of four years and seven years respectively.
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 10:38 AM.
