GREENE COUNTY, Mo. — “I would definitely classify it as a manhunt,” Willard Police Chief Tom McClain said when asked about the investigation into Kenkori Grant.
Grant is facing several charges out of Sedalia but most notably, charges from his connection to a shooting death in Pettis County earlier this year.
Grant was out on a $1 million bond but didn’t appear in court two weeks ago.
“I am not aware of any ties in Willard. I am aware of ties to the Ashgrove area and certain Springfield areas and obviously Sedalia and Pettis County, but I’m not aware of any specific tie to Willard. I think we just happened to catch him going through,” McClain said.
That ‘going through’ would have been a lot smoother for Grant, if he had made sure the Jeep he allegedly was in had the proper tags.
“We didn’t get any kind of a tip. We didn’t have any heads-up. It was Sunday morning about 3:15 a.m. and we saw a gray Jeep Wrangler with no license plates. The officers were getting in a position where they could initiate a traffic stop, but before they could do that, he pulled over abruptly, got out of the vehicle and was looking at one of his tires,” McClain said. “When the officers got out of their vehicle, he said he was having some trouble with the vehicle. It got a little more serious, and [when officers asked] who he was, [and for an] ID, he bolted. He ran fast, far away. The officers was not able to catch him. We searched the vehicle and discovered identification. We ran the subject and that’s when we discovered who we had almost had at that location.
The search expanded.
“We requested immediate aid from Walnut Grove, Ash Grove, Greene County, and we got it. Green County ran their dogs and they did get a scent and a track, but it faded in and to the wind and they weren’t able to locate him. Diligent efforts were pursued later in the day. When Greene County needed some of their resources back, we called the Missouri State Highway Patrol and requested their drone. They did come out with their drone, but due to the high winds and the proximity to the airport, they were unable to deploy. Since then we have remained diligent in terms of visual of the area he was last seen and we’ve come to realize through some circumstances that we’re not really able to disclose at this moment that he’s probably made contact with his resources and is out of the area,” McClain said. “The manhunt was in full on process yesterday morning and then pretty much a full 12 hours. We received information concerning a ping on a phone that’s associated to him in Sedalia. We began to believe at that point that he had managed to make a connection, get a ride and leave the area. However, that is not an absolute known commodity. It is a speculation. We requested immediate aid from Walnut Grove, Ash Grove, Greene County, and we got it. Green County ran their dogs and they did get a scent and a track, but it faded in and to the wind and they weren’t able to locate him. Diligent efforts were pursued later in the day. When Greene County needed some of their resources back, we called the Missouri State Highway Patrol and requested their drone. They did come out with their drone, but due to the high winds and the proximity to the airport, they were unable to deploy. Since then we have remained diligent in terms of visual of the area he was last seen and we’ve come to realize through some circumstances that we’re not really able to disclose at this moment that he’s probably made contact with his resources and is out of the area,” McClain said. “The manhunt was in full on process yesterday morning and then pretty much a full 12 hours. We received information concerning a ping on a phone that’s associated to him in Sedalia. We began to believe at that point that he had managed to make a connection, get a ride and leave the area. However, that is not an absolute known commodity. It is a speculation.
New information comes in as the investigation unfolds according to McClain.
In fact, even as you were coming in [before this interview], we received information about a sighting in Springfield, just like within the last 10 minutes,” McClain said. “My message to the community of Willard is, as always, stay diligent, keep your doors locked. If you see something, say something. I can’t say with absolute certainty that he’s no longer in the woods line, or in this general area, but I can say more probably than not, he’s moved on.”
OzarksFirst spoke to several neighbors and got a mixed bag of reactions regarding the search near their homes.
One neighbor, Jeff Ward says he’s not worried in the slightest despite this being the first manhunt near his house.
“Not for me personally. I’ve got plenty of defense items inside the house, so it’d be a bad day if he broke in my house, but, I haven’t been too concerned with it,” Ward said. “There’s been a heavy police presence around. Even last night, we saw them going down the roads with their spotlights on and things, and so it’s not been any concern for me. Wife’s fine. She works from home and she’s trained in firearms, so, yeah we’re okay.”
It’s not just what Ward has in his home that doesn’t worry him, it’s the idea that there’s a chance Grant may not be in that area anymore.
“I would think he’s probably long gone. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to stick around where I was being hunted,” Ward said. “I read it on Facebook, the first place I found it, because there’s a Willard Facebook page, and my wife seen it and alerted me to it. I checked the cameras out, and there’s nothing except deputy sheriffs and Willard police driving around.”
McClain says Grant is described as a black male with dreadlocks. He was last seen wearing red pants and a black hoodie.
“If you see something, say something and by ‘say something’, I mean call 911,” McClain said.
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