Victims in double homicide Saturday in Midtown Kansas City were Stowers researchers
Update: Kansas City police on Tuesday asked residents in the area around the crime scene to give video from any home surveillance cameras to detectives. That story is posted here.
Two researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have been identified as the victims in a homicide Saturday in Kansas City.
Camila Behrensen, 24, of Buenos Aires, and Pablo Guzmán Palma, 25, of Santiago, Chile, were found dead following a fire at an apartment complex in Midtown.
Both were predoctoral researchers and members of Stowers’ 2020 predoctoral research class, according to a statement provided by Stowers.
“We are devastated by the tragic deaths of two of our predoctoral researchers. These researchers were members of our 2020 class and vibrant members of our Stowers Institute community. Our deepest sympathies are with their families at this difficult time,” according to a statement from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and The Graduate School at the Stowers Institute.
Behrensen earned a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology in 2020 from the University Argentina de la Empresa and studied metabolic changes in fruit flies for two years. She was also published in Scientific Reports.
“Ms. Behrensen’s hope was to continue her studies and focus her research on how cells know who they are,” the statement read. “She dreamed of one day earning her postdoctoral degree and leading a research group by forming her own lab.”
She was also a member of the Si Lab at Stowers.
“Her classmates and faculty at the Institute describe her as a brilliant young woman with a vibrant intellect who cared deeply for her work and her classmates,” the statement read.
Behrensen was also an “avid runner,” her colleagues said.
Guzmán Palma earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Pontifical Catholic University in Chile, according to Stowers.
He previously did research on spinal cord regeneration. He hoped to focus his future studies on “how cells interpret and integrate various types of cues and signals during development and possibly start his own lab after completing his Ph.D. and postdoc.”
Most recently, he was a member of the Gibson lab at Stowers.
“Mr. Guzmán Palma’s classmates and faculty at the Institute describe him as a gentle soul with a true passion for science and biology,” the statement read. “He enjoyed reading, watching movies, and had a love for live music.”
Police officers were called to the scene of a structure fire just before 5 a.m. Saturday in the 4100 block of Oak Street, Officer Donna Drake, with the Kansas City Police Department, said at the time.
There, officers met with members of the Kansas City Fire Department, who said they found two people “suffering from apparent trauma” inside the apartment building after putting out the fire. They were declared dead at the scene.
Their killings mark the 125th and 126th homicides in Kansas City this year, according to data tracked by The Star.
Anyone with information on the homicides is asked to call KCPD detectives at 816-234-5043, or the anonymous TIPS Hotlines at 816-474-TIPS.
