On September 16, 2024, 63-year-old Jesse R. Gilmore Jr. was shot and killed during a carjacking at a Road Ranger gas station in Joplin, Missouri. Around 3:30 a.m. Gilmore was sitting in his red 2010 Chevy Cobalt when a stranger approached, spoke briefly, then produced a firearm and shot him in the head. The shooter pushed Gilmore’s body across the seat, took control of the vehicle, and drove away.

Gilmore’s body was found later that day in a ditch along Interstate 44 near mile marker 14.8 in Jasper County; the discovery was made at about 5:25 p.m. Surveillance footage from the gas station helped investigators identify the vehicle after it was missing from the scene. Authorities say two brothers, 26-year-old Adin Aman Cantarero Benitez and 20-year-old Jose Benitez, both Honduran nationals, were identified as suspects. The pair allegedly fled Joplin in Gilmore’s Cobalt and traveled toward the Kansas City area, where police linked them to a separate carjacking and shooting in Independence.

Adin Benitez was taken into custody in Independence on suspicion of driving while intoxicated; Jose Benitez was arrested nearby after fleeing the second scene. Officers recovered Gilmore’s red Chevy Cobalt near the arrests.

If anyone has information about Gilmore, the vehicle, or the events that morning, please share what is known.