Marc Sappington

The Uncovering

They had been in the interrogation room for hours, but no matter what Lt. Vince Davenport and his two detectives asked, the reply was always silence. They tried to sweet-talk Sappington, cajole him, frighten him, and nothing worked.

"There's gotta be a way," Davenport thought. Experience had taught him that there's often one question using just the right words in just the right tone that can break down all resistance, and make a killer open up. This time, though, Davenport was having a hard time finding the right words.

Davenport knew better than to press his luck. Besides, it was getting late. As he fumbled to put on his coat, he promised himself that he'd do better the next day. He'd find the magic words.

Without looking up, Sappington began to speak. At first, Davenport wasn't sure that Sappington had said anything at all. But the young man repeated the words.

Murder was one thing. But this was a different thing altogether.

"Vampirism. Cannibalism." Davenport repeated.

The violence had begun a few months earlier. While trolling the streets of his north Kansas City neighborhood, Sappington struck up a casual friendship with a young man named Armando Gaitan.

The younger Gaitan was the exemplar of everything that Sappington's mother had tried to prevent. Gaitan, was a gangsta wannabe, the cops say, a budding young tough guy who believed that he could and should live by the code of the street.

Then, in early March, Gaitan and Sappington got their hands on an assault rifle. It was a beautiful gun, the kind of weapon that lends status to a young street tough. But the only way to make themselves — and the rifle — truly important was to use it.

So they hatched a plot to pull off an armed robbery. They didn't have any particular target in mind, Lt. Davenport said later. They were just searching for a random target. The one they found was David Marshak.

What Gaitan had in mind was straightforward.. They'd walk up to Marshak, show him the gun, demand cash and jewelry, and that would be the end of it. Gaitan would do the talking; all Sappington had to do was brandish the rifle's polished steel.

David Marshak,
victim

Like most people in these circumstances, Marshak did not resist. But Marshak's cooperation did nothing to help him. For reasons that not even Sappington can provide, authorities say, Sappington opened fire and killed Marshak. Suddenly, Sappington had entered the world of homicide.

After the murder, Gaitan fled to Texas, while Sappington stayed in Kansas City. Although Gaitan was arrested a short time later, he refused to tell police the shooter's identity.