Crime

Medical examiners rule homicide after woman’s remains found in KC backyard in October

Police have identifed the victim whose body was found in October after a dog dug up human remains in the backyard of a residence in the 5600 block of Paloma Avenue. Detectives are investigating the death as a homicide.
Police have identifed the victim whose body was found in October after a dog dug up human remains in the backyard of a residence in the 5600 block of Paloma Avenue. Detectives are investigating the death as a homicide.

Medical examiners have ruled that a woman whose remains were found in a shallow grave in a Kansas City backyard died by homicide.

Sirrena Truitt was found Oct. 30 after a caller alerted police that his dog appeared to be digging up skeletal remains behind his residence on the 5600 block of Paloma, according to Sgt. Jake Becchina with the Kansas City Police Department.

The details of Truitt’s death have not been released, and the investigation is ongoing, Becchina said.

Truitt, who would’ve turned 53 in June, was last seen in March, according to an article from the Washington Post. David Finnell, Truitt’s stepbrother, told The Post family members had been pushing Kansas City police for months to open an official missing person report after they heard from other relatives that Truitt had been murdered.

Finnell said he believed police weren’t taking the case seriously because of Truitt’s criminal history and issues with addiction, according to the article. He detailed a verbal altercation he’d had with a detective in June.

“He just threw insults out about her, that’s all he did,” Finnell told The Post. “He said ‘What do you care, you ain’t seen her.’ He was very rude and condescending and talking about her like she’s a dog. He said, ‘She’s on drugs, it doesn’t matter.’ It does matter. She is a human being, and no human should be thrown in a hole and left there.”

Detectives are asking anyone with information to contact them at 816-234-5043, or anonymously at the TIPS Hotline 816-474-TIPS. There’s a reward of up to $25,000 for information provided to TIPS leading to an arrest in the case.

This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 1:08 PM.

Jenna Thompson
The Kansas City Star
Jenna Thompson covers retail news for The Kansas City Star. A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, she previously reported for the Lincoln Journal Star and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied journalism and English.
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