People who knew avowed white supremacist Ronald Lee Kidwell were not surprised to learn he killed MeShon Cooper, a black woman.
According to his daughter, Crystal Foster, Kidwell threatened to kill her and her children (his grandchildren) if they ever spoke to a person of color.
“He’s been a monster his whole life,” she told The Kansas City Star. “He’s the true definition of evil.”
Foster says her father would befriend black folks with the intent to harm them.
“He pretends to be ‘colored people’s’ friends, and then he harms them,” Foster said, quoting Kidwell.
Before Cooper's killing, Kidwell had a string of assault charges on his record. In 2011, he was charged with second-degree assault after he hit a black woman with a hammer and sexually assaulted her. He was sentenced to five years in prison for that crime.
“Kidwell stated that he has been diagnosed with HIV and did not use a condom during the sexual activity,” police wrote in a report.
Kidwell followed this trend with Cooper, who visited him ten days before her family reported her missing. Kathleen Brown, a neighbor, says he called Cooper a “black b***h” after she’d left his home. On the following day, July 6, Cooper visited again, and Brown spoke to her while Kidwell ran an errand. Brown said Cooper talked at length about her family and intended to teach her how to make soul food.
Her running car and keys were found abandoned the next day. Investigators tracked Cooper’s cellphone to Kidwell’s house. According to court documents obtained by Fox4KC, Kidwell’s house smelled strongly of bleach when detectives arrived to question him, prompting them to request a search warrant.
During an interview, Kidwell initially denied knowing Cooper’s whereabouts. He eventually admitted to killing Cooper and hiding her corpse in his garage. He claimed he killed her in self-defense after she pulled out a knife during an argument. Kidwell said he punched her, took the knife and stabbed her in the neck. After stabbing her, he kept punching her. He claimed Cooper said she was going to tell everyone he was HIV positive, reports The New York Post.
“When I get mad, I make the exorcist look like a b***h,” Kidwell reportedly told the detectives.
Kidwell was arrested and is being held on a $1 million bond. His first court hearing is on Thursday, July 26.
Cooper’s death has shaken her loved ones.
”I just remember she was always there when I was a baby and growing up. She definitely was the rock of her family and what happened to her just isn’t fair. She didn’t deserve that,” her nephew, DaRon Cooper, told Fox4KC.
Cooper overcame a litany of health issues including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and congestive heart failure. She also took medication to prevent organ rejection from a kidney transplant. She had a 25-year-old son who lived with her.
“She fought off a lot of different things, a lot of different diseases, so for someone to come in and take a life like this, it’s shocking, and it hurts,” DaRon told The Kansas City Star. “They were taking care of each other,” he said. “With her being gone, it leaves him out to dry in a way.”
Daniesha Harris, her niece, said the loss “hurts unbelievably,” and she hopes the system will work in their favor.
“As a person, I forgive him. But I do believe if you do the crime, then you do the time, and I do believe he deserves to sit in jail. I want justice for Meshon," said Harris.
DaRon expressed similar sentiments.
”I just have to be strong for my family because everybody is breaking down in different ways, you know, trying to go through the process of grieving, and so it’s tough," Cooper said. "It hurts a lot, and I just want Kidwell to be convicted and get the maximum penalty he can.”
However, Foster isn’t as forgiving.
“I hope that he suffers every day. I want him to feel the pain of being alone because she (Cooper) had to,” she said of her father. “I hope in my heart that he dies a slow painful death.”
The family has started a GoFundMe campaign for help with funeral expenses.
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