Riley Youngblood

On the morning of January 20, 2022, a drive to work turned fatal for a young father in Independence, Missouri. Riley Youngblood, a 23-year-old White man, was behind the wheel of his pickup truck when he became involved in what appeared to be a road rage incident. It began around 8 a.m. near U.S. Highway 40 and Little Blue Parkway, where surveillance video showed Riley’s truck appearing to abruptly change lanes in front of another pickup. The second truck then crashed into the rear of Riley’s vehicle. Both trucks sped away, driving side-by-side, before the driver of the other vehicle fired multiple shots into Riley’s 2020 Chevrolet Silverado. Riley was shot five times. He was found slumped over the wheel of his truck, which had come to rest a short distance away. Emergency responders rushed him to a hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries four days later on January 24.

Riley was remembered by his family as a loving, hard-working man who was devoted to his seven-month-old daughter. "He was absolutely on cloud nine with his baby girl," his uncle said. His fiancée, Kali Henderson, spoke of the profound loss, saying, "The hardest thing for me as a mother is knowing the pain my daughter will forever have. It is a pain that I will never be able to take away... She will never have her own memories of him." Riley's grandfather, Terry Roberts, added, "He was the world to us."

The investigation quickly focused on finding the suspect's vehicle, a dark gray 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 2500. A crucial tip directed detectives to a local auto body shop, which in turn led them to an employee, Joshua A. Mongold. When first questioned, Mongold denied that anything unusual had happened on the morning of the shooting. However, investigators later located his truck on a heavily wooded property in Hickory County, about 126 miles from the crime scene. The vehicle had been painted a new color. Inside, police discovered a .40 caliber pistol that ballistics testing later confirmed was the weapon used in the shooting.

On February 11, 2022, an Independence SWAT team arrested Joshua A. Mongold, then 34, in Cass County. The Jackson County prosecutor’s office charged him with second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon.

In June 2023, Mongold entered a plea agreement, which Riley Youngblood’s family told prosecutors they did not support, as they had wanted the case to proceed to trial. Mongold pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter and unlawful use of a weapon. A judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison for the manslaughter charge and a consecutive 3-year term for the weapon charge, for a total sentence of 18 years. The case was closed with his sentencing in June 2023.