Kansas City man gets life sentence in strangling of 24-year-old neighbor, prosecutors say
A Kansas City man has been sentenced to life in prison in the brutal killing of a 24-year-old woman he claimed to be romantically involved with who was found strangled to death by her family inside her apartment four years ago.
Cedric Russell, 29, was convicted in April by a Jackson County jury of: murder in the first degree, tampering with evidence and tampering with a motor vehicle.
The victim, Ashley Geddes, was killed the day before her 25th birthday. Her body was found on June 1, 2017 after her mother grew concerned because she had not heard from her, according to court records.
Russell was accused of killing Geddes before stealing her jewelry, phone and car and pawning off some items in the days following her death.
Geddes’ mother, Stacy Gicante, went with her brother to Geddes’ apartment and climbed in through an unlocked window. They found her body in the upstairs bedroom and called 911.
Investigating officers processed the crime scene as a homicide and sexual assault investigation. They saw vomit in the bedroom, Geddes’ lifeless body and what appeared to be jewelry boxes that had been rummaged through.
Investigators linked Russell, who lived in the town home next door, to the crime with DNA evidence at the scene plus fingerprints left behind on the window and jewelry boxes.
He allegedly told police he knew Geddes only by “Ashley” and claimed the two had formed a sexual relationship recently. He admitted to taking her items and selling some of them but initially denied killing her or knowing how she died, court records said.
As he was being interviewed further, Russell claimed he choked her during sex at her request for “a good minute” before realizing she had stopped breathing. In a panic, he told police, he took her phone and keys to her car and parked the car by a friend’s house. He then tossed her keys and phone down a sewer, court records said.
Russell was criminally charged soon after the case opened. During a press conference announcing the charges four years ago, Gicante described her daughter as intelligent, caring and beautiful.
“She would have helped anybody with anything,” Gicante said at the time. “She was a singer, songwriter, model, Sunday school teacher who had just been baptized. All of this while working a full-time job and taking care of her mother.
“She did not deserve this,” she added.
Before being accused in Geddes’ killing, Russell previously had been sentenced to seven years in prison in 2012 on burglary and domestic assault charges in Jackson County.
