On the morning of October 7, 2022, 36-year-old Donald Owens and a woman named Ashley Martinez, 32, were found shot to death outside a residence in the 6700 block of South Benton Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. Police had been dispatched to the area shortly after 2 a.m. following a report of an armed individual. Upon arrival, they discovered Owens on the screened-in front porch and Martinez in the front yard; both were unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene from apparent gunshot
wounds.
The investigation into the double homicide quickly led authorities to a person of interest, David G. McKenzie, a 38-year-old man from Orlando, Florida. McKenzie, along with his romantic partner and their two children, had been living with Owens and Martinez at the Benton Avenue home since August of that year. According to a witness, the night of the killings, Owens and McKenzie had gone outside to discuss rent payments that were reportedly overdue. The conversation escalated into a physical altercation, prompting Martinez to also go outside. Witnesses then reported hearing between four and five gunshots.
Following the shooting, McKenzie allegedly fled the scene in a black Chevy S-10 pickup truck. Investigators found paperwork bearing McKenzie's name at the crime scene. A few days later, on a Monday, police conducted a traffic stop and took McKenzie into custody for questioning. He was subsequently arrested and charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. During an interview with detectives, McKenzie appeared visibly upset and questioned why he would harm someone who had taken him in. He informed the police that he and his family had been staying at the residence partly because he had outstanding warrants in Florida. He claimed that on the night of the incident, he had returned from a park to find the scene and left because of his active warrant.
While McKenzie was identified as a key figure in the investigation and was arrested on a weapons charge in connection with the double homicide, publicly available information does not indicate that he was formally charged with the murders of Donald Owens and Ashley Martinez. Details regarding any subsequent trial or conviction for murder are not available in the online sources.
