In the heart of Kansas City, a 23-year-old man's life was tragically cut short in a senseless act of violence. John T. Wilson III, a male with a passion for music, modeling, and acting, was found deceased in his apartment in the 1600 block of Citadel Drive on September 28, 2019. Family members made the grim discovery, finding Wilson on his bedroom floor with multiple gunshot wounds.
There were no signs of forced entry into the apartment.
The Kansas City Police Department immediately launched an investigation into the suspicious death. Detectives began analyzing evidence from the scene, which included several 9 mm shell casings found in the bedroom. A crucial witness came forward, telling police they had seen a man in a white SUV visit the apartment building twice on the evening of September 27th. On the second visit, the witness heard four or five gunshots and then saw the same man run from the building, laughing as he got into the white SUV and drove away.
The investigation quickly led to a person of interest, 23-year-old Daniel A. Bigge. An examination of Wilson's iPhone revealed that his last communication was with a phone number associated with Bigge. Further investigation uncovered that when Wilson's father went to Bigge's home to ask him to be a pallbearer at his son's funeral, he noticed Bigge had a handgun tucked under his arm and a white SUV was parked in the driveway. A search warrant was executed at Bigge's residence, where police found a 9 mm handgun. Ballistics testing confirmed that the shell casings found at the crime scene were fired from the gun recovered from Bigge's bedroom.
Daniel A. Bigge was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with the fatal shooting of John T. Wilson III. During a police interview, Bigge denied being at Wilson's home on the day of the murder and claimed he had learned of his death from news reports. He also made statements suggesting that Wilson had asked him to kill him on multiple occasions over several months. However, when directly asked if he had shot the victim, Bigge denied it. Prosecutors requested a $200,000 bond.
