KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, man is accused of fatally shooting another man over $5,000 and attempting to hide the victim’s body, according to Jackson County prosecutors.
Nicolas Saldana-Damian, 26, was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with the death of Elier Alejandro Pinon-Anchondo this fall.
On Sept. 14, police responded to a home in the 3600 block of East Gregory Boulevard, where someone checking on a relative had found a man dead inside the home in an “advanced state of decomposition,” according to a statement of probable cause. The victim was later identified as Elier Alejandro Pinon-Anchondo, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Detectives learned that Pinon-Anchondo had gone to the home on Gregory Boulevard on Sept. 5 to meet Saldana-Damian and another man, who drove a burgundy Nissan truck. That truck was found “engulfed in fire” in the yard of the home on Sept. 7, according to the probable cause statement.
Both men were taken into custody for questioning on Oct. 22, and the second man said he was at the home with Saldana-Damian, Pinon-Anchondo and one other person. The witness said Saldana-Damian had asked him to wait outside while he went inside the home with Pinon-Anchondo.
The witness told police he heard around six gunshots and that Saldana-Damian asked him to come inside and verify that Pinon-Anchondo was dead. He also said Saldana-Damian admitted to shooting the victim over $5,000 worth of drugs “that he did not want to pay for,” according to the probable cause statement.
During questioning, Saldana-Damian told investigators that he and Pinon-Anchondo had argued about drugs and that Pinon-Anchondo had threatened him. Saldana-Damian said he took the gun from the victim and shot him, according to the probable cause statement.
Saldana-Damian also admitted to dragging his body through the house and down the basement stairs in an effort to hide the body, according to the statement.
Saldana-Damian had already been charged with abandonment of a corpse and remains in custody. Prosecutors have requested a $300,000 cash bond.
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