Family of Independence teen killed while home from college call for public’s help
A talkative but resilient scholar. A young woman headed toward a bright future while wearing a million-dollar smile.
These words describe Elayjah Murray, according to family members, who was found dead in south Kansas City over Thanksgiving weekend. Murray was a freshman studying nursing at Missouri State University, back home for Thanksgiving, family members said at a news conference hosted Wednesday by the nonprofit group KC Mothers In Charge.
Murray’s bashful grin and friendly personality lit up a room, loved ones said, which makes her sudden death shocking, leaving her family members grief-stricken.
“We’re just looking for the why,” Murray’s aunt Janeva Hamilton said with a shaky breath through tears. “She wasn’t in the streets. She didn’t have a heart to do anything bad or wrong to anyone. So why? Why? Why her?”
Murray, 18, was reported missing by her family to Independence police on Friday. The same day, investigators worked on a tip stating Murray may have been shot in Independence, according to police spokesperson Ofc. Bryan Conley.
On Saturday, Murray was found dead in south Kansas City, Conley said in a news release. A GoFundMe fundraiser set up by Murray’s grandmother said she was found at 87th and Blue River Road in Kansas City. The fundraiser has raised nearly $6,000 of its $7,000 goal.
Independence police are investigating the incident as a homicide, but did not state if Murray had any apparent gunshot wounds when she was found dead.
No arrests have been made, but police are looking for a possible suspect, who they identified as Eric Phillips II.
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Loved ones refused to comment on the investigation, but Murray’s grandmother, Jearl Collins, told reporters she did not believe Murray and Phillips knew each other.
In Wednesday’s news conference Hamilton and Collins urged the public to call police with information that might help the investigation, as they grieve a life cut short too soon.
“She just she liked being around her family, her friends. She just liked to live,” Hamilton said.
“She always just kept everybody going,” Collins said. “She was the life of the party. She was really the life of the party.”
Elayjah Murray’s lasting impression on her teachers
Murray graduated from William Chrisman High School in May, where she captivated her classmates and teachers with her personality and growth throughout her four years.
In a Facebook post Monday, one of Murray’s former high school teachers said she was “one of a kind” and “sometimes a handful.”
Murray often found her way into Dez Harrison’s classroom, where Harrison would have to chase Murray out of the room “when she wasn’t supposed to be there,” the post said.
“But she brought so much laughter with her. She was easy to love. She didn’t deserve this,” Harrison said.
A tri-sport athlete, Murray participated in volleyball, where she lettered, basketball and track and field.
She excelled on and off the playing surfaces, winning awards for most improved athlete in track, best celebrations in volleyball and an academic achievement award for earning a 4.0 grade point average. Loved ones brought her awards to the news conference to show the person she was.
“She had a good head on her shoulders. She was about getting an education so that she could move on in life,” Collins said.
Another former Chrisman teacher, Michael Rose-Ivey, remembered Murray as an under-classman in his in-school suspension classroom a few times. Describing her as a chatty, vivacious, young student. Ivey mostly saw Murray passing by in the hallways, which is a good thing as an ISS teacher, he said, but she made a lasting impression on him as well.
“She had a really, really great personality.. You can tell she had a bright future. She had things she wanted to accomplish. She was very strong-willed and strong-minded,” Rose-Ivey said.
Occasionally, Murray went to Rose-Ivey’s room to grab chips or to share a connection with one of the few Black teachers in the school, he said. He recalled her resiliency and determination to improve in school and life, qualities that helped her begin paving her path.
Murray’s last memories with her family
Murray, affectionately known as Lay Lay, has four siblings and several cousins that she spent time playing video games and making TikToks with, loved ones said.
Collins received a call at 6:15 a.m. on Friday with news that something may have happened to Murray. Hamilton’s daughter also received a call from one of Murray’s friends.
“They’re wanting to know if she was home, if she had made it home, which, you know, most 18-year-olds, they’re hanging out... You may not see them until the next day. So we didn’t find it unusual that she didn’t come home,” Collins said.
Murray never came home and now her family members are left to mourn her, remembering the goals she had planned.
She wanted to graduate college, purchase a vehicle and a house. She wanted to travel. Most of all, she wanted the freedom of adulthood.
“She just wanted to be grown,” Hamilton said with a laugh.
The family members wiped tears next to each other while answering questions with KC Mothers in Charge founder Rosilyn Temple. After questions were done, Collins and Hamilton hugged each other in a tight, minutes-long embrace, weeping with the sorrow of losing such a bright light in their lives.
All three women asked for justice by finding the suspect, with Temple calling him “a monster”.
“She was a sister, a big sister, she was a niece, she was a cousin and she was a friend to so many people, and this isn’t fair,” Collins said just before the end of the news conference, pausing with a shaky breath and tears in between each label.
“She did deserve to see tomorrow.”
People with information are asked to contact Independence Police Detective Winans at 816-325-7347 or call KC Crime Stoppers at 816-474-8477.
The Star’s Kendrick Calfee contributed to this reporting.
This story was originally published December 3, 2025 at 7:08 PM.
