A Kansas City man has been charged in Platte County with murdering his roommate on March 28 and then dumping the body in Platte County.
William Bell
William Bell, 25, is accused of shooting Conrado Mendez Jr. to death at their Jackson County home and then abandoning Mendez’s body in a field in southern Platte County.
Platte County prosecuting attorney Eric Zahnd said charges were filed on June 11 following an extensive investigation by the Riverside Police Department and the Kansas City Metro Squad.
“This case began with very few leads--an unidentified body dumped in a remote area several days before its discovery,” Zahnd said. “Due to the excellent work of detectives, we have now charged the man we allege is the murderer.”
According to court documents, on April 9, an employee of the Riverside/Quindaro Levee District was mowing in a remote area in the 4300 block of NW Tullison Road when he saw a body located under a wooden footbridge.
The Riverside Police Department responded to the scene where they found the body wrapped in plastic. Mendez was ultimately identified as the victim. An autopsy revealed that he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Mendez’s body was wrapped in plastic used to ship a twin-size mattress box spring. Investigators traced the label on the plastic to a furniture dealer, who gave them a list of people who had recently purchased that particular model of box spring.
Investigators eventually narrowed their search to a home on East 12th Street in Jackson County, which was occupied by Bell, Mendez and another man. When investigators executed a search warrant at that residence, they found items consistent with items located at the scene where Mendez’s body was found.
Court documents also indicate that DNA from a pair of black nitrile gloves recovered from the crime scene showed Bell and Mendez as major contributors.
Additionally, surveillance video from a location near the place Mendez’s body was found depicts what appears to be a 1983 Chevrolet Celebrity owned by Bell stopping at the location on March 30.
The investigation also revealed that Bell had attempted to pawn a Taurus 9 mm handgun shortly after the murder.
Bell is charged with second degree murder, armed criminal action and abandoning a corpse. He is being held in the Platte County Detention Facility in lieu of a $750,000 cash bond.
The case is being investigated by the Riverside Police Department, with the assistance of the Kansas City Metro Squad. The Metro Squad is comprised of detectives from multiple Kansas City-area police departments. It typically investigates homicide cases in which there are few, if any, immediate suspects or leads.
The case is being prosecuted by assistant prosecuting attorneys Kaitlynn Donnelly and Myles Perry.