By Allen Edmonds
RAYMORE – After just the third homicide in nearly 21 years since the millennium, the Metro Squad made an arrest in the July 8 killing of a 39-year-old woman in a residence in the 300 block of Lakeshore Drive within three days.
The victim, Katie M. Kellen, was found dead just after 8 p.m. by her mother in the home the two shared. Officers dispatched to the scene found she had suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
By the end of the weekend, 41-year-old Dale L. Williamson of Independence, who had previously been convicted and served time for first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and bank robbery, was being held in the Cass County Jail without bond in connection with the case. He was captured by Independence officers after a brief foot pursuit after being confronted in his driveway.
Officers found two 9mm handguns inside a Kia Sorrento backed into his driveway after obtaining a search warrant. The Kia appeared to be the same vehicle spotted in video surveillance where he and the victim had been spotted together at various businesses in the Belton and Raymore areas on the day of Kellen’s death.
Raymore Police Chief Jan Zimmerman said it was clear the two knew each other, but could not classify their relationship.
“I really don’t know how they knew each other or what the extent of their relationship was,” she said.
According to a probable cause statement filed with Cass County Circuit Court over the weekend, the victim’s mother also determined several items missing from the home, including a small safe containing approximately $23,000 in cash, two cell phones belonging to the victim and a diamond ring.
The victim’s mother told officers she had last heard from her daughter at 2:07 p.m. July 7, the previous day.
Surveillance from a neighboring residence revealed that a white Kia Sorrento arrived at the victim’s address on 2:54 p.m. July 7. At that time, the victim and the male suspect exited the vehicle and entered the front door of the residence.
At 3:10 p.m. that day, the suspect is seen coming out of the side door of the residence, carrying multiple items, including a tan piece of luggage.
He then loads the items into the vehicle and makes multiple trips inside of the residence before eventually leaving the residence in the vehicle at 3:39 p.m.
Surveillance video shows no vehicles arrived at the residence and no individuals enter the front or side of the residence until the victim’s mother arrives at 8:19 p.m. the next evening.
Police are dispatched and arrive at the scene at 8:31 p.m.
Officers recovered a receipt at the crime scene from a Shell gas station purchases at 8:07 a.m. July 7, and a search of the surveillance video at Shell showed the victim making a cash purchase at the store for fuel being pumped into the Kia by the victim. Video showed a Black male as the driver.
Earlier video from the same station on July 5 showed the same white Kia Sorrento arriving at the station at 9:12 a.m. According to the affidavit, the male entering the station was positively identified as the suspect by investigators using his Missouri Department of Revenue photograph and photographs on his suspected Facebook profile.
Kellen also entered the store on that occasion with the suspect.
Additional video surveillance video was also recovered from the HyVee grocery store in Belton. The video showed the Kia entering the parking lot at 2:39 p.m. on July 7, and Kellen getting out of the vehicle, making a purchase and leaving the parking lot as a passenger in the Kia at 2:47 p.m.
Investigators used Williamson’s driver’s licenses records to locate his address in Independence, where local officers surveilled the residence.
During an interview with Williamson, he admitted that he possessed the two firearms found in his vehicle.
He also told investigators that he was with the victim on July 7 at her residence. He also told officers that he was driving a white Kia SUV and that no one else had access to drive the vehicle.
Williamson told officers that he left the residence at approximately 11 a.m. that day – which conflicted with video evidence showing he and his vehicle on the scene until late that afternoon.
Phone records also showed the victim’s last phone call received was at 1:43 p.m. July 7, from the suspect.
Zimmerman thanked the Metro Squad for their direction and assistance throughout the weekend.
This was just the second homicide during Zimmerman’s tenure at Raymore, which began in 2012.
Erick Beckett is currently serving life without parole in the Jefferson City Correctional Center for his first-degree murder conviction in the shooting death of his wife, Danielle Beckett, on Feb. 23, 2013.
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