KANSAS CITY —A 29-year-old Kansas man has been charged in connection with a fatal beating of a 24-year-old Kansas City woman and the assault of a 4-year-old, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.
Jose E. Escalante-Corchado, Kansas City, Kan.. faces Murder 1st Degree, Assault 1st Degree, two counts of Armed Criminal Action and Endangering the Welfare of a Child 1st Degree.
According to court records, Kansas City police were dispatched on Jan. 15, 2022 to the 7300 block of Wabash to check the welfare of a resident. Officers discovered a 24-year-old Mackenzie Hopkins deceased in a bathtub and a 4-year-old who suffered severe trauma to her head.
The child remains in critical condition. A previous 911 call had come that day from the victim's phone number. Blood was found throughout the residence's main floor. Police found the print of a specific type of boot and later found a matching pair of boots that were identified as belonging to the defendant.
Detectives found that the defendant's truck was in the area of the crime scene on the day of the crime. Surveillance video also showed a male in the area of the victim's residence running south from the residence, then getting into a white truck that soon pulls into a gas station. Surveillance video revealed the suspect to appear to be a Hispanic male with black hair. The defendant told detectives that was him at the gas station. He acknowledged he knew the victim and her daughter. Escalante-Corchado is being held without bond.