Charles Sanders

Known affectionately as “Chucky” to his loved ones, Charles Sanders was a kind-hearted 17-year-old with an infectious smile. After losing his father a few years earlier, Charles was actively turning his life around. He had recently graduated from an alternative high school in Kansas City, Missouri, and was working at Chipotle. He dreamed of going to college to become a child therapist, hoping to use his own experiences to help children facing similar struggles. He and his sister Alyssa, who were only a year apart, were especially close.

On the afternoon of April 23, 2025, that future was stolen. Around 2:15 p.m., police were called to a home in the Northland neighborhood of Kansas City. In the front yard of a residence on Northeast 75th Court, they found Charles unresponsive with gunshot wounds. Neighbors who heard the gunfire had rushed to help, with one performing CPR until emergency responders arrived. Charles was transported to a hospital, but he did not survive his injuries.

Detectives learned that an altercation between Charles and at least one other person had occurred just before the shooting. Security camera footage captured a man in a white hoodie standing over Charles in the yard. Witnesses reported seeing two teenagers running from the area, while others saw suspects fleeing the scene in an SUV. In the days and weeks that followed, the Sanders family waited anxiously for answers, expressing frustration over the initial pace of the investigation.

For seven months, police worked the case. Then, in a significant development, they arrested 18-year-old Rahmelo Stenson in connection with the killing. Stenson was 17 at the time of the shooting. A Clay County juvenile judge later certified him to stand trial as an adult, a decision that came during the week of the one-year anniversary of Charles’s death.

In May 2026, a grand jury indicted Rahmelo Stenson on charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Stenson pleaded not guilty to both charges and is being held in the Clay County jail on a $200,000 cash-only bond. As of May 2026, his jury trial was scheduled to begin on August 2, 2027.