On the afternoon of October 16, 2021, a violent tragedy unfolded within a residence in the Oak Park Southwest neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. Around 3:00 p.m., police officers patrolling near 46th Street and Benton Boulevard heard the distinct sound of gunfire nearby. Almost simultaneously, emergency dispatchers received a report of a shooting in the 4500 block of Chestnut Avenue. Upon arriving at the home, officers were directed inside by a 911 caller.
There, in the living room, they discovered the body of 47-year-old Andre Maurice Green. He was found slumped over on a couch, having sustained a fatal gunshot wound. Despite the immediate police response, he was pronounced dead at the scene, marking the city's 122nd homicide of the year.
For nearly a year, the investigation into the death of the male victim remained open without criminal charges, despite early leads. Investigators had collected spent 9mm shell casings from the driveway of the home on Chestnut Avenue, and witnesses provided accounts of the moments leading up to the shooting. One witness reported hearing an argument between Green and a man named Craig D. Moss Jr., who lived at the same residence. This witness described seeing Green picking up a television from the floor just before gunshots rang out. Another individual, described as the boyfriend of Moss’s mother, told detectives that Moss had contacted him via FaceTime shortly after the incident, allegedly confessing that he had shot Green in the head.
A significant breakthrough in the case occurred months later, on September 1, 2022, following a separate shooting incident in the 3000 block of Harrison Street. In that event, officers recovered fresh 9mm shell casings and identified Craig D. Moss Jr. as a suspect. A rush analysis by the crime laboratory revealed a ballistic match between the casings found at the Harrison Street scene and those recovered from the driveway where Green was killed the previous year. This forensic evidence provided the necessary link for prosecutors to move forward with the case.
Following the ballistics match, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office filed felony charges against the 31-year-old suspect. Craig D. Moss Jr. was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with Green's death. At the time the new charges were announced, Moss was already being held in the Jackson County jail without bond. The alignment of the physical evidence and the witness testimonies allowed authorities to finally seek justice for the killing that had occurred inside the Chestnut Avenue home nearly eleven months prior.
