KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City man suspected of killing three people, including two along Indian Creek Trail and one in Grandview, now faces charges in three additional murders in south Kansas City, including that of a popular local business owner.
On Friday Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker charged Fredrick Scott, 23, with the murder of David Lenox, Timothy Rick and Michael Darby. He faces three additional first-degree murder charges and three additional armed criminal action charges.
Scott already faced three first-degree murder charges and three armed criminal action charges.
Police believe Scott shot and killed Karen Harmeyer, 64, in July. Her body was found in Grandview. Prosecutors charged him in October with first-degree murder and armed criminal action related to her death.
In August, Fredrick Scott was charged with the murders of Steven Gibbons, 57, and John Palmer, 56. Gibbons was killed near 67th and Troost Avenue on August 13, 2017 and Palmer was found dead near E. Bannister and Lydia Avenue on August 19, 2016.
Gibbons’ and Palmer’s murders were part of a string of unsolved murders that occurred in the Indian Creek area.
After his arrest for their murders, prosecutors said Scott was also considered a suspect in three other killings along the Indian Creek Trail and in south Kansas City.
- On February 27th , 66-year-old David Lenox was found killed at 9939 Walnut Street.
- On April 4th, Excelsior Springs man Timothy Rice, 57, was found dead in Minor Park at 1601 E. Red Bridge Road.
- On May 18, Coach’s Bar and Grill co-owner Mike Darby, 61, was found dead on the trail at 373 W. 101 Terrace.
These are the murders he was charged with on Friday.
At the time of his arrest, the murder of Harmeyer was not mentioned as one for which he was a suspect.
Baker said investigators were able to use DNA evidence to link Scott to the murders of Gibbons and Palmer.
“Surveillance video showed our victim, Steven Gibbons, on an ATA bus. A man exits that bus with him and is seen following him, getting closer and closer and closer. The man following the victim is carrying and drinking from a bottle and the camera pans away at the time of the homicide. DNA from a screwtop bottle found at Gibbons homicide scene matched the DNA found on a shirt also at the Palmer homicide scene. DNA from a cigarette that Scott was smoking was also matched from that bottle and KCPD detectives recovered that cigarette after Scott identified himself to police,” Peters-Baker said.
In June, more than a month after Mike Darby’s murder, police released a video of a person they wanted to identify.
The video showed a figure with a backpack walking down a path along Indian Creek Trail the same day Darby was murdered. The video appears to have been recorded at 5:47 a.m. Police found Darby’s body around 6:30 a.m. on May 18th after he was discovered by a bicyclist.
Prosecutors say Scott admitted to them that he’s the man in the video.
Scott has been in custody in the Jackson County jail with bond set at $500,000.
