KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office announced charges Tuesday against a Kansas City, Missouri, man in the death of 16-year-old Mariah Franklin in Independence.
Nearly five years after the fatal shooting, Justin B. Finch, who was 16 at the time, faces charges of second-degree murder, armed criminal action and first-degree burglary, per a court document.
RELATED | Family calls for justice 1 year after Independence teen killed in shooting
Officers with the Independence Police Department responded to a home in the 2300 block of South Crescent Avenue around 2:09 p.m. on June 23, 2021, on a reported homicide.
Police found a 16-year-old girl in her bedroom with an “apparent catastrophic” head injury.
Franklin’s mother told officers that the two had gone to the car around 12:30 p.m. with plans to go shopping when her daughter went back inside to get more money. After waiting a few minutes for Franklin, she decided to water plants around the driveway.
Franklin’s mother went inside to check on her after about 30 minutes and found her bedroom door barricaded, according to a probable cause statement.
Franklin had been using furniture to “lock” her bedroom after her parents removed her door lock, which led her mother to think Franklin was just upset.
The probable cause statement says Franklin’s mother waited until her husband got home around 2 p.m., and then Franklin’s father forced the bedroom door open and found the teen on the floor bleeding from her head.
Franklin’s parents called 911 and attempted to do CPR on her until Independence police arrived.
The teen girl was found with her purse still strapped on her and an open shoebox with loose change in it near her body. A “large amount of loose change” was also found scattered across the bedroom.
Investigators discovered a spent .45 caliber shell casing under Franklin’s bed.
Court documents say the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Franklin’s death a homicide due to a gunshot wound to the head.
Franklin and Finch had been dating for about three years at the time of the crime, and Franklin’s parents did not approve of the relationship. Finch would allegedly often sneak into Franklin’s bedroom through a window, per a court document.
Franklin’s sister, who had moved out before the homicide, also told detectives that Finch would sneak back into the Franklins’ home after being kicked out by her parents and stay the night.
The morning of the shooting, the mother questioned Franklin about someone being in her room. Franklin had claimed she was talking to her cousin and insisted no one was physically in the room.
Franklin’s cousin told detectives he had talked to Franklin on the phone that morning, and Franklin told him Finch was climbing in her window before the call ended. A neighbor also witnessed a teen boy looking in Franklin’s windows that morning, court documents said.
Multiple family members of Franklin’s told police they had seen Finch with various guns during the time the two were dating.
In January 2022, fingernail scrapings sent to the crime lab revealed Finch’s DNA was “present in the scrapings from both M.F.’s hands.”
An RCFL investigative report of examination provided police with a number of messages from a contact in Franklin’s phone named “Justin.” Message threads in 2021 included pictures or videos of guns sent from “Justin.”
Around 11:04 a.m. the day of the shooting, “Justin” asked Franklin about a pill and told her he needed to go back or needed $50 for it.
Finch was set to appear for a pre-trial conference on July 24, 2023. However, he never appeared at the correct location — the Jackson County Courthouse — after originally going to the Family Court address.
A Capias warrant was issued the following day for “obstruction and failure to appear,” per court documents.
After multiple attempts to locate him, he was finally arrested on Jan. 6.
Finch, who will stand trial as an adult, made his first court appearance in the case Wednesday.
He is currently in custody at the Jackson County Detention Center on a $350,000 cash-only bond.
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