Brandy Castaneda

Brandy Helbock-Castaneda was remembered by her many friends and family members as a loving, caring, and beautiful person with a huge heart and a big smile. A 42-year-old mother, she was known as someone who would do anything for anyone and talked to everybody, a woman with so much love to give. Brandy also faced significant personal battles with multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and mental illness, but she was remembered as a strong fighter, especially in the last eight years of her life. Her loved ones hoped she would be honored through acts of kindness and support for causes dear to her heart, such as shelters and charities for MS, diabetes, mental health, and animal rescue.

In late December 2015, Brandy's sister grew worried and reported her missing to the Kansas City police. She had last seen Brandy on December 5, 2015. The search for Brandy stretched from days into weeks, ending in the most tragic way possible. On the morning of January 8, 2016, city workers were collecting illegally dumped trash in a wooded area in the 4900 block of Brooklyn Avenue when they made a horrifying discovery. Inside a black trash bag, they found Brandy's body. Her hands and feet had been bound. The Jackson County Medical Examiner later determined that she had died from blunt force trauma.

The Kansas City Police Department immediately launched a homicide investigation. For months, the case remained unsolved, leaving Brandy's family devastated and searching for answers. "This death has rippled through our family," a relative said in October 2016, nine months after her body was found. "And we were left with many questions." The family pleaded with the public for any information that could lead to justice for Brandy, as Kansas City faced one of its deadliest years for homicides. Investigators worked for two years on the cold case before a breakthrough came from forensic evidence.

A DNA sample collected from a rope found around Brandy's hips, and another sample from her ankle, were entered into law enforcement databases. The DNA returned a match to Kevin O. Hurley Sr., a man who was out on parole after serving a prison sentence for a previous murder. When detectives questioned Hurley in March 2018, he denied ever knowing Brandy. To solidify the case, further DNA analysis was conducted to exclude others in Hurley's paternal lineage, including his son. With the evidence pointing directly to him, Hurley was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

The case against Kevin O. Hurley Sr. proceeded through the Jackson County court system. In December 2020, following a bench trial, a judge found Hurley guilty of second-degree murder in connection with Brandy's death. The prosecution, handled by Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys Jennifer Tatum and Lauren Barrett, successfully argued that Hurley had knowingly caused Brandy's death by repeatedly striking her.

In March 2021, more than five years after Brandy’s life was taken, her family finally saw a measure of justice. A judge sentenced Kevin Hurley Sr., then 62, to 20 years in prison for the murder. The conviction and sentence ensured that the man responsible for the brutal killing would be held accountable, bringing a painful chapter to a close for a family that had endured years of uncertainty and grief. While the legal proceedings concluded, the family's request to honor Brandy's memory through kindness and charity endures. Anyone with information on unsolved homicides can call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.