Kansas City, Kansas man convicted of murder for killing wife who had protective order
A 47-year-old man was convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the killing of his wife Tabitha Birdsong, a 40-year-old woman found stabbed to death in Kansas City’s Roanoke Park while she had an order of protection against him in her back pocket.
Gene A. Birdsong, of Kansas City, Kansas, was found guilty after a jury trial of the murder charge and one felony count of armed criminal action, Jackson County prosecutors announced Monday. He has been held in Jackson County’s jail since he was arrested on the day of his wife’s killing.
Under Missouri law, a first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The jury gave its recommendation Monday that Birdsong serve life plus another 17 years in prison.
Tabitha Birdsong’s body was discovered on Nov. 6, 2018. According to court documents, Kansas City police officers found her with obvious head injuries and no signs of life.
Witnesses told police Tabitha and Gene Birdsong were together just before she died and that there was a history of physical abuse. Witnesses also said they saw Birdsong that day wearing khaki pants with apparent blood on them. One described his clothing as “blood-soaked.”
Years before Tabitha Birdsong was killed, Gene Birdsong was twice convicted in Johnson County District Court of domestic battery against her — first in 2009 and again 2010. She filed for an order of protection in Johnson County in 2015, saying she feared for her safety.
In 2016, Gene Birdsong was charged in Johnson County with violating a protection order Tabitha Birdsong had obtained in Wyandotte County. Gene Birdsong also spent 86 days in jail for violating his probation in that case and was released from custody in June 2018, roughly five months before Tabitha Birdsong was killed.
Tabitha Birdsong’s killing was the subject of columns written by former Star columnist Melinda Henneberger that focused on domestic abuse and the way such cases are handled in the criminal justice system. In 2019, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced a new intervention effort meant to stop domestic-violence homicides by getting “the worst of the worst” abusers off the streets.
In a statement Monday, Baker applauded the efforts of her trial team that carried the case forward. She added that all should have Tabitha Birdsong first in mind on Monday as she “lost her life at the hands of her domestic abuser.”
“Obviously, nothing we could do would bring her back,” Baker said. “But it was our honor to fight for her.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 11:02 PM.
