‘She can rest’: Mother of slain Kansas City woman thankful for alleged killer’s arrest

On a warm summer Saturday morning in mid-August, Myana Henderson walked with her sister’s boyfriend to a convenience store in Kansas City’s Pendleton Heights neighborhood to buy a few things.

Afterward, they were planning to head over to the recording studio, where the 21-year-old might put another rap she had written on tape. But she never made it.

Instead, a masked gunman shot her to death after she walked out of the store in a daylight attack that Kansas City police and Jackson County prosecutors say was carried out by D’Angelo L. Fisher, a 23-year-old man who authorities allege had planned to kill her. Fisher was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting.

Over the months since her daughter’s sudden death, Dawn Kopecky said her family has felt unease, disbelief and grief as they wondered how and why someone would rip her away from them. Kopecky said her other daughter, a mother of four, was afraid to leave her home.

In those weeks that followed, Kopecky said she called or texted the Kansas City homicide detective on the case morning, noon and night — and was relieved and thankful to finally see charges filed this week.

“Weeks went by and they had no leads at all. And then just all of a sudden everything just clicked and came together. So I’m really amazed and so happy with the work and dedication that they put in towards my daughter’s case,” Kopecky told The Star by phone on Friday.

“She can rest in peace now because he’s caught and I know that justice will be served,” Kopecky added. “It’s coming.”

‘HER DREAM’

The middle of six children, Henderson was living at home and plotting out her next steps in life. She had recently been hired to work in daycare — a job she was excited about, as she loved spending time with kids, especially her nephews and niece, Kopecky recalled.

Remembered as kind, loving, silly and the life of every party, Henderson possessed the boldness to be at the center of a stage. She was known to display her singing voice at family functions, and always wanted to perform for an even bigger crowd.

It was part of the dream the 21-year-old held from a young age as she hoped to one day be a star. She was an aspiring songwriter whose works are now documented in recordings proudly shared on Kopecky’s Facebook page.

“That was her dream, to be famous,” Kopecky said, with a laugh. “She always used to say, ‘Mama, when I make it, I’m gonna take care of you. I’m moving you out of here.’”

She thought of one day getting married and starting a family of her own, too. Earlier this year, Henderson started dating a young man — and Kopecky says they were practically inseparable. She would meet him as his shifts ended at work just about every day and they would spend each weekend together.

“She really was looking forward to the future,” Kopecky said, adding: “It’s really just sad that her whole life is cut out over nothing. Over somebody who couldn’t face rejection.”

THE SHOOTING

Kansas City police officers were dispatched at 9:49 a.m. on Aug. 13 to the BP gas station at the corner of Independence Avenue and Maple Boulevard. Arriving officers discovered two gunshot victims there.

Henderson was found on the ground in the northwest corner of the parking lot. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The other victim, her sister’s boyfriend, had also suffered a gunshot wound and was near the front doorway. He was treated at the hospital and was unable to identify the masked shooter.

An eyewitness told investigators that he was sitting in his truck listening to music when he saw a white car pull up and park beside the gas pumps, according to a statement of probable cause written by a Kansas City homicide detective. Then a man emerged from the vehicle, wearing an orange bandanna over his face, approached the storefront and started shooting at them, the witness recalled.

Video surveillance captured some of those events, including the moments when the gunman was seen chasing Henderson down and firing at her as she ran away. It also showed the suspected shooter’s car —identified by police as a Chevrolet Malibu, with a “flag sticker” over its taillight — heading north on Maple.

Detectives interviewed family and friends of Henderson as they sought to identify the suspect. They were told of a man known to them only as “D’Angelo,” according to court documents, and had heard that the man had been threatening Henderson and accusing her of “cheating on him.”

Witnesses told detectives that the man had recently been released from prison, wore a tattoo on his face and had possibly called Henderson from a blocked number — dozens of times over the course of one week — roughly a month before she was shot.

Witnesses also told police Henderson had been scared about a man who had been “stalking” her. And a friend and former roommate told investigators that Henderson had once invited a man named “D’Angelo” over to their apartment.

D’Angelo Fisher, the alleged killer, was eventually connected to the murder through phone records as well as DNA evidence, authorities allege.

Nine .45-caliber shell casings were collected as evidence from the shooting scene. In early October, a crime lab report allegedly showed genetic information developed from a swab taken from the shell casings was linked to Fisher.

A court order was also obtained to track the location history of a cell phone associated with Fisher. Authorities allege the data showed the cell phone was “in the area” of the shooting scene at the time Henderson was killed.

Fisher was released from a Missouri prison in February after serving a little more than two years on an armed robbery conviction where he was the admitted getaway driver. His parole officer told detectives Fisher had purchased a white Chevrolet Malibu in August, which detectives noted was the same make and model of the vehicle they were searching for.

Dash camera video was obtained from Grandview police of two times Fisher was stopped by traffic patrol. In one of the videos, recorded five days before Henderson was killed, detectives noted a sticker was above the taillight of Fisher’s car that was similar to the one seen on the car leaving the shooting scene.

During a police interview Monday, Fisher declined to speak to detectives outside the presence of an attorney beyond confirming his cell phone number and the type of car he drove. As of Friday, no defense attorney was listed in Jackson County court records to represent him in the case.

He remained held in Jackson County jail without bond Friday night.

‘SOMETHING NICE THERE FOR HER’

Kopecky has been to Henderson’s grave site twice. Visiting is too difficult an experience to bear as she again struggles through the loss of a child — a pain she knew once before, 10 years ago, when her 9-year-old daughter suddenly died of a brain aneurysm, she said.

But a host of other family and friends go there to see her often. And the boyfriend Henderson was so crazy about visits almost every day, she said.

Kopecky said seeing an arrest made in her daughter’s case has offered some closure and peace. Still, she thinks something is missing at her daughter’s final resting place.

The family wants to soon place a headstone there, she said, an expense she created a GoFundMe for this week. She wants something beautiful to help remember her.

“I want something nice because people are there all the time,” Kopecky said. “Our friends, my other children, people go so frequently, and I just want something nice there for her, to represent her.”

“I have not been since they have caught the killer,” she added. “But I want to (go).”