Body found in Carthage leads to murder charge filed in Kansas
Jun. 14—The discovery of a woman's body in a camper trailer left near the end of a dead-end street in Carthage has led to the issuance in Kansas of an arrest warrant for her husband in her killing.
Police responded to a 911 call at 11:35 a.m. Thursday from Gavino McJunkins-Macias, 23, of Carthage, reporting that his wife's dead body could be found in a camper at 600 N. Main St. Officers subsequently located the body of Kenia Lopez, 24, of Carthage, inside a Jayco camper in a grassy area near the end of North Main.
"It was very apparent it was a homicide," police Chief Bill Hawkins said Friday.
McJunkins-Macias was taken into custody at the scene when it was learned the camper was his and that he had brought it there from Kansas about 7 a.m. and left it parked there for 3 1/2 hours before calling 911, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed Friday in Jasper County Circuit Court with the charge of abandonment of a corpse.
Hawkins said investigators contacted the Miami County Sheriff's Department in Kansas when they learned from him that he had returned to Carthage from there, where he had been working on a construction job. Further investigation led to a warrant for second-degree murder being issued in Kansas, where the homicide is believed to have taken place.
Hawkins said investigators in Carthage have exercised search warrants at the trailer, a couple of residences and on some vehicles in connection with the homicide.
The affidavit states that video surveillance footage obtained by investigators from the 400 block of North Main shows a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with Missouri license plates northbound with a Jayco camper in tow at 7:50 a.m. Thursday. The truck can be seen leaving the area about 8:15 a.m. without any trailer in tow.
The suspect purportedly told investigators he reached Carthage with the trailer in tow about 7 a.m. The affidavit alleges that he left the body in the camper on the dead-end street for more than three hours while he met with family members and spoke with an attorney before contacting police.
Hawkins declined to discuss the cause of Lopez's death pending the results of an autopsy scheduled for Monday in Springfield.
The police chief also declined to discuss the suspect's relationship with the victim other than to say that they knew each other. But the affidavit filed with the charge in Missouri states that McJunkins-Macias referred to her as his wife.
McJunkins-Macias remained in custody Friday in Carthage with his bond set at $10,000. The warrant issued in Kansas carries a bond of $1 million.
Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.
