A Jackson County jury on July 17 found 44-year-old Charles Smith-Howell guilty in the death of Independence resident Ebony Duncan, closing a tense chapter in a case that began with her disappearance in 2023. Jurors heard about months of forensic work and digital sleuthing that prosecutors said tied Smith-Howell to the night Duncan vanished.
The panel convicted Smith-Howell of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon, abandonment of a corpse and two counts of tampering with physical evidence, according to The Kansas City Star. Prosecutors told jurors they had DNA and cellphone records placing Duncan and Smith-Howell together the evening she disappeared, as reported by KSHB.
Background and discovery
Duncan, a certified nursing assistant, was last seen leaving work on Sept. 6, 2023, and her family reported her missing the next day. Independence police said cadaver dogs later found a deceased person on Oct. 31, 2023, in brush near East 83rd Street and Hillcrest Road in south Kansas City, and police said they believed the body to be Duncan while awaiting positive identification from the Jackson County Medical Examiner, according to KCTV. According to the Jackson County Medical Examiner, the JCMEO provides trained death investigators who conduct scene investigations of homicides, suicides, accidental and natural deaths.
Investigation and evidence
Investigators said blood recovered from a silver Chrysler 200 tied to the case matched Duncan’s DNA, and that license-plate readers, along with cellphone location data, put the car and the two phones in the same places the night she disappeared. Police arrested Smith-Howell on Sept. 14, 2023. A search of a Buick he was driving turned up identification linked to the Chrysler and a 12-round magazine, prosecutors told KSHB.
Sentencing and legal implications
Smith-Howell is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on Oct. 5, 2026, according to a jail listing cited by The Kansas City Star. Under Missouri law, second-degree murder is a class A felony that carries significant prison time; see RSMo §565.021 for the statute. Armed criminal action is an additional unclassified felony that can be stacked on top of other sentences; see RSMo §571.015 for details.
Family reaction
Duncan’s family has said they hope the verdict offers at least a measure of closure after months of uncertainty and grief, remembering her as a devoted mother and a “ray of sunshine.” Loved ones told local reporters they remembered her as a devoted mother and a “ray of sunshine.”
