KC Unsolved: Mission to find answers decade after Kansas City homicide

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A metro woman made it her mission to bring justice to unsolved homicide cases across the Kansas City metro. She pulls inspiration from the homicide of her son, hoping that she will soon be able to experience what justice feels like in her own life.

Someone shot and killed 20-year-old Alonzo Thomas IV on April 5, 2014, near 71st and Wayne in Kansas City, Mo. The shooting, which quickly turned the neighborhood into a crime scene, happened shortly after 1 p.m. Thomas ran for help before collapsing in the doorway of a friend’s house.

At 20-years-old, Thomas was a man in the eyes of the law. His mother, Monique Willis, still only sees him as her child.

“He was my only. He was my little boy,” Willis said.

ALSO READ: 2 injured, 1 killed in early-morning shooting on downtown Kansas City sidewalk

Willis has memories of the first two decades of Thomas’ life. Memories she holds tight.

“Trying to teach him and help him and push him to greatness. He pushed pushed back every step of the way. (Laughs)”

But, instead of social media feeds and photo albums filled with pictures and other memories, Willis relies on detectives with a different type of file that contains information about the past decade of life. A decade without Thomas.

Instead of a photo album, Kansas City Police detectives have a binder of evidence. It includes phone records and information about other clues in the homicide case that may eventually be pieced together to form answers to the questions Willis has about the shooting that took her son.

ALSO READ: Elderly woman, 6 puppies rescued in Raytown house fire

“It’s a long time. It’s a long time to not know and to (sighs) sit and breathe,” Willis said.

Key Questions

Detectives are focused on two main points in the search for Thomas’ killer.

The first are phone records.

The binder of evidence police have is filled with all kinds of phone record. The reason detectives believe the records may hold a critical key to the investigation is because Thomas received a phone call right before his death. The phone call was so important he went to 71st and Wayne where he was shot and killed minutes later.

The other piece of information police can’t locate is a white van.

“Which was described as a white van with some rust and a sliding door, so presumably a white minivan,” Sgt. Tim Fitzgerald, Kansas City Police Department Homicide Unit, said.

ALSO READ: Another Country Club Plaza restaurant closes its doors overnight

Police believe Thomas may have walked over to the van to sell weed to the men inside. Then witnesses told detectives they heard a gunshot and Thomas running for help.

The problem is witnesses describe a white minivan, but no one got a license plate. The area also did not have the type of technology in place that police use now to solve cases like this one.

“Typically, in an investigation nowadays, there are street cameras everywhere. Almost everyone has a Ring Doorbell,” Fitzgerald said.

Key Clues

Instead of relying on countless angles of a homicide scene from home security cameras, detectives used what they did have at the time. They pulled dash camera video from every patrol car that answered the 911 call for help at 71st and Wayne.

They hoped the effort would pay off and show a white van driving away from the area as police responded.

No luck.

So, officers turned to Thomas’ phone records.

ALSO READ: Grandview High School: Summer school delayed

Detectives said they spoke to a number of possible suspects. Every single one of those people denied being in the area of the shooting at the time Thomas died.

“So, when someone denies being there, unless we have somebody that physically saw them there and identified them, then we don’t have a lot of rebuttal to that,” Fitzgerald said.

Key Reward

Now that the case is at a standstill, police have hope money will help someone talk.

There is a reward of up to $27,000 offered in the case. Police are looking for someone the shooter confessed to, a neighbor with more information about the description of the van, someone who is brave enough to come forward and help solve this case.

“We just need that information to come in so that we can get our detectives out there to follow up on that information.”

ALSO READ: 6-year-old girl killed in freak badminton accident while on vacation with family

Following Thompson’s homicide, his mother founded the group “Momma on a Mission” following her son’s murder. The group works to help other families who end up facing the same future.

Every one of them will benefit from witnesses making the decision to pick up a phone, or send an email, to KC Crimestoppers at tips@kc-crime.org or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

There are rewards offered in all unsolved homicides in the Kansas City area.

Copyright 2024 KCTV. All rights reserved.