this is a horrific crime it's it's one of the worst crimes that I've prosecuted in my 22 years of prosecution a grandmother mother and daughter all executed in their own home the family dog also shot and killed before the alleged murderer goes on the run but investigators are able to track him down thanks to the miraculous survival of another victim in the case a second daughter who managed to escape the crime scene and run to a neighbor's house for help three women are dead and a surviving uh victim lost her mother her grandmother and her
sister my prayers are are with the entire family and I want you to know that we will utilize the full weight of Missouri law to bring this defendant to Justice we're taking a closer look at the case with the help of retired homicide investigator Phil Waters but before all that let's go through what EX exactly happened and for that we'll head to Kansas City Missouri that's where the case begins and the murder takes place on the north side of the city those three generations of women all live together there's the grandmother 73-year-old Sher Duncan her
daughter the mother in this case 49-year-old Jodie Duncan Hoppus and then her daughter 24-year-old Haley Hoppus another daughter also lived in the home but investigators haven't released her name so we're not going to either for a time though there was one other person who lived in this home too that was 50-year-old Armando Nao Jr who had been in a relationship with Jody in the late night hours of February 1st into the early morning hours of February 2nd jod and Armando were in an argument she said that prior to the shooting her mother and Navaro were
arguing as she was going to bed she heard her mother yelling she went out of the room and and heard her mother telling Navaro to leave Navar replied that he didn't want to leave the surviving victim said that for about an hour her mother and Navaro argued as her mother told him to leave and he said he had nowhere to go during all this Armando apparently walked back and forth from his room so it seemed like he was packing up his belongings to actually leave but that's not what happened Navaro then allegedly came out of
his room armed with a small handgun and started shooting at them the surviving victim's mother was shot in her upper arm Navaro then ran out of bullets in his handgun as the surviving daughter was trying to help her mother Navaro allegedly returned with another gun he put the gun under his chin like he was going to shoot himself but he didn't a warning this next part is extra heartbreaking her mother tried to Shield the surviving victim behind her own body her mother was trying to get over to the door how Nar allegedly shot her in
the face the surviving victim says she believes her grandmother Sher Duncan had already been shot at this point because she was lying on the ground and wasn't moving 24-year-old Haley Hoppus then called out to her sister the surviving daughter telling her to get out of the house as the surviving victim was was trying to do just that Navar allegedly shot her sister and also shot at the surviving victim she said she felt a projectile hit her hair and saw some of her hair on the floor in fact she showed detectives where her hair was damaged
at some point during all of this armo allegedly also shot the family dog but the surviving daughter was miraculously able to escape when she was outside she allegedly heard Armando calling her name but she ran off to a neighbor's house the neighbors called 911 at 12:41 a.m. on February 2nd about the same time that that Armando allegedly took off in Jody's SUV officers then went to the scene of that shooting and found three female victims suffering from apparent gunshot wounds inside that residence the women were confirmed deceased by members of the Kansas City Fire Department
the officers also found a a deceased dog that had apparently been shot meanwhile Navaro was headed west and he made it about 170 mil away too that was until his SUV broke down in aene Kansas law enforcement there were already in contact with him because of this and they were told that a tow truck was on the way but when Kansas Highway Patrol Troopers got word that he was wanted in connection to this triple homicide they arrested him we also want to note that during this getaway drive before his arrest Armando apparently called his son
and confessed saying he quote killed them all the sun then called 911 and reported this Armando Navaro now faces mult charges including three counts of first-degree murder four counts of armed criminal action one count of first-degree assault and another of animal cruelty he's being held in Kansas right now without bond as he awaits extradition back to Missouri all right so those are the facts as we know them right now but we're going to dig a little bit deeper we're going to bring in our expert that's retired homicide detective Phil Waters Phil thanks for coming on
and I wanted to ask right to start what jumps out to me in this case is the fact that we have a grandmother mother and daughter so three generations of women who are brutally murdered in their own home what are your thoughts on that just to start well good to see you again Sierra I I will tell you that these incidents of familicide are are always heart-wrenching they're always uh they destroy obviously in the most literal way entire families and this is no different than the ones that I have seen seen previously and fortunately there
is a another daughter that was able to escape so there was a potential there for wiping out I guess four generations actually um so when we see these types of things happen it doesn't happen in a vacuum so the suspect in this case which I I never mentioned these people's names I do not want to give them any kind of uh recognition for what they've done so uh the suspect in this particular case though was the uh the boyfriend of uh one of the women and he was living there with them and there some at
