KC police board wants questions answered about lost evidence

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The loss of crucial evidence in several Kansas City homicide cases has police commissioners calling for an explanation from police chief Richard Easley.

And at a meeting next Tuesday, the Board of Police Commissioners also wants to explore whether 300 other unsolved homicides should be inventoried for missing evidence.

"That's all on the table," Stacey Daniels-Young, the board's president, said Thursday.

The Kansas City Star reported Saturday that an internal audit by the Police Department revealed that it has lost or improperly destroyed evidence in eight homicide cases.

Easley has said the department regrets the loss of evidence and its effect on victims' families, but he referred questions on next week's police board meeting to capt. Rich Lockhart, a department spokesman.

Lockhart said police commanders determined that it probably would not be useful to check a large number of cases because the department has already identified the reasons for evidence being lost or wrongly destroyed.

"We didn't think going back to look at old cases would turn up any additional causes," Lockhart said. "It would be a very time-intensive thing to do."

Losing cases

Problems with the handling of homicide evidence that came to light earlier this year prompted Easley to order the audit. In May and June, Jackson County prosecutors lost two homicide cases in part because of missing evidence.

The audit found that in three cases evidence was destroyed because a homicide sergeant, now under an investigation, failed to follow proper procedures.

One case was initially ruled a suicide and evidence was destroyed before it was upgraded to a homicide. Since then department policy has changed so that evidence in suicide cases will be kept longer.

The audit revealed other problems, including an inadequate computer system that made it difficult for department personnel to check the status of cases. A new homicide database should be ready by next month.

Board member Karl Zobrist said he was aware of problems in property and evidence and of Easley's actions to correct the problems. But he and some other commissioners said they have not seen the internal audit.

The audit examined evidence in 57 unsolved homicides in which a suspect had been identified, but did not include more than 300 other homicide cases without a suspect.