With missing body of KC highway shooter, there’s plenty of blame to share | Porter
What an unmitigated mess the Kansas City Police Department finds itself in — and the law enforcement agency isn’t alone. Other public safety agencies in Independence and Kansas City are also entangled in what amounts to a somewhat flawed investigation into the motive of an alleged highway shooter, and how police officials and fire personnel in both cities missed discovering the dead man’s body for more than a week.
In coming days, we hope to gain more clarity on how police officers failed to locate the body believed to be that of 22-year-old Oscar Sanchez-Munoz inside a burned-down home in Independence about a week after a standoff at the residence in the 700 block of South Brookside Avenue.
Sanchez-Munoz was the subject of an intense manhunt that involved local, state and federal law enforcement officials, and fire departments in both Independence and Kansas City. He was wanted in connection with his alleged involvement in a string of highway shootings on June 16 that left one man dead and injured four others, including an Uber driver transporting fans to a FIFA World Cup match between Algeria and Argentina at Arrowhead Stadium.
Standoffs followed at homes in Independence and Kansas City. When Sanchez-Munoz didn’t turn up at either location, a weeklong manhunt ensued.
Body left for a week
During the initial standoff, a fire was set at the Independence home where Sanchez-Munoz was holed up. After the blaze was contained, a thorough search turned up nothing, according to Kansas City police officials. Almost a week later, Sanchez-Munoz’s family members summoned Kansas City police detectives back to the home on Brookside Avenue after they discovered human remains in the basement.
On Wednesday, Kansas City police officials said they believed the remains were those of Sanchez-Munoz but would wait for the Jackson County medical examiner’s office to positively identify the body before investigators made a final determination. The next day, Kansas City Fire Department Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins told The Star that a cadaver dog had possibly detected a body at the home almost a week ago, but fire officials did not know why the body wasn’t found then.
“All officials on scene were made aware that the dog had alerted in the basement,” Hopkins told The Star. “What actions or searches were conducted after our departure, I cannot speak to.”
Later Thursday, Hopkins issued a statement, seemingly defending the department by emphasizing it wasn’t throwing law enforcement officials under the bus.
“As additional information has since come to light, we believe it is important to clarify that the decisions made by the investigating agencies were based, in part, on the information and assessment provided by KCFD at the time,” Hopkins said in the statement. “We believe it is appropriate to provide that context so that our law enforcement partners are not portrayed as having disregarded the assistance that was provided.”
In the statement, Hopkins said Kansas City police — in conjunction with the Independence police and fire departments — requested assistance from the Kansas City Fire Department with one of the department’s human remains detection dog teams. The cadaver dog and handler were deployed to assist with the search, Hopkins said.
“During the operation, the dog gave what the handler described as a soft alert in the basement of the structure,” he said. “Based on that indication, the KCFD Battalion Chief conducted a thorough physical search of all accessible areas of both the first floor, where the individual was believed to have been, and the basement where the dog alerted.”
According to Hopkins, after completing that search, no human remains were located.
“The Battalion Chief communicated to the investigating agencies that he had searched every area that was physically accessible and, based on those search efforts, did not believe there were human remains in the areas that could be examined at that time,” Hopkins said in the statement.
Police, fire, mayor must answer
Because Mayor Quinton Lucas is a member of the five-person Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners — the agency that governs KCPD — and has a say in the fire department’s annual budget, I’d hoped to get his thoughts on the quagmire these well-funded public safety agencies find themselves in. Instead, the mayor’s office referred me to the fire department’s statement.
A message sent to the Independence Police Department seeking more information on the agency’s role in the search and recovery of Sanchez-Munoz’s body wasn’t returned.
“The Kansas City Fire Department’s role was limited to providing the requested specialized search resources and conducting the follow-up physical search,” Hopkins said in the statement. “That information, including the canine alert and the Battalion Chief’s assessment, was relayed to the investigating agencies before KCFD concluded its assistance approximately 30 minutes after arriving on scene.
There is enough finger-pointing to go around and none of the agencies involved should be left off the hook until a very public accounting of what went wrong is made.
For now, I remain committed to taking a cautious approach in assigning blame until more facts are known about this grave oversight.
