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Man charged with having gun, linked to car that dumped body in Kansas City homicide

A 46-year-old man has been charged in federal court on accusations he illegally possessed a gun and drugs, which police say they found in the course of investigating a homicide in Kansas City.

Officers were initially called before 9 a.m. Tuesday to the area of East 37th Street and Oakley Avenue after a city employee discovered a body while looking into illegal dumping activity, according to the Kansas City Police Department.

In federal court records, a KCPD detective assigned to the Special Investigation Unit said the body was found in a plastic container, “wrapped in black tape.” By Wednesday, the death had been ruled a homicide.

Video showed a black Ford Taurus, with a specific license plate, that was used to take the body to the area. Later that day, detectives found the car in the 3800 block of East 38th Terrace, about a two-mile drive from where the body was found, according to court documents. Conducting surveillance, officers said they watched Cedric Lynn Evans leave a home there and get into the car.

Evans went to a gas station a few blocks west of Blue Valley Park, where officers tried to conduct a car check, but he attempted to get away by “ramming two patrol vehicles,” a detective wrote in court records.

Officers said they saw Evans reach to his waist band to pull out a firearm, but they removed him from the car and took him into custody, the detective wrote.

Evans was found with a handgun with a magazine containing 15 live rounds and more than 440 grams of a substance that a test indicated was methamphetamine, among other things, according to charging documents.

He allegedly told police the meth and gun were his. He said he knew he could not possess the gun as a felon, but that he did so for protection, according to the records. Officers also later searched his room and found several guns, police said.

The charges filed against Evans include being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition as well as possession of more than 50 grams of meth with intent to sell. He has not been charged in the homicide or accused of committing it.

Evans did not have an attorney listed in court records who could be reached for comment as of Thursday.

The homicide marked the 128th this year in Kansas City, according to data maintained by The Star. There had been 160 homicides by this time last year, which was the deadliest in the city’s history. By this time in 2019, the city had suffered 125 killings.

Police ask anyone with information about the killing to call the homicide unit at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.