On the morning of July 17, 2016, officers in Kansas City, Missouri, found the body of 34-year-old James Larry Hines Jr. along the roadside in the 7600 block of East 79th Street. He had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head; his cellphone lay beside him and his pants were missing at the scene.

Investigators focused on a suspect, 41-year-old Antonio Maurice Miles, who was reported seen with Hines shortly before the killing. Witnesses told detectives Miles arrived later that day smelling of chemicals and appearing intoxicated, and that he admitted he had to kill Hines, referring to him as Erica’s Dude. Miles allegedly said he picked Hines up, drove to 79th Street intending to stop and smoke, and then shot him.

Police recovered a trash bag behind a Liberty, Missouri business containing clothing and blue tennis shoes matching what Miles had worn; Hines’s blood was on the discarded clothes and Miles’s DNA was on the shirt. Miles was arrested, charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action, and in July 2018 a Jackson County jury convicted him of voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action; a judge sentenced him to 25 years for manslaughter and five years for armed criminal action to run concurrently. Did anyone in the area see Hines or the vehicle he was in on July 17, 2016?