INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – A man from Independence has been charged with murder following the death of a 19-year-old who was discovered in a car near I-435 on Sunday.
The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office has charged Steven B. Rock in connection with the death of 19-year-old Preston Bell.
Court documents, filed Friday, reveal video footage showing Bell’s vehicle parked outside a home when three suspects approached. One of them, identified later as Rock, is seen on video running behind the vehicle, opening the driver’s side door, and pulling out an unresponsive person. Rock then placed the victim into the backseat of the car, got in, and drove off.
The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department responded to a call near I-435 and Truman Road on Sunday afternoon. They found Bell inside the car with a gunshot wound and pronounced him dead at the scene.
According to court documents, police informed Rock that everyone involved in the fatal shooting would face charges. While speaking during a jail phone call, Rock said, “The others don’t deserve that. It’s me.”
The prosecutor’s office has requested a $250,000 bond for Rock, who faces charges including second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and one count of abandonment of a corpse.
An investigation into the shooting is ongoing, and Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker confirmed charges have been filed for abandonment of a corpse against a second defendant in the case.
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