Kansas City police find body in man’s car after towing it – Boston News, Weather, Sports

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Family members and a forensic science expert are wondering why Kansas City police only found a man’s body in the back of his own SUV after towing him to a Missouri police station earlier this month.

Adam “AJ” Blackstock Jr.’s death is being investigated as a homicide The Kansas City Star.

The newspaper reported that police defended how they initially handled the situation because they did not have a search warrant when they had the vehicle towed away on January 17 and Blackstock had yet to be officially reported missing.

A forensic expert told the newspaper that police should have looked inside the vehicle before moving it.

“The idea of ​​taking custody of a vehicle without searching it or opening the trunk is just reckless,” said Brent Turvey, a forensic scientist and criminologist at the Forensic Criminology Institute in Sitka, Alaska.

Family members said they wanted answers about what happened to Blackstock, 24, who left behind an 18-month-old son.

“We really do demand justice,” Danielle Blackstock, his older sister, told the newspaper. “We can’t have him back. But we need justice.”

The newspaper quoted Kansas City Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jake Becchina as saying last week that detectives are making progress in identifying people interested in the case, but charges have yet to be brought.

Adam Blackstock Sr. said he called the police after being unable to reach his son when the family returned from a trip to Disneyland. He used GPS to locate his son’s vehicle in a driveway in Kansas City, Missouri, in the Oak Park Southwest neighborhood. The SUV was covered with a gray tarpaulin.

When officers arrived, the homeowner said the vehicle belonged to her uncle and provided the phone number of a man who said it was his.

Blackstock Sr. otherwise convinced police, in part by using a remote starter to turn on the vehicle. Officers persuaded the woman inside to have them removed. They noticed what appeared to be what appeared to be a bullet hole in the driver’s seat and blood on the floorboards, but didn’t investigate further immediately.

Only after the SUV was towed away did they see the lifeless body behind.

Becchina said officers “showed very creative thinking in persuading the homeowner to allow the vehicle to be towed based on consent at the time when there was no other legal authority to enter the property, let alone have the car on the.” land to process. ”

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