KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced Wednesday the arrest of a 36-year-old Colorado man, Benjamin Tyler Simmons, for the murder of missing 37-year-old Sarah Tafoya, of Sterling, Colorado, in Clay County in May.
The Clay County Prosecuting Attorney charged Simmons, from Fort Morgan, Colorado, on June 6 with first-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse as Tafoya's body was found by investigators in Clay County, according to a MSHP press release.
Simmons allegedly strangled Tafoya on or around May 1, 2023.
Authorities began investigating the disappearance of Tafoya on May 4, just three days after a man, who reported her missing, last spoke with her.
According to MSHP, during Tafoya's last conversation with the man, she told him she was "somewhere" in Clay County, Missouri, with Simmons and "needed help."
A witness reported to investigators on May 23 that Simmons told them he killed Tafoya in a Kansas City-area hotel and left her body in a wooded-area of Clay County.
Investigators with the MSHP Division of Drug and Crime Control interviewed Simmons on May 25, when he confessed to killing Tafoya and indicated where he disposed her body, according to court documents.
Investigators searched the provided location, near the intersection of 33rd Street and North Drury Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, and found human remains, which were later identified as Tafoya.
Simmons is currently being held at the Missouri Department of Corrections Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center on an unrelated probation violation charge, per the release. He faces an active Clay County warrant for first-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse.
He is being held on a $5,000,000 cash-only bond.
Friends and family of Tafoya are remembering her online.
—
For jurisdictions that utilize the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline, anonymous tips can be made by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Tips leading to an arrest made through the Tips Hotline may be eligible for up to a $25,000 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.
