Michael Bushnell

Northeast News

KANSAS CITY – Sonny R. Scott, a 41-year-old homeless man pleaded guilty Monday to 2nd Degree Murder and Armed Criminal Action in the November 2017 stabbing of Roderick Browning-Torrence at a car wash near 8th and Prospect.

According to charging documents, police responded to the car wash at 820 Prospect on November 14, 2017. Upon arrival, EMS personnel attempted to revive the unresponsive victim, who was suffering from multiple apparent stab wounds to his abdomen. The victim, Roderick-Torrence, was transported to a hospital where he later was pronounced deceased.

Detectives responded to the scene and recovered surveillance video from nearby businesses and interviewed an eye witness who identified the suspect as a homeless, white male with a crooked face that he was frequently warning not to tresspass on the property. An officer responded to the scene and identified the suspect as Sonny Scott.

Scott was observed on video tape repeatedly stabbing the victim in the head and torso, then rifled through the victim’s pockets. When a witness pulled up to the vacuum station where the crime was being committed, Scott fled on foot. He was later apprehended in a vacant building at 3701 Truman Road where officers observed a large amount of blood on his clothing.

Scott pleaded guilty on Monday to the Murder charge and the Armed Criminal Action charge. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a Jackson County Judge, sentences to run concurrently.