Mary Levingston Obituary, Death; – One week after the discovery of 35-year-old Mary Levingston’s body along Fredericksburg Road in Kansas City, the Excelsior Springs Police have announced that they have identified both the driver and the vehicle involved in the fatal hit-and-run incident. On Thursday, detectives conducted an interview with the woman suspected of being the driver, although her identity is not being disclosed to the public at this moment.
With the support of the Richmond Police Department, investigators gathered crucial physical evidence, including a fragment of the SUV’s front bumper, which has been forwarded for forensic analysis. The case is currently being prepared for the Ray County Prosecutor’s Office, which will decide whether to pursue criminal charges or classify the incident as a traffic fatality without prosecution.
Shortly before the incident, Levingston was seen walking through the Golf Hill neighborhood after departing from a nearby residence. Several neighbors dialed 911, describing her behavior as “erratic” or “suspicious.”
Subsequent video footage from neighborhood doorbell cameras corroborated these accounts, depicting Levingston as unsteady and possibly under the influence. Law enforcement officials noted that her actions that afternoon were atypical and raised alarms among numerous residents. Toxicology results, which are anticipated to take several weeks, will assist investigators in determining the extent to which impairment may have contributed to the incident.
Police were already en route to the Golf Hill neighborhood when, at 5:59 p.m., another 911 caller reported what seemed to be a body lying in the roadway in the 1000 block of Fredericksburg Road. Officers arrived within minutes and discovered Levingston deceased on the shoulder.
Police Chief Gregory Dull stated that preliminary findings from the medical examiner indicate that Levingston succumbed to blunt force trauma to the head, injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle. Given the location and nature of the injuries, detectives suspect that Levingston may have been lying in the roadway at the time of the collision.
Using a traffic camera positioned near where Levingston was found, detectives pulled a list of vehicles that traveled the corridor around the likely time of impact. Because Fredericksburg Road is not heavily traveled, the pool of potential suspect vehicles narrowed quickly to three.
Two were eliminated almost immediately. Both belonged to drivers who had called 911 after seeing what they believed was a body in the roadway. Detectives interviewed both individuals and inspected their vehicles, ruling them out.
That left detectives with one remaining vehicle from the initial camera review, a minivan that had passed through the area around the time Levingston was struck. Investigators located the driver that same night, interviewed them, and photographed and forensically tested the vehicle. The driver had no recollection of striking anything, and the van showed no evidence of a collision.
With all three initially identified vehicles cleared, detectives began gathering additional footage from neighborhood doorbell cameras, hoping something outside the initial review might reveal a new lead.
