KCPD shares approach to cold case as a mom reflects on her son’s death, 7 years later
By Alex Love
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — Losing someone to gun violence is never easy, especially when the person responsible remains free.
That’s the tragic reality for every Kansas City family caught up in an unsolved murder case. It’s been seven years since 21-year-old Brandon Herring was found dead in Kansas City, Mo.
After all this time, Rhonda Herring hasn’t given up in her search for justice in her son’s murder case. However, she wants to know what detectives are doing to help people like her as investigations get older.
All Rhonda has left of her son are pictures around the house. He’s on her mind from the time she gets up to when she goes to bed.
“I understand they can’t tell us everything but for this to be unsolved for seven years is unacceptable,” Herring argued. “Because I see other murders and I understand circumstances are not the same, but the priority I feel they pick and choose.”
After missing for over a month, Rhonda’s son was found dead in a creek bed by a park in 2017. Brandon’s death was ruled a homicide.
Rhonda still wants to know what KCPD is doing to solve the case.
“When you have to wait for almost a year to get communication back or you have to go out of your way to go to the Kansas City Police Department to ask what’s going on with my case? It’s not fair,” Herring continued.
For more than a decade, Sgt. Mark Slater has been with the Homicide Unit and vows his team will never quit on an unsolved case. While a rise in homicides in Kansas City has added a workload, he insists they’re still investigating each case.
“These detectives are extremely dedicated and on occasion, you have to make them stop because they’ll investigate and just keep going,” Sgt. Slater said. “And you’ll see them too exhausted to go on. So, we’ll activate another squad.”
As of Wednesday, Jan. 24, KCPD still has 56 homicides from 2023 that haven’t been solved or cleared. However, detectives with the Homicide Unit are proud to still come out of the city’s deadliest year with the highest case clearance rate in department history.
No matter how old a case gets, Sgt. Slater urges family of victims to have a main point of contact for easier communication, and to reach out at any time.
“We’re never done with them,” Sgt. Slater assured. “Those cases go on and on and if the family has questions, they always have phone numbers they can call, text, or email whatever works.”
In total, KCPD has 24 detectives in the Homicide Unit to investigate killings. This puts them at full staff without needing to fill any sudden openings.
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