KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Jackson County judge sentenced a convicted double murderer last week to life in prison without parole.
A jury convicted Earl Dunn, III, of two counts of first-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and three counts of armed criminal action in the 2021 murders of Kyle Gerhardt and Kristopher Lunsford-Barrett.
The two men were found shot to death inside a burning car near Anderson and Norton avenues in the historic Northeast neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri.
Kansas City, Missouri, police detectives obtained Ring camera video that showed the car as it crashed into a tree.
Two men were shown on the video approaching the car and interacting with the two victims. The video also showed the two men running from the car.
A key piece of evidence was a DNA profile done on a plastic mouthpiece from a cigar inside a 2005 Mitsubishi SUV police determined was used by Dunn. That DNA profile matched Dunn's.
In addition to Dunn, III, Vontez Howard, 28, was sentenced in 2023 to 60 years in prison for his involvement in the killings.
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