Man sentenced to 30 years in prison for fatal beating of KC mother, assault of daughter

A Kansas City, Kansas, man pleaded guilty Tuesday to the fatal beating of a 24-year-old woman and the assault of her four-year-old daughter two years ago, according to Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.

Just days before turning 32, Jose E. Escalante-Corchado pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in the killing of Mackenzie Hopkins of Kansas City and first-degree assault of her daughter, Bella.

Jackson County Judge Bryan E. Round then sentenced Escalante-Corchado to 30 years in a Missouri prison for both charges, with the sentences to run concurrently. Other charges of armed criminal action and first-degree endangering the welfare of a child were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

He was scheduled to face a jury trial beginning April 15.

According to court records, Kansas City police officers responding to a call to check the welfare of Hopkins went to her newly rented home shortly before 6 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2022, in the 7300 block of Wabash Avenue in the East Meyer neighborhood of Kansas City.

There, officers noticed what appeared to be blood leading up to the front steps. Officers met with Hopkins’ father, who attempted to use his key to unlock the door but discovered it was already unlocked.

Inside, officers found blood throughout the home’s main floor. Hopkins was found dead, submerged in the bathtub. She had been beaten severely. Bella was found on a bed with severe head trauma, according to court documents. She would spend weeks in intensive care.

Boot prints found at the scene later matched a pair of boots that belonged to Escalante-Corchado, according to court documents.

During the investigation, detectives learned that police officers had responded to her home about 12 hours earlier in the day after a 911 call was placed from her cellphone and a dispatcher heard people fighting. After going to the home, the two officers left without going inside.

Video from nearby traffic and surveillance cameras allegedly showed Escalante-Corchado entering Hopkins’ backyard. Fifteen minutes later, Hopkins’ cellphone placed a 911 call. One minute later, Escalante-Corchado was seen running from the home.

Shortly after, he parked his truck outside a gas station convenience store at 70th Street and Prospect Avenue and walked inside.

After the police left, he allegedly ran back to Hopkins’ home and went around to the back. He walked out two hours later, according to court documents.

Prosecutors alleged that Escalante-Corchado beat Hopkins during the time he was in the house.

Hopkins’ family said detectives told them the officers who responded to the first 911 call could not enter the house because of a policy that came after the conviction of Eric DeValkenaere, a white Kansas City police detective found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2019 fatal shooting of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb, a Black man.

Police denied any changes in practice or policy were made in response to the DeValkenaere case, in which the former officer was faulted for going onto private property without probable cause. His conviction was upheld on appeal, and the Missouri Supreme Court earlier this month declined to review it.

The Star’s Bill Lukitsch provided some information for this story.