‘Just devastating.’ Boy’s death latest in string of KC-area domestic violence tragedies
Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse or violence, you can call the Kansas City metro-wide hotline for help at 816-HOTLINE (816-468-5463) to get free information about housing, financial aid, medical aid, counseling services and shelters 24 hours a day.
An alleged murder-suicide in the Northland left two children dead earlier this year.
Across the state line, a Lenexa man allegedly killed his mother and aunt after he said they evicted him from the home where they all were living. Another shooting in Lenexa this past week left one dead and another injured at an apartment complex.
And Thursday evening, law enforcement authorities in the Northland searched for a kidnapped little girl after her mother and brother were shot. The boy, whose age was not released, died.
Authorities found 5-year-old Giuliana Manning early Friday morning at a relative’s house where her father had taken her. Later, George C. Manning III, 43, the man who they say took her, was killed in a shooting with police.
Just two months in, 2025 has already been a deadly year for domestic violence at a time when shelters across the area are seeing victims who have suffered intense physical abuse.
“At its core, it’s heartbreaking,” said Lisa Fleming, CEO of Rose Brooks Center, a Kansas City domestic violence shelter. “Heartbreaking that another child has been killed.”
Added Heidi Wooten, president and CEO of Safehome, a Johnson County domestic violence shelter: “The whole reason we exist is to keep these things from happening. And so when a precious life is lost, it’s completely just devastating to our teams.”
Law enforcement in Platte County continues to investigate the latest tragedy that began Thursday evening in Riverside when a woman was shot and killed at a car wash and her car was stolen. Authorities say Manning drove that car to the home in the Northland and shot the boy and his mother, kidnapped the little girl and then committed several felonies in Kansas City, Kansas.
“The suspect then returned to Platte County, Missouri, in a stolen automobile,” the Platte County Sheriff’s Office said in a release. “At approximately 7:30 am (Friday), the suspect was on foot just off Vivion Road near the intersection of Waukomis Drive.”
Authorities have provided few details about Manning, who was declared dead at the scene of the police shooting, or about what led to the deadly events Thursday evening.
Incidents like this one, and several others that have happened in the Kansas City area so far this year, leave many looking for answers.
“Questions that come up for me are what sort of red flag should we have been paying closer attention to?” asked Matthew Huffman, chief public affairs officer for the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. “Was there an order of protection that was ever in place against the people who committed these shootings?
“Was there ever any history of domestic violence that could have again been a marker that these individuals are a danger to their family, a danger to their loved ones?”
Violence started early in 2025
The first deaths in this string of tragedies happened on the second day of the new year.
Kansas City police said that Zachary Hatcher, 38, killed his children, Jeffrey Hatcher, 8, and Charlotte Hatcher, 6, before he killed himself. All three were found with gunshot wounds inside a home in the 1000 block of Northwest 91st Terrace.
Police who responded to the home on a welfare call smelled smoke and called for firefighters, who extinguished a blaze at the residence. Investigators entered the home and found the three.
One month later, three women — all from one family — were found dead inside a Platte County home. Police responded to that home after a 911 caller reported that someone had come to their door reporting that her mother’s ex-boyfriend shot her mother and shot at her.
The victims were identified as Jodie Hopcus, 49, Sherri Duncan, 73, and Hailey Hopcus, 24.
Once Armando Navarro, an ex-boyfriend of one of the women, was in custody, Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said the deaths were among the worst crimes he’s ever prosecuted in his 22 years.
More than a week later, Lenexa police were called to yet another case of domestic violence.
A Lenexa man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting deaths of his mother and aunt in their home Tuesday, according to court records.
After that incident, Safehome issued a statement saying it was “heartbroken to hear of the loss of two lives due to domestic violence.”
“This tragedy is a painful reminder of the urgent need to support survivors, strengthen protections and work toward ending the cycle of abuse.”
The shelter issued a similar statement after a 22-year-old woman was found Wednesday afternoon inside a Lenexa apartment, dead from a gunshot wound.
Wooten said Safehome had not worked with those individuals in the past.
“So it tells you that in the heat of the moment and under extreme stress and duress, and probably mental health, decisions are being made in the presence of having a gun that normally wouldn’t be happening,” Wooten said. “That’s where the devastation comes from is that we didn’t even get a chance to make a difference or to make a contact or make a connection.”
Ripple effect of pain
In the past two or three years, advocates in Missouri and Kansas say shelters have seen a dramatic change in the needs of the people they are seeing.
After the pandemic, they say they began to see more severe and complex cases of abuse.
“Not only were they seeing an increase in accessing services, but that victims and survivors were reporting more intensity in the violence that they were experiencing,” said Michelle McCormick, with the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence.
“We’re seeing folks coming with very complex intersecting issues into our programs. They aren’t just navigating the horrific nature of domestic violence or sexual violence and all that that trauma creates, but also the impacts of what I would call complex trauma.”
That abuse leaves extensive physical, psychological and emotional scars.
When these latest domestic violence homicides occur, that hits hard inside shelters and in homes where there’s abuse.
“It’s just traumatizing,” Fleming said. “Traumatizing to those that are currently in abusive relationships. Traumatizing to those that have fled, you know, have escaped domestic violence, it just brings it all back up.”
Right now, Safehome has 38 children at the shelter, Wooten said. And the families staying there are “already in fear of their lives,” she said.
“But when the reality of that hits home and so close to home, it is devastating to them and everyone else. Our staff are devastated.”
Years ago, McCormick said she worked in a shelter program in Topeka. She remembers when one domestic violence homicide occurred in the area and what she saw firsthand still sticks with her.
“We had a number of victims come into the shelter around that time who said not only were they just scared about the death of this other woman, but their abusers explicitly used that death to intimidate and threaten them.
“Literally called it out, like, ‘You don’t want to end up like her, right?’
“That’s just one of those ripple effects when someone you know is killed this way, is that other victims and survivors may factor that into their own safety plan.”
Previous reporting by The Star’s Kendrick Calfee and Nathan Pilling contributed to this report.
