On August 2, 2017, 36-year-old female Tamara Frazier was fatally shot outside a residence in the 3700 block of Woodland Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. The incident occurred amidst a contentious custody dispute between Tamara and her ex-husband, John A. Frazier. Tamara had traveled to the home to retrieve their two sons, aged 7 and 9, whom she had not seen in several months despite sharing custody.
Upon her arrival, she contacted her sister by phone, reporting that John Frazier had brandished a firearm at her. A struggle ensued, which was partially overheard by family members on the call before the connection was lost.
Responding officers found Tamara lying face down in the driveway of the residence, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds to her back, chest, and arm. She was pronounced dead at the scene. John Frazier, who was present at the location, called 911 to report the shooting, claiming he acted in self-defense after Tamara allegedly pulled a gun on him. Police recovered a handgun near Tamara’s body; however, an investigation revealed that the weapon had been purchased by John Frazier himself years earlier in 2005. Furthermore, the couple’s children told authorities they had never seen their mother carry a firearm. Surveillance footage from the home captured Tamara knocking on the door and John Frazier arriving shortly after with a gun, but the system went offline just moments before the shooting occurred.
John A. Frazier was arrested and charged in connection with the homicide. Prosecutors argued that he had lured Tamara to the home and staged the scene to look like self-defense. In April 2023, a Jackson County jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Following the jury’s recommendation, a judge sentenced the 41-year-old John Frazier in September 2023 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder charge, with an additional consecutive 20-year sentence for the armed criminal action conviction.
