KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Derrae Davis said Grayson O’Connor’s death shouldn’t be the end of his story.
She was a neighbor to O’Connor, 5, who died Monday. Kansas City police said the boy fell from a window in the Grand Boulevard Lofts. His mother is a “subject of interest,” but she’s not currently under arrest.
“Knowing that he’s not here any more, it’s a haunting feeling,” Davis said.
Since late 2019, Davis has lived two doors down from O’Connor. She told KSHB 41 News she saw red flags in the boy’s life. She only reported what she noticed to the apartment’s property manager.
“That’s the part I feel guilty about because I didn’t do enough. I let my animosity toward her as a woman, as a person, as a parent get in the way of me intervening and taking Grayson under my arms and trying to help more,” Davis admitted.
Another neighbor told KSHB 41 News she filed a report with Missouri’s Department of Social Services roughly two years ago on Grayson’s behalf. The department told KSHB 41 News the earliest it could supply the station with documents we’ve requested to corroborate those claims is April 2024.
“He was a happy kid,” Davis said. “He was genuinely happy, he was genuinely friendly. He wanted people to know things about him.”
Davis will keep Grayson’s story alive until everyone she thinks is responsible for his death faces accountability.
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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.