some point in time uh this relationship was done and he was asked to leave well he's not going anywhere I don't have anywhere to go and therefore I'm staying and then I guess when the issue was pressed that caused him to react in the in which he did which again caused the deaths of these these individuals this entire family it's got to be so hard for the family though because if they're living in this house and he's there too I'm sure they see him every day go to sleep wake up they're safe in their home
they're going to assume that no one in the home is going to harm them but then there's some sort of switch that flips and all of a sudden he allegedly grabs his gun and shoots most of the women in the home so what what is that I mean what how do you go from zero to 100 you know living healthy happy safe and all of a sudden just grabbing a gun well to to address the last what with the qualities that you said last we don't know that right we don't know that this was a
healthy happy home secure home fair enough uh it it sounds like it had a lot of problems and again uh you know use your term to go to zero to 100 it doesn't happen in that way so as I've already said it doesn't happen in a vacuum this is something that builds over time I am sure that there was some dispute going on and obviously they were wanting him to leave he did not want to leave he had nowhere else to go so he's at the end of his rope in a lot of different ways
it sounds like and so we don't know what the Dy dnics of the relationship was but he's got all these family members of the person that he has the relationship with living in the same home and he's there with them now and imagine so you've got four women in this home if we count a daughter that was able to escape and just speaking for myself that's a lot of pressure on a man I just because he's got you know you got the grandmother and the mother and the daughter and the other the other relatives so
that's not a recipe for that that for a really happy uh family home life I don't think and so and we don't know what the the different personality types and so forth and so on so obviously something happened here that we may we may find out I don't know what to to what extent they got him in custody if he was interviewed I'm assuming that there was an attempt to interview him at least to find out I mean if I were interviewing him of course you want to find out what did cause this what did
cause you to go from zero to 100 in an instant like that because this is an event that you can't you know you can't unring this Bell I mean once it's done it's done and he even kills the dog so uh a lot of anger a lot of hate going on here here and so I I'm I'm hopeful that the detectives were able to at least decipher from him what what triggered this what snap you're right to point out that we don't know for sure if this is a healthy happy family just that we hadn't
gotten any prior calls at least that I've seen reported of domestic violence or incidents in the home but we could learn more about what led up to the shooting and I think this is vital to the case we've talked about her the surviving daughter who was able to Escape run to a neighbors call 911 she is huge for this case I'm sure investigators would talk to her right away to get as much details as they could but of course she witnessed something very traumatic so how would they walk that fine line of getting all the
info but not R traumatizing her well that's going to be a you're right that's going to be a fine line they're gonna have to uh the the her interview which is going to be very revealing about the Dynamics in home let me let me say something here too uh when I when I'm talking about the four women living in the house and the man living in the house I'm not trying to victim shame here or victim blame so before anybody gets off into that I just want to clarify that I'm simply trying to analyze what
the possible atmosphere was in the home so I'm I'm hopeful that the young lady that was able to escape now she's going to be able to put those pieces together what was it like living in the home what was going on what was the relationship between the suspect in this case and the women individually because I am sure that he's got a different type of relationship with each one of those women one of them obviously is is a more intimate relationship because that's a girlfriend boyfriend type situation but uh she's going to be a a
treasure Trove of information into what led up to this horrific event and I'm sure they talked to her right away after I mean in one of the press conferences the prosecutor says the surviving daughter said XYZ so we know that they have chatted at least initially but do you think there are going to be more discussions moving forward as we move a bit farther away from the event that she can kind of settle collect herself a bit more and maybe they could learn more about what happened well it's been my experience that that initial interview
right there uh is the most reaps the most benefit uh that is when the circumstances of what happen is in its most stark contrast so uh the things that she will remember now of course I always end an interview like this with if later on you've had time to think you've had time to process this if there is something that you remember something that comes to you that we did not discuss here then please contact me and let's discuss that so you always want to leave that door open but they're going to get at least
again in my experience they're going to get their best uh information and then initial interview and because it will be so ingrained in her in her mind uh so I I'm I'm hopeful that that's that's what occurred now the other thing the opposite could have occurred she could be so traumatized that she's not able to recall at that moment in time but I don't that's not my sense about this young lady she sounds to me I mean she even she looked out she saw uh the suspect leaving in her mom's truck so there's a lot
of details that she provided that I think she was able to to share without being kind of internal about everything I think she was ready and willing to to share everything that she knew everything that she saw everything that she witnessed I think you're right because a lot of what we know about this case does come from her at least through the authorities who kind of cite her as describing what happened and you mentioned something too that the suspect drove off in her mom's vehicle fled the area goes from Missouri to Kansas to me very
