Man sentenced for fatally beating a mother, leaving body in bathtub, and severely injuring 4-year-old

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (TCD) — A 31-year-old man will spend decades in prison for the 2022 fatal beating of a 24-year-old mother and the assault of her 4-year-old daughter.

According to a March 19 news release from the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, Jose Escalante-Corchado pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree assault, and a judge sentenced him to serve 30 years on each conviction. The defendant’s sentences will run concurrently.

On Jan. 15, 2022, at approximately 5:49 p.m., officers with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department responded to 7324 Wabash Ave. to conduct a welfare check, charging documents say. Responding officers met with the victim’s father outside the home. When they went inside, police found the victim, identified by WDAF-TV as Mackenzie Hopkins, dead in the bathtub and submerged in water. Officers also reportedly found the 4-year-old victim laying on her bed with severe head trauma.

According to charging documents, officials removed Hopkins from the bathtub and noticed blunt force trauma injuries to her face and head. The 4-year-old girl was reportedly transported to a hospital for her critical injuries.

Dispatchers received a 911 call from Hopkins’ phone number earlier that day at around 6 a.m. Charging documents say the call remained open, but dispatchers could hear fighting in the background.

During a search of the home, charging documents say investigators found large amounts of blood and drag marks in blood along the floor. They also noticed shoe impressions in blood with the word “ARIAT,” which is the name of a well-known cowboy boot manufacturer.

Detectives reportedly spoke with one of the victim’s friends at her home on Shawnee Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. While there, charging documents say detectives noticed a pair of cowboy boots near the door. The victim’s friend said they belonged to her boyfriend, Escalante-Corchado.

According to charging documents, detectives noticed a truck outside the home and eventually used surveillance footage to track the vehicle. In surveillance footage, on the day of the victim’s death, an unknown male, later identified as Escalante-Corchado, is reportedly seen in the area of Hopkins’ home, running from the residence. He is then seen getting into the white truck and pulling into a gas station. According to the prosecutor’s office, the defendant later admitted that was him at the gas station.

Escalante-Corchado told investigators he knew the victim and her daughter, but he reportedly failed to provide a reasonable explanation as to why his truck was in the area of the victim’s home.

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