KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 36-year-old Lee’s Summit man will serve life in prison for the 2014 murder of his girlfriend in Clay County, prosecutors said.
After a three-day trial in October, Marcus Simms was found guilty of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and first-degree tampering in the death of Michele Boldridge.
On April 30, 2014, Simms was seen running naked around an apartment complex in the 7900 block of North Hickory Street, where he lived. A short time later, he stole a minivan from the Liberty Bus Barn and was taken into custody after running the vehicle off the road, still naked.
Boldridge, 31, was found dead inside Simms’ apartment from a dislocated spine and multiple sharp force injuries. She also was missing an eye.
Investigators later found a human eyeball and Simms’ DNA in a car parked in the area.
“This is one of the most bizarre cases I’ve seen,” Clay County Prosecutor Daniel White said in a news release. “To murder a loved one, carry her gouged-out eye from the crime, and then strip naked and steal a minivan? Very weird.”
Clay County Circuit Court Judge Janet L. Sutton sentenced Simms to life in prison without parole on the murder charge, plus 100 years on the armed criminal action charge and seven years on the tampering charge. The sentences were set to run consecutively.
Simms also faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Clay County Jail inmate Brian Parisi in 2017.
