Anthony A. Crockett, 49, of Kansas City, Missouri, was found by his girlfriend around midday on Friday, February 20, 2009, down on the floor near a staircase in a house in the 2000 block of Kansas Avenue with blood on his face. First responders and a paramedic treated the situation as a likely natural death linked to his multiple health issues; prescription containers for diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure were noted and a doctor later signed a death certificate on the understanding the death was natural.

No homicide detectives or medical examiner staff examined the body at the house and crime scene personnel were not called while the house was still fresh. The body was released to a funeral home, where embalmers discovered three wounds consistent with gunshot injuries, including two in the head. The funeral home alerted the medical examiner, the body was returned, and the case was reclassified as a homicide—Kansas City’s 16th of the year.

By the time investigators secured the house it had been cleaned by relatives and potential scene evidence such as blood droplets was largely lost. Did anyone who knew Anthony notice unfamiliar visitors at his home around February 20, 2009?