KANSAS CITY, Mo. — You often hear it often on FOX4: “If you know anything about this crime, call Crime Stoppers. It’s anonymous.”
Well, earlier this month, a KCK family who had been waiting for 11 years got some answers thanks to one of those anonymous tips. Two arrests have been made in the 2008 murder of Jeff Rogers.
“This just goes to show, this is not a, like we see on TV, this is not a one-hour process,” Detective Kevin Boehm said. “You don’t generally wrap up a case that quickly.”
He first heard of Rogers’ name more than a decade ago when he began his career as the coordinator for Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers.
“When I showed up down there, this case was basically on my desk the day I arrived,” he said.
Police said four men broke into Rogers’ home. They beat, stabbed and shot him. The 25-year-old kept himself alert enough to call police and describe the suspects, then died minutes later.
For years his family begged for answers. They held vigils every year, desperate but determined.
Then Crime Stoppers gave detectives some information from a tip that came in last year. It was the missing piece to bring charges, so far, against two men.
Daniel Kidwell, 35, has been charged with second-degree murder, and Corey Mason, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder in the case.
While it does answer some questions for relatives, it’s just the start.
“They’ve got a long way to go,” Boehm said. “This is just the initial step in the process. But hopefully they follow this through and ultimately they can have some answers.”
He said outcomes like this prove anonymity is the very thing that makes Crime Stoppers work.
“We protect that anonymity. We genuinely don’t know who they are. We don’t care. We want that information,” Boehm said.
KCK Police Chief Terry Ziegler said on Twitter that three people were arrested. FOX4 will continue to follow this case if Wyandotte County prosecutors charge additional people.
