On the morning of August 5, 2018, police in Kansas City, Missouri, responded to a call regarding an unresponsive person near 107th Street and Greenwood Road. The victim, identified as 55-year-old Cyrenaica Lang, a Black female, was found lying in the street. First responders initially treated the situation as a medical emergency, but it was soon determined that Lang had died from gunfire.
Her death occurred during a particularly violent period in the city, contributing to a cluster of homicides that week.
The investigation led detectives to identify a suspect, Rafael M. Armstrong, who was thirty years old at the time of the charges. Authorities utilized DNA evidence and phone records to link Armstrong to the crime scene. Wireless earbuds and a cellphone found near Lang’s body were analyzed, and DNA recovered from the earbuds matched Armstrong’s profile. Additionally, phone records indicated that Armstrong had called Lang multiple times on the morning of her death. Family members informed investigators that Armstrong and Lang had previously lived together and suggested that a dispute over a firearm stored in Lang’s storage unit may have precipitated the violence.
Armstrong was arrested five days after the killing at a local motel on an unrelated felony matter. During that arrest, police recovered a firearm allegedly hidden under a mattress. Forensic analysis of the weapon revealed DNA on the handle that matched Armstrong’s, and ballistics testing reportedly linked the gun to the shell casings discovered at the scene of Lang’s murder. In February 2019, Jackson County prosecutors charged Armstrong with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and unlawful possession of a firearm in connection with Lang’s death.
