For Immediate Release
June 6, 2020
A man already convicted of murdering two other men in a homeless camp in Kansas City has been charged in the 2004 fatal beating of Steven Cassidy, whose remains were not identified until 2008, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.
Michael J. Gullett, dob: 12/20/1955, faces Murder 2nd Degree for striking Cassidy with an axe and causing his death.*
According to court records, a Missouri Highway Patrol criminal investigator reviewed old video recorded statements by another person in the homeless camp where the defendant lived. He said he had buried the body of a man at the direction of the defendant in August 2004. An examination of the remains found injuries to the cranium and cervical spine probably caused by a sharp, heavy instrument. It wasn’t until 2008 that officers determined the body was Steven Allen Cassidy. In December 2019, the Highway Patrol investigator arranged for the defendant to have a phone discussion with the investigator and the defendant’s son. The defendant had already been sentenced to prison for the murder of another man, Ryon McDonald, whose leg and torso were discovered in the river in Callaway and Moniteau counties in Missouri. Authorities didn’t identify McDonald’s remains until 2015. McDonald’s murder, the Highway Patrol investigator determined, occurred three months prior to Cassidy’s murder. During the interview with the defendant and his son, the investigator reported the defendant named Cassidy as the victim, even though his name was not mentioned by the defendant. And he acknowledged killing Cassidy. "Well I think it’s bad to have to take anybody’s life," he told the investigator. "I mean I really do. Some I feel worse about that others. But Cassidy is kinda low on the list..."
Prosecutors requested a $1 million/10 percent bond.
For more information, contact
Michael Mansur
Director of Communication
Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor
Work : (816) 881-3812
Mobile: (816) 674-3954
mmansur@jacksongov.org
http://jacksoncountyprosecutor.com
*Charges are only accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until the defendant is either found guilty or has pleaded.