Missing man and woman's bodies among three found in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A man and woman who disappeared weeks ago are among three people whose bodies were found over the weekend near a Kansas City industrial area, police said.

Steven F. Turner and Jonnie Marie Williams were reported missing March 14 -- almost exactly a month after someone set fire to Turner's house, destroying it. Family members, who had not seen the two since February, had become concerned about their whereabouts.

The relatives' fears were confirmed Monday when police determined that three badly decomposed bodies found Saturday were those of Turner, 48, Williams, 43, and another man, Mark A. Smith, 34. The bodies were in a wooded area near the Blue River in eastern Kansas City where the city has tried to crack down on illegal dumping.

Earlier Monday police said it could take a while to identify the victims, but they later confirmed the bodies were those of Turner, Williams and Smith.

Sgt. Tony Sanders said the bodies could have been there for as long as a month. The deaths are being investigated as homicides, although it is unclear how the victims died or the motive behind their killings.

Sanders said it doesn't appear that the slayings happened where the bodies were found.

"They were killed somewhere else, the detectives believe, and dumped at that site," Sanders said. "All three were dumped at the same time. That's the way it appeared to the detectives."

Sanders said the bodies were "in advanced stages of decomposition."

Sanders said the bodies were found in the same general area. Whoever dumped the bodies could not get past the gate and appears to have rolled the bodies down a hill that leads to the gate, Sanders said.

The area is near industrial and office buildings and a union hall. But it is littered with trash and overgrown with trees and brush, so anyone dumping waste at the site could have easily overlooked the bodies, Sanders said.