KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City man was found guilty in the 2017 stabbing death of his wife, whose body was found in the couple’s home by their young daughter.
A Jackson County jury Friday convicted Benjamin Byers, 46, of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and child endangerment in connection with the death of 47-year-old Melissa Byers.
In November 2017, the couple’s 7-year-old child told a school counselor that she had seen a dead body in her home in the 2400 block of College Avenue.
When officers went to the home, they spoke with Byers, who said he hadn’t seen his wife in two days. Officers found drops of blood in the home and a tarp with carpet on it and blood around the tarp in the basement, according to court records.
The girl told investigators that she had seen a dead body in the basement that appeared to be stabbed in the back, wearing her mother’s clothes, according to court records.
When investigators asked the girl if she told her father about what she saw in the basement, she said, “No, I didn’t want to be next.”
Byers will be sentenced on April 19.
