Northeast News

January 12, 2017

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced on Wednesday, January 11 that 30-year-old Lorenzo D. Washington has pleaded guilty to the January 30, 2016 murder of 52-year-old Thomas E. Kuzila Jr. in the Historic Northeast neighborhood of Pendleton Heights.

Washington was sentenced to 28 years in a Missouri prison after submitting a guilty plea to the charge of Murder in the 2nd Degree, and three years on a charge of Armed Criminal Action. Both sentences will run concurrently.

According to the Prosecutor’s office, Kuzila was found dead in an alley in the 100 block of Brooklyn Avenue. The Northeast News reported at the time that Kuzila, a Journeyman Pipefitter, was found with a gunshot wound to the head. The Northeast News further reported at the time that during questioning, Washington admitted to luring Kuzila into the alley, then shooting him in the head and stealing his truck.

Read the February 8, 2016 story published by the Northeast News here.