Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
May 22, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The suspect in a number of Northeast murders in the early 1990’s was found dead in his home earlier this week.

According to the Bates County Coroner, Gregory Breeden, 67, died of natural causes earlier this week. On May 16, 2014, he was released from jail after posting bond in relation to a misdemeanor sexual misconduct arrest, where he urinated in the public view of children in October 2013.

Breeden was the primary suspect in a number of slayings of prostitutes who worked Independence Avenue in the early 1990’s. Over a 12 year period, seven women were killed and their mutilated bodies later washed ashore in the Missouri River, some as far away as Lexington, Mo. Breeden was charged in the 1996 murder of Viola McCoy. McCoy’s body was found in the river near M-291. Breeden was never convicted of the charge but spent ten years in prison for writing bad checks. Following his conviction, his northland home near 56th Street and I-29 was demolished.

Following his initial release from prison, Breeden wrote a manuscript proclaiming his innocence in the killings and attempted to sell the work to area media outlets. At the time, he was living in a van and would park at various locations in Northeast, including by baseball fields behind the old Wards building at St. John Avenue and Belmont Boulevard.