KC's oldest cold case reopened after gun turns up — in use by police

[KansDem]

Source: Kansas City Star

In a reversal of an earlier decision, Kansas City police are reopening a 40-year-old investigation into the 1970 shotgun slaying of black political leader Leon Jordan.

The about-face came after local civil rights leader Alvin Sykes met with Police Chief Jim Corwin, and comes on the heels of another major development in the case. Police have rediscovered physical evidence in the case that they had earlier said was missing.

Not only have they found partial fingerprints taken from the murder weapon, a Remington 12-gauge Wingmaster shotgun, they also have found the gun itself — in one of their own patrol cars.

Enhancing and analyzing the old fingerprints using modern-day technology such as the Automated Fingerprint Identification System could lead to new clues in the case, according to Linda Netzel, director of the department’s regional crime lab.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/28/2114750/kc-reopens-1970-leon-jordan-slaying.html

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"...in one of their own patrol cars?" Weren't records kept and wouldn't the purchase of this gun by KC police send up red flags? This should get interesting...

From the article--

Shotgun timeline
1965: Gun is stolen from a Coast to Coast hardware store in Independence.

1970: Gun is recovered from a vacant lot in Kansas City, where Jordan’s killers apparently dumped it. It is inventoried and put in police evidence room.

1976: Gun is acquired by “unknown person” outside the department.

1977: Gun is purchased by Kansas City Police Department from a local dealer for use in a patrol car.

1997: Gun is used by an officer in the shooting of a suspect and sent to the crime lab for analysis.

1998: Gun is returned to service and assigned to Special Operations Division.

2010: Gun is recovered from trunk of a police car and returned to the evidence room.

[NV Whino]

1. Good gawd!

The best part is "acquired by unknown person" and resold to the police department.

[Xithras]

4. It was 1976

In 1976 you could walk into any Sears in America, drop $150 in cash, and walk out five minutes later with a shotgun and all the ammo you could carry without the sales clerk even asking your name.

Police surplus sales are still a common way for many departments to make money, and in the mid-70's a surplus sale would often have a table full of rifles, shotguns, and handguns sitting in between the tables of recovered turntables and stolen tools. I'm not really shocked that they don't have any record of who the gun was sold to.

[Xithras]

2. I don't know about red flags

The records showed that the gun was legally sold by the police department in 1976 and ended up in the hands of a local gun shop. When the department purchased the gun a year later, it's unlikely that they'd have realized that it was the same gun. The Wingmaster is a very common hunting shotgun, and it's incredible that they ended up buying back the exact same gun a year later, from someone OTHER than the person they sold it to. If there was no reason to compare the serial numbers, they'd have never realized what had happened.

[KansDem]

5. I was wondering about the serial number...

Wouldn't it have been recorded at the time of the murder? And wouldn't it have been noted when purchased by the police?

It seems to me that someone might have seen the same number on both the murder weapon and the police purchase. Mid-70s? Wasn't this kind of information stored on computers yet? And if not, one might think someone working even with paper records would discover this...

[Xithras]

6. Not unless you're a savant

First, in the mid-70's, they wouldn't have been tracking evidence using computers. It would be another 10 years until police departments would get into computerized records in any big way.

Second, here is a real serial number from a real Remington shotgun: 813545v. Unless you had a savant level memory for numbers, it's beyond improbable to assume that a clerk is going to see a number on one gun, and then REMEMBER that number a year later when the gun came through again. It may be a moot point anyway, because in most departments, evidence lockers and equipment acquisition are handled by different people.

Third, even if someone had realized that it was the same weapon, it's unlikely that the person noticing would have done much more than make a comment about the interesting coincidence. You have to remember that the records stated that the shotgun had been legally sold the previous year, so the person doing the acquisition wouldn't have seen anything improper about buying back a weapon that, according to his records, the department had sold the year before.

The only person who screwed up here was the clerk who pulled the shotgun from the evidence locker and added it to the surplus bin. THAT is the story I'd like to see explained.

[NV Whino]

7. I would think...

but then I do think, unlike many people... that the police would check serial numbers when buying used weapons. And why sell it and then buy it back a year later? All kinds of fuzzy stuff here.

[Xithras]

12. Check it against what?

Most police departments DO check serial numbers...against their stolen gun lists. There would have been no reason for them to compare the number against a gun that should have been in their evidence locker anyway. They weren't looking for the gun.

It's easy to trace the history of a gun nowadays, where interconnected databases will let you type in a serial number and retrieve the entire documentary history of a weapon. It was a much bigger deal 35-40 years ago, when comparing numbers meant tediously comparing handwritten lists and card files. Back then, it would have taken DAYS for someone to compare the serial number of the shotgun against all of the various lists in the departments posession. If they purchased the shotgun from a legitimate dealer with no inkling as to its history, why would they have invested that kind of time?

[activa8tr]

10. I doubt the police had useful computers in 1976 or even 1980! n/t

[slackmaster]

11. Firearms were not required to have serial numbers until 1968

Many did, but there were plenty that did not.

[Joanne98]

3. Busted

[Theobald]

9. Who is busted?

[UpInArms]

8. background:

http://www.kcpolicememorial.com/history/ljordan/

Jordan was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1964. In 1970, Leon Jordan was perhaps the most powerful African-American in the state of Missouri. He also owned and operated the Green Duck tavern. Jordan was assassinated (shot at close range in a gangland-style killing) in the early morning hours of July 15, 1970, as he was closing his tavern. Although charges were brought against two individuals, no one was ever convicted and Jordan's murder remains unsolved.