Man charged with shooting person in Independence, leaving body in vehicle on highway
An Independence man is facing multiple felonies, including murder, in the shooting death of a 19-year-old whose body was left in a car on an exit ramp off Interstate 435.
Steven B. Rock, 23, was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and abandonment of a corpse, according to a news release from the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
The details of the shooting and the body’s discovery outlined in the charging document match the details surrounding the disappearance and death of Preston Bell, 19, of Independence.
Bell was originally reported missing Saturday, Nov. 23, and was said to have been forced into a car at an Independence residence where a possible shooting had been reported around 8:30 p.m. His body was found Sunday afternoon on an exit ramp from I-435 to Truman Road in Kansas City.
According to court documents, Independence police obtained surveillance footage of the home where the victim had last been seen, showing three people approaching his vehicle in the driveway.
The suspect identified as Rock is shown approaching the driver’s seat, opening the door and pulling out a person who does not appear to be moving, police say. One witness included in the charging document reportedly told police it looked “like he was dead already.”
Rock then grabbed that person from the driver’s seat and moved them to the backseat, court documents allege. Next, Rock is shown getting into the driver’s seat and driving away.
When the car was recovered the next day, two spent bullet shell casings were found inside, court documents say. An autopsy found the victim’s body had more than 10 gunshot wounds.
It’s unclear from the charging document where police believe Bell was when he was shot.
On Monday, police received a tip that Rock had been staying at a Lee’s Summit house. There, records show, they found the other two suspects who had been seen approaching the vehicle in the surveillance footage, as well as a handgun that had been reported stolen from Independence and ammunition that matched the casing found in the car.
When Rock was interviewed Tuesday, he told police he didn’t remember the incident and didn’t know if the victim had been shot when Rock found him in the car. Police then told him that he and the other two suspects would all be charged.
Later, the charging document says, Rock was recorded in a phone call from jail recounting the police’s statement that all three of the suspects would be charged. He allegedly told the person in the phone call, “The others don’t deserve that. It’s me.”
Another one of the suspects has also been charged with abandonment of a corpse, the news release said.
Court records show Rock was arrested in November 2023 for pointing a gun at two Independence police officers. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear at a court hearing in January.
Prosecutors are asking that Rock be kept in jail on a $250,000 cash bond.