Man claims women were ‘arguing over him’ before fatal stabbing in Kansas City
A Kansas City man is facing murder charges after he allegedly cut one woman and stabbed another after the pair “argued over him,” he told investigators.
Leonard Johnson, 54, faces one count each of second-degree murder and first-degree assault, according to a criminal complaint filed in Jackson County court. He also faces two counts of armed criminal action.
Officers with the Kansas City Police Department responded to the area of East 27th Street and Quincy Street in the East Community Team South neighborhood around 10 a.m. Monday on reports of a cutting.
Investigators contacted the reporting party, who told officers a woman knocked on her door and said she had been attacked by a man named Leonard Johnson, according to a probable cause statement in support of Johnson’s arrest.
The woman who was attacked told officers she had been stabbed “in her head and neck area” while she was in a vehicle with Johnson, the probable cause statement said.
While in the hospital, where she was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, the woman told investigators she had known Johnson for a few months, the statement said. Johnson arrived at her residence that day because he allegedly told the woman she could use his car.
While driving with Johnson, the woman said he began to use drugs, according to the probable cause statement, so she asked to be taken home. Instead, Johnson allegedly stopped the vehicle and pulled out a knife.
He stabbed the woman before she jumped from the vehicle and ran to a nearby residence for help, the probable cause statement said.
A relative of Johnson’s told officers the man had been at her residence the previous night, Dec. 21, the court document said. Johnson allegedly told her he was “having a disturbance” with a woman the relative referred to as “a gas station pick-up.”
During the investigation, officers responded to an unknown location, where they located a vehicle matching the victim’s description of Johnson’s car, court documents say. Visible inside the vehicle were blood and a knife.
Officers located Johnson at the residence, according to court documents. He had “apparent blood on his hands and shoes” at the time of his arrest, and officers determined he was under the influence of “an unknown substance.”
At the residence, officers were informed that a woman was dead inside, according to a press release from the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. Kansas City police later identified the woman as 52-year-old Sherrie Baier.
According to court documents, Baier was located in the residence’s kitchen with several stab wounds. She was believed to be Johnson’s girlfriend, a man told investigators at the scene.
The man had gone into the residence after hearing about the cutting to see if any knives were missing when he found Baier, the probable cause statement said.
One of Baier’s relatives told investigators he and the woman had been in an “on and off again” relationship for 20 years, court documents said. The relative said Johnson had been “consistently violent” with Baier.
In an interview with police, Johnson allegedly asked officers to take him to jail, according to the probable cause statement. He told officers Baier wouldn’t be able to tell officers what happened that morning, because he had killed her.
Johnson reportedly told officers the two women were “arguing over him” at his residence, according to the probable cause statement. When interviewers asked Johnson more questions, he retracted his previous statement and said he didn’t kill anyone.
Baier’s death is the 20th homicide of 2025 where domestic violence was a contributing factor, director of communications Jazzlyn Johnson said. In 2024, 12 homicides cited domestic violence as a factor.
Johnson is being held in the Jackson County Detention Center on a $500,000 cash-only bond, according to the jail’s inmate listing. No court dates are set in his case.
