Man charged with second-degree murder after woman was left outside the ER with a gunshot wound

By CNN Newsource

Published June 25, 2021 12:27 PM

By KMBC Staff

INDEPENDENCE, Missouri (KMBC) — A 37-year-old Independence man has been charged in connection with the death of a woman who was found alone, outside of a hospital emergency room, with a fatal gunshot wound to the head.

Police said officers were called to the emergency department at Centerpoint Hospital around 12:30 a.m. Monday after someone was dropped off near the ambulance entrance to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the back of head.

Police said that, while lifesaving measures were attempted, the woman, identified as 30-year-old Ales Carr, was pronounced dead.

The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office has charged 37-year-old Ryan A. Gillispie with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with Carr’s death.

Charging documents in this case state that Carr’s body was found outside Centerpoint’s ambulance emergency room entry doors with a towel wrapped around her head, secured by electrical wire.

Surveillance video from the hospital shows a white Ford Econoline van entering the ambulance area. Police said video shows a man getting out of the van and carrying a woman towards the doors of the hospital. The man then placed the woman on the ground, turned around, and left in the van.

Hospital personnel found the woman, later identified as Carr, a short time later; however, it was already too late.

That van was later found abandoned, parked in a boat ramp parking lot near Cooley Lake in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. Detectives noted blood on the van’s driver’s side door, and a large quantity of blood inside the vehicle, several tooth fragments, and paperwork belonging to Carr.

Family members told investigators that Carr had been with Gillispie at a home off Agnes Avenue in Kansas City the afternoon before she was found dead. One family member noted Carr and Gillispie had been arguing. Police found surveillance video of the area showing Gillispie, who appeared to have a towel wrapped around his neck that closely matched the towel found with Carr at the hospital.

Family members sent police to a home in Independence in the 3200 block of South Englewood Terrace where detectives noted a large amount of blood in the driveway of the home, running all the way down to the street.

Using surveillance video from other homes in the neighborhood, police tracked another vehicle recently seen at the home. Police tracked that vehicle and its owners, and found Gillispie in the vehicle along with two others.

Gillispie told police he’d seen Carr trying to steal his van, and when he was attempting to pull her out of the vehicle, he accidentally shot her in the head. Gillispie admitted to driving Carr to Centerpoint and leaving her outside the ambulance area.

The two others Gillispie was found with were reportedly at the home at the time of the shooting, and said they noted Gillispie throwing a gun out of the van after the shooting, and that Gillispie had told them he grazed Carr with the gunshot.

Gillispie is in custody on a $300,000 bond.

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