The mother of Brandon Nunnally’s only son is shocked her former boyfriend of seven years was gunned down. Even more shocking, the pair knows the man charged in the murder.
“I was dead inside. I mean that's my son's father,” Heather Leimbach said, of learning the news of Nunnally’s death.
He was killed as he was leaving his shift at the Ford Plant in Claycomo. He was 26.
Prosecutors charged Deonte Buffington-Hardy in Nunnally’s death.
Leimbach dated Nunnally on and off since she was 16. They went to high school with Buffington-Hardy.
“I didn't expect it to happen to him at all,” she said.
The former couple has a 5-year-old boy together, Eli.
That’s where Leimbach is keeping her focus as she copes with the loss.
“I showed him pictures of angels, pointed to heaven, told him this is where he's at, you can't see him, he's in the sky. I told him to talk to him anytime he wants,” she said, of telling Eli the news. “Forever, I’ll keep him alive in his heart. I mean that’s his father, so I’ll always show him pictures and keep him around for sure."
Buffington-Hardy is being held on $1 million bond. A court date has not been set.
To Nunnally's children, visit: www.gofundme.com/brandonnunnally.
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Lexi Sutter can be reached at lexi.sutter@kshb.com.
