[h=4]By BRAD COOPER and RICK MONTGOMERY[/h][h=4]The Kansas City Star[/h]
By BRAD COOPER and RICK MONTGOMERY The Kansas City Star
Updated: 2012-07-16T06:04:01Z
Britny Haarup
The Star is tracking every Kansas City-area homicide this year, to bring visibility to these crimes and to provide a place for the community to remember the victims.
Be part of the conversation, and browse our database, map and stats.
Authorities found the bodies of two women in a rural field late Sunday after interrogating a suspect in the disappearance of a pair of sisters from an Edgerton, Mo., home.
The Platte County sheriff’s office said it could not immediately confirm the identities or causes of deaths of the women discovered near Trimble, Mo., in extreme southwest Clinton County.They were white, said Capt. Erik Holland, “and we can say we were led here based on information from a suspect in the disappearance of Britny Haarup and Ashley Key.” “That individual is under arrest and in custody,” he said.Sisters Haarup, 19, and Key, 22, had been missing since Friday afternoon, when Haarup’s fiancé, Matt Meyers, found her two infant daughters alone in a crib at her home in northern Platte County. Haarup’s cellphone also was in the house, along with her purse, her sister’s purse and the shoes her sister had been wearing. On a couch was a comforter soaked in blood. Family members said guns were missing from the home.“We all had held out hope,” said Cassie Meyers, Matt Meyers’ sister-in-law, after the two bodies were found. “We were hoping they’d just show up OK, or that they’d call someone ...“With this news, even if it isn’t yet confirmed, the hope’s not there.”Holland would not describe the relationship between the suspect in custody and the sisters.Authorities earlier Sunday talked to the suspect, whom they then called a “person of interest,” and served two search warrants as the investigation focused on a field near 200th Street and the Platte-Clay county line. There, a Platte County deputy on Saturday discovered a parked vehicle linked to the sisters’ disappearance.They had been searching since Friday for a white 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck that had been parked outside the Edgerton home that morning until about 9:30 a.m.There were no visible signs of foul play in or on the vehicle located Saturday, and an initial search of the field did not produce any additional evidence, the sheriff’s department said.The bodies found late Sunday northeast of where the truck was parked were transferred to the Jackson County medical examiner’s office for identification and autopsies.Holland of the sheriff’s office said “we have one individual in custody and we believe that person accounts for all the individuals involved” in the sisters’ disappearance.Prior to the discovery, the women’s father, Paul Haarup, said the family was on “pins and needles” as they awaited the results of the investigation, which has included sheriff’s deputies from Platte, Clay and Clinton counties as well as investigators from the Missouri Highway Patrol and the Kansas City Police Department.
To reach Brad Cooper, call 816-234-7724 or send email to [email protected]. To reach Rick Montgomery, call 816-234-4410 or send email to [email protected].
Copyright 2012 The Kansas City Star. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By BRAD COOPER and RICK MONTGOMERY The Kansas City Star
Updated: 2012-07-16T06:04:01Z
Britny Haarup
The Star is tracking every Kansas City-area homicide this year, to bring visibility to these crimes and to provide a place for the community to remember the victims.
Be part of the conversation, and browse our database, map and stats.
Authorities found the bodies of two women in a rural field late Sunday after interrogating a suspect in the disappearance of a pair of sisters from an Edgerton, Mo., home.
The Platte County sheriff’s office said it could not immediately confirm the identities or causes of deaths of the women discovered near Trimble, Mo., in extreme southwest Clinton County.They were white, said Capt. Erik Holland, “and we can say we were led here based on information from a suspect in the disappearance of Britny Haarup and Ashley Key.” “That individual is under arrest and in custody,” he said.Sisters Haarup, 19, and Key, 22, had been missing since Friday afternoon, when Haarup’s fiancé, Matt Meyers, found her two infant daughters alone in a crib at her home in northern Platte County. Haarup’s cellphone also was in the house, along with her purse, her sister’s purse and the shoes her sister had been wearing. On a couch was a comforter soaked in blood. Family members said guns were missing from the home.“We all had held out hope,” said Cassie Meyers, Matt Meyers’ sister-in-law, after the two bodies were found. “We were hoping they’d just show up OK, or that they’d call someone ...“With this news, even if it isn’t yet confirmed, the hope’s not there.”Holland would not describe the relationship between the suspect in custody and the sisters.Authorities earlier Sunday talked to the suspect, whom they then called a “person of interest,” and served two search warrants as the investigation focused on a field near 200th Street and the Platte-Clay county line. There, a Platte County deputy on Saturday discovered a parked vehicle linked to the sisters’ disappearance.They had been searching since Friday for a white 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck that had been parked outside the Edgerton home that morning until about 9:30 a.m.There were no visible signs of foul play in or on the vehicle located Saturday, and an initial search of the field did not produce any additional evidence, the sheriff’s department said.The bodies found late Sunday northeast of where the truck was parked were transferred to the Jackson County medical examiner’s office for identification and autopsies.Holland of the sheriff’s office said “we have one individual in custody and we believe that person accounts for all the individuals involved” in the sisters’ disappearance.Prior to the discovery, the women’s father, Paul Haarup, said the family was on “pins and needles” as they awaited the results of the investigation, which has included sheriff’s deputies from Platte, Clay and Clinton counties as well as investigators from the Missouri Highway Patrol and the Kansas City Police Department.
To reach Brad Cooper, call 816-234-7724 or send email to [email protected]. To reach Rick Montgomery, call 816-234-4410 or send email to [email protected].
Copyright 2012 The Kansas City Star. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.