KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, man is accused of severely beating his 61-year-old aunt to death, Jackson County prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Kansas City police responded shortly after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday to a home in the 7500 block of Wabash Avenue, where they found Phyllis Banks dead in a chair with apparent severe trauma to her head.
An aluminum bat and a knife were lying near the victim with apparent blood on both objects, according to charging documents.
Officers also found Darryl Banks, 33, upstairs in a bedroom of the house, lying in the dark and wearing black winter-style gloves, according to records.
Another man who lives at the home told police that he left earlier Sunday and returned shortly before 9:30 p.m. and went to his bedroom. The man said that he believed Darryl Banks to be in his bedroom as well. At some point, the man went to the victim’s bedroom and found her dead in the chair in her bedroom, so he called police.
A crime scene technician processed Darryl Banks’ clothes and found visible apparent blood splatter on his pants and apparent blood splatter on his glasses. An analysis found the blood splatter on his glasses included DNA from Phyllis Banks.
A report from the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office found that Phyllis Banks died of blunt force head trauma. Several of her wounds were consistent with being struck with a rod-like object, according to charging documents.
Darryl Banks was booked into the Jackson County Jail on charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
