Eighteen-year-old Javier Salgado Cervantes was found dead on the shore of a pond in Kansas City on the morning of October 30, 2022. A passerby discovered the body at Blue Valley Park; the scene near a parking area contained a large amount of blood, shattered glass and drag marks leading to the water. An autopsy later determined the cause of death was a gunshot wound and investigators classified the case as a homicide.

Police linked a stolen white Dodge Ram to the case. The vehicle, which Cervantes was reportedly driving the night he was last seen, was recovered three days later in an alley; officers found blood, broken glass and a single spent shell casing on the driver’s side floorboard. Witness statements included one person who said they heard a 16-year-old male on Cervantes’ phone after the killing and another who said that juvenile confessed to shooting Cervantes while they were together in the truck.

The 16-year-old was taken into custody and charged as a juvenile with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and stealing; the case was placed in Family Court while Missouri law required a certification hearing to decide whether the youth would be tried as an adult. The juvenile’s identity is withheld. Did anyone in the Kansas City area know Javier or have information about his movements on the night of October 29–30, 2022?