Cyberstalker pleads guilty in killing outside grocery store in Kansas City: Prosecutors
A 34-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to using a GPS tracker for the purpose of stalking and killing another man in the parking lot of a grocery store in Kansas City’s Ingleside neighborhood, according to federal prosecutors.
Dontay Campbell, formerly of Kansas City, admitted to a felony count of cyberstalking resulting in the death of Dontayus Wiles, 40, who was fatally shot March 16, 2019. Campbell and another man were indicted two years ago for allegedly following Wiles to the Wild Woody’s Happy Foods market parking lot in the 4000 block of East 31st Street and firing 17 gunshots at him.
Prosecutors say a GPS tracking device was secretly placed under a red Chevrolet Tahoe owned by Wiles. Campbell and an alleged conspirator, identified in court documents as 37-year-old Michael Smith of Kansas City, followed the SUV to the grocery store and waited outside for Wiles to leave, authorities allege.
Wiles was shot by Smith while leaving the store with his wife in a parking lot crowded with people, including children, prosecutors allege. Campbell owned the gun used in the shooting and unsuccessfully attempted to remove the GPS device from the vehicle afterward, authorities have said.
Both men fled the area in a vehicle afterward, authorities said.
Among the evidence gathered by investigators against Campbell was an electronic purchase receipt of and the registered account for the GPS device authorities found on Wiles’ vehicle. It was bought using Campbell’s Amazon account with a credit card in his name, according to court documents.
Under the terms of his plea agreement, Campbell faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
Smith continues to face charges in connection with Wiles’ death plus the killing of a 32-year-old woman who authorities say was fatally shot under similar circumstances.
In December 2019, roughly nine months after Wiles was killed, Candace Craig, a mother of four, was ambushed in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 400 block of Highland Avenue.
Authorities allege a GPS device paid for by Smith was used to track Craig for about five months and removed from her vehicle the day she was killed. An indictment filed in October 2021 did not name the suspected shooter in that case.