clear very simple it looks like he's running away I don't know where he was headed exactly his vehicle breaks down and eventually he's arrested in Kansas but what do you make of that is that normal quote unquote for someone to commit this murder and then go on the Run flee the crime scene well I don't know I don't know that I would call it normal I think it would be a response of course uh I've had I've had scenes where the suspect goes in commits the murderers and their first instinct is to flee and what
typical about this though is they don't flee very far they're pretty attached to the area in which the crime occurred and in in most cases they don't really have anywhere to go now he may who knows again I would I would hope that he was they allowed he was allowed allowed authorities detectives to interview him and that he would he would share that where we headed you knew because obviously he knew what he had done was horrific he knew that so the Instinct there is to is to Fleet and uh get it behind him and
so I would be curious to know where he was headed if he knew where he was headed if he just got in the truck and just hit the road and just started rubber balling you know he was just going to keep driving until he couldn't drive any longer or decided to stop or whatever that may have been so uh we won't know that unless they were able to speak with him interview him and get that directly from him I'm wondering about that interview too because the crime happened in Missouri and then he's arrested in Kansas
where he's being held right now with plans to be extradited back to Missouri but since he's in Kansas who would talk to him would it be investigators there or would the Missouri ones come to the jail let's say he does want to talk what would that look like logistically well if it's if it's my case I want the first crack at it I'm I'm the one that knows the details I'm the one that's invested in that investigation to try to share those things with other detectives in another jurisdiction uh where they are going to be
as vested in that investigation as I am is a tough is a tough road to hoe so if it's me uh and I I would assume that that's what's going to happen here the the detectives uh at the scene where this occurred they want the first fight at that Apple so it doesn't take it doesn't it's it's no big deal for detectives to travel from point A to point B to talk to their suspect so I would imagine that's what's going to happen in this case and I know if it was my case that's what
I would that's what I would want to do and obviously it's not that far away I think it's about 170 miles so it does check out that it would be a relatively easy drive for the initial investigators in Missouri to head over there again I haven't heard anything whether he's consented to an interview when he whether he's talked more or not I guess that hasn't quite yet been reported but let's just say for instance that he does speak with investigators let's say he speaks with you what are the things you're asking right away well the
first thing I'm G to try to do is establish a relationship with him I'm not just going to walk in there as the cop the detective uh you know I'm so and so from you know whatever Department homicide Division and blah blah blah and you're in here and we're that kind of a thing which a lot of detectives take that approach I my approach to him is going to be the that relationship and I want to know first I want to know about his relationship with the mother with the woman in that house that they
had the the boyfriend girlfriend intimate relationship that's the first thing I want to know about because that's where this all culminates from that's why he's there because he has this relationship with her that's why he's living there so that's what I want to know then I want to know what is his relationship ship with the other women in that house uh what what are the Dynamics between them what kind of uh positive interaction do you have with him what kind of negative interaction you have with him I want to find out from him and I
call these psychological autopsies about what what led him to make this decision to do this to commit this horrific act and so that would be my Approach with him and then at least in my experience in most cases that gets me to where I need to be and it's not about walking in there and trying to figure out what kind of a charge it's about walking in there and a journey to the truth and once you make that appeal at least in my experience to most people they want to tell you what happened they want
to explain it now he may give a bunch of self-serving statements but the point is is that my approach to him is going to be uh it's going to be uh patient I'm going to be patient I'm going to listen to him not hear him I'm going to listen to him and then I'm going to be empathetic and in in again in my experience this is the way I teach interviewing those are the three qualities you've got to take into that room and uh it would be interesting to find out cases like this of course
and every homicide I investigated that was always my desire was to find out the why because that's always the question that's asked and sometimes it's never answered but uh yeah the why in this case would pique my interest and I think that's what everyone wants to know why I love the phrase that you used the journey to the truth because that's what we all want to know we still have a lot of questions in the case so we'll continue to follow it and see where it goes but for now Phil Waters thank you for coming
on and breaking down what we know so far thank you Sierra for having me take care prosecutor ERS in Missouri say they're considering the death penalty in this case but won't make that decision right away they plan to talk it over with the victim's family before making any announcements reporting for long crime I'm Sierra gasby
