Missouri father says he ‘collapsed’ in grief after finding 24-year-old daughter’s bloodied corpse in bathtub and her child, 4, beaten unconscious: Man, 32, pleads guilty to murder
The father of a woman brutally murdered in her bathtub has described how he ‘collapsed in the front garden’ after finding her body.
Mackenzie Hopkins, 24, was found dead in her Kansas City home on January 15, 2022, by her father, Shannon Hopkins, sister Hazel and police.
Shannon told KMBC: ‘I got a few feet inside her house and (the police) pulled me out. There was a lot of blood. I collapsed in the front yard.’
Jose E. Escalante-Corchado, 32, pleaded guilty to her murder and the first-degree assault of her then-4-year-old daughter Bella, who was seriously injured in the attack but survived.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Tuesday.
A day after Hopkins’ body was found, her friend told police that she told her boyfriend, Escalante-Corchado, that she visited Hopkins the night before her murder (pictured), but said it was a cover up so she could going out
Mackenzie Hopkins, 24, was found beaten to death in the bathtub of her home in Kanas City, Missouri, and her daughter, 4, was found unconscious in her bed nearly 12 hours after 911 was called from the mother’s phone.
Her father, Shannon Hopkins, said, “I got a few feet inside her house and (the police) pulled me out.” There was a lot of blood. I collapsed in the front yard.’
Jose Escalante-Corchado was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder and assault
Hopkins was working as a nurse when she had Bella and her father said she “came into her own” when she had a baby.
She was found beaten to death in her bath, submerged in water, while her daughter was knocked unconscious in her bed.
Hopkins had called 911 12 hours earlier and police said people were arguing on the phone, but no one said anything.
But her body wasn’t found until that evening, when her father requested police conduct a welfare check.
Her father said: ‘There is no way this could have happened this way. She was caring. She was the most loving person.”
Hopkins’ daughter, now 6, lives with her father in Puerto Rico.
Bloody shoe prints found throughout the house were traced to a specific brand of Escalante-Corchado cowboy boots, and his van was seen on surveillance footage near her home around the time of her murder.
It turned out that Escalante-Corchado’s then-girlfriend had used Hopkins as a “cover story” so she could go out for the night.
DailyMail.com has obtained a police report stating that around 6 a.m. Saturday morning, a 911 call (called a disturbance in the documents) was placed from Hopkins’ phone. where the operator “heard parties fighting.” Police would not confirm whether officers responded to the early morning call.
When officers arrived for the welfare check 12 hours later, Hopkins’ father tried to use a key to open the front door, and it swung open revealing a creepy scene.
“There were several areas on the floor on the main floor of the home where large amounts of blood had collected and there were obvious traces of blood where it appeared the victim had been moved,” the police statement said. “There were shoe prints in blood at several locations.”
Police responded to a 911 call for a welfare check at Hopkins’ home in Kansas City, where they found a gruesome scene. In the photo: a police cordon outside the house
Hopkins’ four-year-old daughter (pictured with her mother) was found lying on her own bed suffering from severe head trauma. She remains in critical condition in hospital
It was later determined by police that bloody shoe prints throughout the house were the imprint of a specific brand and style of cowboy boots made by ‘ARIAT.’
The next day, detectives met with one of the victim’s friends and while there, they saw a pair of cowboy boots that matched the make and style of the bloody prints in Hopkins’ home, according to the affidavit.
When detectives asked the girlfriend about the boots, the girlfriend stated the boots belonged to her boyfriend’s Escalante-Corchado. The friend’s name was taken from the affidavit.
The friend also told police that she told Escalante-Corchado that she was visiting Hopkins the night before her murder, but said it was a cover so she could get out.
Detectives also discovered that Escalante-Corchado’s truck was near the crime scene on the day of the murder. Witnesses told investigators that a person matching his description left the home and spent approximately two hours in the area.
Surveillance footage obtained by police shows a man matching his description running from the victim’s home and then getting into a white truck, which moments later pulled into a gas station.
He told investigators it was him at the gas station. He also acknowledged that he knew Hopkins and her daughter.
Escalante-Corchado had denied any involvement in Hopkins’ murder and her daughter’s assault, but had no reasonable explanation for being in his truck near the victim’s home for more than two hours, according to the affidavit been.
Hopkins’ family has been devastated by the tragedy, with her aunt saying: ‘I don’t think anyone wants to believe that these things can happen, especially to someone and impacting someone you know’
Hopkins’ sister-in-law, Shawna Hopkins, has set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral and medical expenses, saying, “All we can hope is that we can hold and love her daughter for her, and on her behalf to the best of her life. our assets’
Hopkins’ devastated family said at the time they were shocked by the tragedy.
“It’s just shocking for everyone. I don’t think anyone wants to believe that these things can happen, especially to someone and impact someone you know,” Michelle Bishop, Hopkins’ aunt, told FOX4.
Her sister-in-law, Shawna Hopkins, founded one GoFundMe to assist with funeral and medical expenses.
‘It’s something I could never have imagined. It hurts like her sister. It hurts as her friend. She was one of the most positive forces in my life,” Shawna Hopkins told FOX4. “Nothing can make this right, but justice must be served.”
Escalante-Corchado was charged with first-degree murder, assault, two armed crimes and endangering the welfare of a child.
Last week, he reached a plea deal in which he was found guilty of first-degree murder and assault.
“Nothing makes this right,” Shawn Hopkins said. “All we can hope is that we can hold and love her daughter as best we can for her and on her behalf.”