A Kansas City man was sentenced this week in connection with a woman’s fatal strangulation in 2023, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.
Darion Hall, 25, pled guilty to one count of 2nd Degree Murder and a judge sentenced him to 23 years in prison.
According to court records, Kansas City police were dispatched to the 4300 block of East 7th Street on March 14, 2023, and found a female victim in the yard. The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide and the cause of death as strangulation.
The day of the homicide, Hall was observed driving a reported stolen auto. It was found abandoned near 7th and Norton, about two minutes from the victim’s residence. Surveillance video also captured Hall at a drug store on Independence Avenue where he was involved in an attempted strong-arm robbery.
A witness saw a man, later identified as Hall, near the victim after she was strangled. She described the defendant’s clothing, which matched the same clothing the defendant wore during the attempted robbery.
Detectives submitted to the crime lab the defendant’s clothing for testing. The lab reported the DNA collected from the defendant’s hoodie matched DNA from the victim.
Trial Team Leader Hallie Schuman and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Mitchell Widener prosecuted the case on behalf of the state of Missouri.