KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A homeless man is charged with the stabbing murder of another homeless man inside an abandoned house in November 2023 in east Kansas City, Missouri.
Phillip R. Lacy, 33, is charged in Jackson County Court with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
A judge set Lacy's cash-only bond at $200,000.
Police officers found Bryan D. Hoover, 52, suffering from more than a dozen stab wounds. He died a short time later at a hospital.
Another homeless person who was in the house when the violence occurred told police that Lacy was smoking methamphetamine through his glass pipe and got increasingly jittery and agitated, according to a court document.
She told police she thought that meant Lacy was getting higher.
There was no light in the abandoned house, which also had been damaged a fire, according to the court document.
Hoover, according to the woman, did not want to give his flashlight to Lacy.
Lacy beat Hoover with his fists and feet before pulling out a screwdriver and stabbing Hoover, the court document states.
The woman said she threw water and a candle at Lacy, but he shoved her across the room and she fell.
Lacy was arrested on Tuesday and told police he knew the victim, but denied any knowledge of the homicide and said he was not in the vacant house, according to the court document.
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If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
