In the chill of a December evening in Kansas City, Missouri, the life of 41-year-old Eric T. Anderson was tragically cut short. On December 6, 2016, Anderson was in the parking lot of the Blue Bird Motel, located in the 8900 block of U.S. 40, when he was fatally shot. The incident occurred at approximately 8:10 p.m., a time when the bustling city was settling into the rhythms of the night.
Just moments before the fatal shooting, a sense of unease had already descended upon the motel. An employee reported being robbed by a man clad in a black vest. This initial crime, however, was soon overshadowed by the discovery of Anderson in the parking lot, suffering from a gunshot wound. Despite the immediate response from police, Anderson succumbed to his injuries, becoming another statistic in the city's growing number of homicides for that year. The perpetrator of the shooting remained elusive, with police initially having only a vague description.
As the investigation unfolded, detectives worked to piece together the events of that tragic night. A year to the day after Anderson's death, the Kansas City Police Department released a surveillance video in the hopes of generating new leads. The video captured a person of interest, a man seen on a KCATA bus who appeared to be familiar with the area around 31st Street and Indiana Avenue. He was described as wearing a black puffy vest over a patterned hoodie. In the video, his voice could be heard as he spoke with the bus driver. This release was a plea to the public for assistance, a call for anyone who might recognize the individual to come forward and help bring closure to Anderson's grieving family, particularly his daughters who had lost their mother to cancer just months before their father's murder.
Despite the efforts of law enforcement and the public appeal for information, the case of Eric T. Anderson's murder has grown cold. There have been no reports of arrests made or suspects formally charged in connection with his death. The man in the surveillance video remains a person of interest, and a reward was offered for any information that could lead to an arrest. The passage of time has not diminished the tragedy of that December night, leaving a family without a father and a community with the lingering question of who was responsible for the senseless act of violence at the Blue Bird Motel.
