White supremacist who is charged of stabbing a black woman to death after befriending her claims it was self-defense
A white supremacist was arrested after he was accused of stabbing and killing a black woman whom he had befriended just weeks before her body was found inside his home in Missouri, according to reports.
The one-eyed 47-year-old was apprehended on July 14, the same day the woman's body was found at his residence in Shawnee. The man was identified as Ronald Lee Kidwell and the victim as 43-year-old MeShon Cooper.
Police officials said that their search led them to Kidwell's house after Cooper's family reported her as missing, according to reports.
Officers noticed an overwhelming smell of bleach when they arrived at Kidwell's house and subsequently requested for a search warrant and found the woman's body inside.
According to the Kansas City Star, Kidwell's neighbor, Kathleen Brown, told authorities that Cooper had visited the suspect's house nearly 10 days before her disappearance.
The neighbor claimed that after the woman left his house that day, Kidwell referred to her as a "black b***h" and also used another racial slur while referring to Cooper, reports state.
Brown said that the woman was back at Kidwell's home on July 6 where she and Cooper spoke for a while when Kidwell went out to get beer.
The next day Cooper's car was found near Lykins Square park in Kansas City. Her family said that the keys to the vehicle were left inside the car.
Brown, while talking to the Star, said: "If I would have known he was going to harm her in any way, I would have never let her leave my house."
Kidwell's neighbor also claimed that just a few days after Cooper's disappearance, he had asked her for trash bags and a handsaw, according to reports.
"This was a hate crime. One hundred per cent a hate crime," Brown said.
According to Kidwell's family members, he would often drape himself in the Confederate flag and would brag about being a member of the Ku Klux Kan.
The suspect's daughter, Crystal Foster, while talking to the newspaper said that he also used to send her pictures of a swastika tattoo on his left arm.
"He's been a monster his whole life. He's the true definition of evil," his daughter said.
While Cooper's family members described her as a "wonderful person" who was "full of life, laughter and so much joy."
"She fought off a lot of different things, a lot of different diseases, so for someone to come in and take a life like this, it's shocking and it hurts," Cooper's nephew, DaRon Cooper, told the Star. The victim was diagnosed with lupus and was living with her 25-year-old son.
DaRon said that Cooper was working at a Subway restaurant despite qualifying for disability. He added that his goal now is to support her son who has no one to take care of him.
"They were taking care of each other," he said. "With her being gone, it leaves him out to dry in a way."
Cooper's family created a GoFundMe page to raise funds for Cooper's son, the page has raised over $1000, nearing its goal of $2,000.
Kidwell has been charged with second-degree murder and his bail has been set at $1 million. The suspect, in an interview with police, admitted to repeatedly beating Cooper and then stabbing her.
According to KSHB, he also told the officers that he did it as an act of self-defense and that the murder was not pre-meditated. Kidwell has previously spent 15 years in prison on multiple assault charges, which includes a sexual assault charge in 2011.
Kidwell's family has said that he has a history of violence and that he targets his victims based on their race.
"He pretends to be 'colored people's' friends and then he harms them," his daughter said.