In the fall of 2017, the life of 25-year-old Yessenia Ahumada was tragically cut short in a violent encounter that also claimed the lives of two other individuals in Kansas City, Missouri. On the morning of November 10th, police were dispatched to a residence at the corner of 17th Street and Chelsea Avenue following a report of a shooting. Inside the home, they discovered a grim scene. Ahumada, along with 30-year-old Jennifer L.
Zimmerman and 30-year-old Victor Portillo, had been fatally shot in what was investigated as a triple homicide.
The investigation into the brutal slayings soon pointed towards a suspect with a personal connection to one of the victims. Authorities identified Deaundre J. Brown, Yessenia Ahumada's ex-boyfriend, as a person of interest. The motive for the killings appeared to be a drug transaction that had soured. According to court records, Ahumada had reportedly arranged for Brown to purchase 20 pounds of marijuana from Victor Portillo for $34,000. It is believed that the shooting occurred during this prearranged meeting. Investigators utilized cell phone records and surveillance footage which placed Brown and his vehicle in the vicinity of the crime scene before and after the murders took place.
In August 2018, more than nine months after the killings, the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office announced that Deaundre J. Brown had been charged in connection with the triple homicide. He faced three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of armed criminal action for the deaths of Yessenia Ahumada, Jennifer L. Zimmerman, and Victor Portillo.
The legal proceedings culminated in January 2020, when Deaundre J. Brown pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him. As part of a plea agreement, a sentence of 20 years for each of the three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of armed criminal action was recommended, with the sentences to be served concurrently.
