Kansas City man acquitted of murder in grisly dismembered body case dies in shooting

A Kansas City man acquitted of murder in a 2019 killing and grisly dismembered body case was found fatally wounded in a double shooting Tuesday afternoon in the metro’s Northland, a police spokesperson said.

On Thursday, police identified the man killed in the shooting as 36-year-old Colton J. Stock, a Northland man previously acquitted of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the 2019 killing of 35-year-old Matthew Calkins.

Officers responded about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to a disturbance in the 3900 block of North Lister Avenue, said Officer Alayna Gonzalez with the Kansas City Police Department. While en route, officers were told that shots had been fired.

Upon arrival, officers found Stock lying outside a nearby home, suffering from a gunshot wound. Gonzalez said he was taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries.

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Officers found another man inside a home who had also been shot. He was taken to a hospital with critical injuries. The person remained in critical condition but stable on Thursday, Gonzalez said.

A preliminary investigation revealed the shooting may have started over an argument, Gonzalez said. Detectives believe the two individuals were shooting at each other and were not searching for anyone else involved in the shooting.

Detectives were working to determine the relationship between Stock and the other shooting victim.

There is no indication that the double shooting is related to the 2019 case, Gonzalez said.

A Kansas City man acquitted of murder in a 2019 dismembered body case was found fatally wounded in a double shooting Wednesday afternoon in the 3900 block of North Lister Avenue, a police spokesperson said. Colton Stock was identified as the man killed in the shooting. This Google Maps Street View image of the area is from October.
A Kansas City man acquitted of murder in a 2019 dismembered body case was found fatally wounded in a double shooting Wednesday afternoon in the 3900 block of North Lister Avenue, a police spokesperson said. Colton Stock was identified as the man killed in the shooting. This Google Maps Street View image of the area is from October.

On May 5, 2019, Kansas City police responded to Stock’s home in the 5600 block of North Poe Street to investigate the sound of gunfire. When officers arrived, they saw smoke coming from the house and called Kansas City firefighters to respond.

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After firefighters put out flames in the basement, authorities discovered Calkins’ torso underneath a tarp.

At trial, prosecutors contended that Stock killed Calkins, cut up the body with a saw, hid parts of it in an unknown location and set the crime scene on fire to escape justice.

Authorities searched for the missing head, arms and legs of Calkins to bring the family “some peace,” but prosecutors accused Stock of giving false locations. Police searched without success, and prosecutors said there was no indication that Stock was being truthful.

Stock’s public defender countered that Calkins, armed with a gun, had broken into Stock’s house during a burglary, and Stock was defending himself when he shot Calkins.

A Clay County jury in December 2022 acquitted Stock of murder in the case. The jury found Stock guilty of abandoning a corpse and tampering with evidence.

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A Clay County judge in February 2023 sentenced Stock to serve four years in prison on each felony count, with the sentences to be served consecutively. Before sentencing, Stock had been held in Clay County jail since his arrest in 2019.

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, in October, reversed Stock’s conviction for felony abandonment of a corpse and remanded the case for a new trial on the charge. The appeals court ruled that modifying jury instructions to allow the jury to convict if it found Stock disposed of only “parts of the corpse” rather than the “corpse” resulted in a “manifest injustice and a miscarriage of justice.”

In the ruling, the appeals court said that although they believed the evidence was sufficient to convict him of the crime, it could not say that a reasonable jury would have unanimously convicted him.

Colton was released in September, according to information the Missouri Department of Corrections reported to VINELink Missouri, a website that provides information on people held in custody.

Missouri Department of Corrections records show Colton was assigned to the Missouri Probation and Parole offices in Liberty.