Jackson County alleges woman abandoned corpse, dumped belongings in Missouri river
A Blue Springs woman has been charged with abandonment of a corpse in Jackson County after allegedly witnessing a man overdose, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
Nena Nix, 40, is charged with a class E felony after disposing of a corpse near the intersection of Duncan Road and Sweeney Road in Jackson County on Feb. 3, prosecutors allege, without properly reporting the location of the body to police.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in court Tuesday, police said they found the body of a white male wearing only blue jeans, partially covered by brush and wrapped in an orange extension cord at the intersection Feb. 3.
Police identified the deceased male as someone who had a romantic history with Nix, according to the affidavit.
Detectives with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said Nix provided false information to them in an interview during a 24-hour investigative hold, and said that she did not have contact with him for months.
Police were able to determine the statements were false, the affidavit said, by reviewing video surveillance at a hotel where Nix was staying and through other witness testimony that placed her with the victim near the hotel she was staying.
According to Jackson County detectives, Nix later told them the victim did come to her room and they got into an argument. Nix told detectives the victim injected illegal drugs with a needle and overdosed.
Nix said she panicked and did not know what to do, the affidavit said, and instead of calling the police, she went to her friends who told her not to. According to the affidavit, Nix stated she decided to take the victim out of her room, place his body in a car, and dump his body elsewhere.
“(Nix) stated they used the orange extension cord to help them move his body,” Detectives said in the affidavit. “Nix stated after they dropped (the victim) off on the side of the road, they stripped him of his personal belongings (shoes, watch, phone…etc.), they placed them in a black plastic trash bag.”
The affidavit said Nix told detectives that she went to La Benite Park, located in Sugar Creek, Missouri, backed a car down the boat ramp and threw the trash bag with the victim’s belongings into the Missouri River.
“(Nix) stated she knew she was wrong for dumping (the victim’s) body, but she was scared and did not want to be associated with the overdose, as she has a criminal record and (is) on parole,” detectives wrote in the affidavit.
Nix is currently on parole for possession of a controlled substance and receiving stolen property. She has past felony convictions in Clay County for receiving stolen property in 2013, possession of a controlled substance in 2017, and tampering with a motor vehicle in 2017.
