Two homicide victims found inside a Lenexa home after police conduct welfare check
Update: Police identified the victims as 63-year-old Valerie A. Howard and 71-year-old Joyce E. Austin.
Two women were killed in a shooting at a Lenexa home Wednesday morning, according to the Lenexa Police Department.
Officers responded to the 15400 block of West 90th Street to conduct a welfare check after a caller said people may have been shot. Inside the home, officers found two women who appeared to have been shot, said Officer Danny Chavez, a spokesperson with the Lenexa Police Department, in an email.
The women were pronounced dead at the scene. A medical examiner is working to determine the cause of death.
Police have not yet publicly identified the victims. Chavez said the two women are believed to be related.
Chavez said a man is in custody, who is believed to be a relative of the victims. Officers took him into custody in Liberty, Missouri.
Police were processing the scene Wednesday morning. No other information was available as the investigation is in its early stages.
The killing is Lenexa’s first and second homicides of 2025, according to data maintained by The Star.
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 9:35 AM.
