KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A KCMO man was found guilty Thursday on four counts including murder after a botched drug robbery in 2013.
Willie J. Gibson was found guilty of four felony counts related to the July 11, 2013 murder of James Jackson, whose body was found in the area of 20th and Denver Ave.
Gibson was found guilty of counts of murder in the second-degree, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree attempted robbery.
Detectives utilized cell phone records that pointed them in the direction of Gibson and two other suspects, Marcus M. Williams and Larry L. Word Jr.
According to a probable cause statement, a cell phone was found at the original crime scene belonging to Jackson. He received two calls from the same number earlier in the overnight hours.
Detectives interviewed a woman who the number belonged to and she informed them that the phone was hers, but that Gibson used the phone and he was her boyfriend. She also said Gibson and her older brother, Word, had borrowed her gray Ford Expedition
When interviewed by detectives, Word said they wanted to purchase drugs from Jackson and Gibson hatched a plan to rob him. Gibson told Williams that if he simply pointed a gun at Jackson that he would give him everything he had.
Word said he drove them to the area of 20th and Denver and let Williams out of the car before moving it 3-4 houses away from where Jackson had parked on Denver. He then let Gibson out, who made contact with Jackson on the driver’s side of the vehicle.
Word said that Williams then approached the vehicle from the passenger’s side, shouted at Jackson, demanding money and fired a single shot into the vehicle. Jackson drove away, striking the gray Expedition before crashing out down the street. Jackson was later determined to have died from a gunshot wound and a 9mm shell casing was found at the scene.
The three fled the scene in the Expedition. Detectives were later able to match up paint markings from both vehicles. Gibson had told his girlfriend that someone had hit her vehicle at 35th and Prospect the night before as an alibi.
Gibson will be sentenced on Dec. 16.