A Kansas City man is accused of killing his 44-year-old ex-girlfriend whose body was found wrapped in blankets at an abandoned car wash in the East Marlborough Heights neighborhood in February.
Donnell E. Buckman, 44, was arrested Tuesday after Kansas City tactical officers served a search warrant at his home in the 2700 block of Monroe Avenue as they were investigating the killing of Leigh Dalton, who Buckman was romantically involved with over the period of several months last year.
For the past two months, Kansas City homicide detectives have considered Buckman a suspect in the death of Dalton, who had accused Buckman of physically abusing her over the course of their relationship.
They also concluded Dalton was killed in Buckman’s home in early February before her body was driven across town and “dumped” at the abandoned business several days before she was found. Inside the home, authorities allege forensic tests showed cleaned-up blood spots, including apparent “drag marks” on the living room carpet, that matched with Dalton’s DNA.
Jackson County prosecutors on Wednesday charged Buckman with second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He was being held in jail on a $250,000 bond.
The charges come six weeks after Kansas City police were called to investigate a report of Dalton’s body being seen at an abandoned car wash in the 8300 block of Hickman Mills Drive.
On Feb. 20, Dalton was found hidden from plain sight in one of the car wash’s empty bays. A perimeter fence had been broken, and glass and other debris were seen in the lot.
The discovery prompted a suspicious death investigation. The following day, an autopsy conducted by the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Dalton had been shot and ruled her death a homicide.
Witnesses interviewed by police included family members of Dalton, who they reported missing since Feb. 4. She was last known to have been going to visit Buckman when she suddenly vanished, they reported.
Homicide detectives were also made aware of a domestic violence report where Buckman was accused of striking Dalton in late November. Messages sent by her, including photographs, were obtained through search warrants where she documented injuries following other alleged abuse, according to court documents.
In one message, she told a family member: “I’ve got to get away soon,” according to court documents.
One photograph showed a background with what appeared to detectives to be one of the blankets Dalton’s body was wrapped in when her body was found. Detectives relied in part on a statement from her 12-year-old son who recalled seeing a similar blanket in Buckman’s home when asked, according to court documents.
In March, detectives learned Buckman was known to drive a white Chevy Malibu that they believed was used to drive Dalton’s body the nine miles from his residence on the day she was killed. Buckman was allegedly tracked by detectives through recorded camera and physical surveillance using the vehicle over the course of at least two months.
The vehicle was also searched Tuesday when the warrant was executed on Buckman’s home. Investigators allegedly found through a luminol test the presence of human blood on the trunk latch and by the car’s driver side door.
During a police interview, Buckman allegedly said he and Dalton started dating in February 2022 and said they had a “rough relationship and verbally argued regularly.” But he denied killing her or having any involvement in her death.
Online court records did not list an attorney for Buckman as of Thursday.