Man charged in KC homicide allegedly went on crime spree hours before strangling woman
Hours before a man allegedly strangled a woman, police say he stole a vehicle, punched a man at a Kansas City gas station and tried to rob a Walgreens store.
Darion Hall, 24, was charged in Jackson County with second-degree murder, attempted stealing and tampering with a vehicle.
A warrant was prepared Monday, court records said.
According to a probable cause statement, at 6:43 p.m. on March 14, a family member told police Hall had taken his truck.
Hall was seen on surveillance video one hour later at the Phillips 66 on Independence Avenue. Police allege he reached into a pocket of a customer, pushed and then punched the person and chased the victim out of the store.
Six minutes later, Hall appears on a Walgreens surveillance video, court documents said. Hall allegedly went behind the counter, attempted to open the cash register, shoved a clerk and broke a plexi-glass COVID shield as he left the store.
Police were called at 9:16 p.m. to the 4300 block of East 7th Street on a disturbance. Officers found a woman with traumatic injuries. She was taken to a hospital where she was declared deceased.
The victim was identified as 31-year-old Elizabeth Stivers, who former co-workers called an ‘animal crusader’ due to her work with abused and neglected animals. A fundraiser has been started to help pay for Stivers’ funeral.
The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled she died by strangulation.
The probable cause statement said the victim’s mother found Stivers lying on the ground and called police. She saw a man wearing a white hooded sweatshirt with black triangles on it. The man asked her if she needed help and she told him to keep walking.
A witness related to Hall told police he had been wearing a black and white hoodie earlier in the day. She said a surveillance photo from the Walgreens footage resembled Hall.
Hall was arrested at 9:28 p.m. about nine blocks from the scene.
Court documents said DNA testing found Stivers’ blood on the hoodie Hall was wearing.
A defense attorney for Hall was not listed in court records as of Tuesday morning.
