KC Unsolved: Witnesses needed to solve deadly Lenexa road rage

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Memories are all Candice Bohnsack has of her husband, Mike Bohnsack, a year after his death.

She re kissing him goodbye around 5 a.m. on Jan. 12, 2023, as he left their Leavenworth home driving to work.

The next memory is the heartbreaking reality that she would never see Mike again. He died after crashing his jeep into a pole along Interstate 435 near Kansas Highway 10.

“It was just, I don’t know, it was almost like my whole life ended, like a part of me was gone,” Candice said.

Then the memory of an officer arriving and telling her Mike’s death was not an accident. Candice learned that officers believed Mike was a victim of road rage. They believed another driver shot Mike in the head as he drove along the busy highway.

The memories of Mike, and their life together, are the memories Candice has as she waits. She hopes someone who witnessed the crash will a tiny piece of evidence that could eventually find Mike’s killer.

TIMELINE

The timeline Lenexa police developed in the case is pretty simple.

Mike Bohnsack’s wife said he left his house around 5:15 a.m. on Jan. 12, 2023. Someone called 911 to report the crash about 30 minutes later.

Detectives said it seems like whatever happened took place on the drive between Mike’s house and the crash location because of the tight timeline that morning.

THE EVIDENCE

The Lenexa Police Department thought they had a deadly crash on their hands. Investigators collected all kinds of information and snapped different pictures of the crash scene.

The department gave us more than a dozen pictures from that morning, hoping they would help someone something.

One photo in particular seems to show tire tracks in the frost. It looks like the tracks leave the road and start to go into the grass where Mike’s Jeep stopped.

Hours after the crash, the medical examiner’s office revealed Mike’s true cause of death. The office determine he died from a gunshot injury to the head.

The case shifted from a deadly crash to a homicide investigation.

It’s not that there isn’t enough evidence to solve the case. It’s that detectives don’t have the right evidence. The case file is nearly 900 pages long.

Detectives worked with Mike’s wife, Candice, to determine the route he normally drove to work, which is also pretty straightforward.

WITNESSES

Witness s of what happened are key in this case according to investigators.

One person called 911 to report the crash at 5:39 a.m. Detectives followed up with her after learning Mike’s death was a homicide.

“She indicated that she recalled seeing Mr. Bohnsack’s vehicle, which is the white Jeep, try to switch lanes around 79th Street on 435 and immediately get back over realizing there was a dark colored sedan in that lane of travel,” Det. Betsy Peterson, Lenexa Police, said.

Detectives then turned to Scout traffic cameras that are mounted along the highway. Det. Peterson said they actually managed to find Mike’s Jeep and another car speeding along the highway.

“We saw a high acceleration of both vehicles at one point,” Peterson said.

“They were pacing each other at one point. One vehicle would another. Just indicative of not normal driving behavior compared to the other vehicles around them on the highway.”

Then investigators said a second witness called to report what happened.

“Due to the 911 caller identifying some movements she originally saw. And then we later received a call from another witness who identified what he believed to be road rage between the two vehicles,” Peterson said.

That second witness told detectives he was behind the cars when the homicide happened. He said he didn’t realize it was a homicide until the death was on the news.

The witness also provided detectives with another key piece of evidence.

“He said that he is very positive that the suspect vehicle is a dark colored Ford Fusion. He has personal experience with those vehicles and he believed it is not the newer style model and he believed it was the older style model because of the shape of the tail lights,” Peterson said.

At the time detectives believed the information would be the key to solving the case.

The problem is that it was dark outside when the incident happened. Investigators had the road rage on video, they knew which cars were involved, and they knew when the shooting and crash happened.

“It’s dark out. And it’s grainy because the footage is from far away,” Peterson said.

Detectives tracked the cars as far as they could before they were lost in traffic.

“It was hard to determine with the quality of the cameras and the amount of vehicles which one was which when there weren’t connecting cameras. There were gaps in time,” Peterson said.

They even refocused on the taillights of the Fusion, but a year later that hasn’t helped solve the case.

They do believe they are looking for a dark color 2011 to 2012 Ford Fusion, or something very similar.

WHERE THE CASE STANDS

Lenexa detectives are at a standstill. They need new information, a new memory, new evidence to surface before they can solve the case.

Timing is also key, according to investigators. They believe drivers on the road at 5:40 a.m. on a Thursday morning may have also been heading to or from work. They are asking anyone who drives in that area of the metro early in the morning to spend a little time thinking about the morning of Jan. 12, 2023. Think about anything that happened that is out of the ordinary.

“Whether it be a person in particular that showed up to work upset or complaining or somebody that, you know, people know they take that route, they know they have a similar vehicle, they know they carry a gun. There’s lots of different things that can… It could just be one little thing that helps turn the case around,” Peterson said.

Lenexa police say the person may have even bragged about what happened, or tried to hide or sell the gun used in the crime.

They have recovered weapons tossed away along highways, but so far they haven’t been the one that killed Mike.

Detectives said if the road rage incident would have happened on city streets, a license plate reader may have helped. Cameras would have also provided better video.

Due to the time of day and where the crime happened, detectives are now relying on a witness to , and report, a key piece of evidence. If that happens, detectives believe they will be able to bring Mike’s killer to justice.

REWARD OFFERED

If you have any information that can help detectives solve this case please the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers program. They are offering up to $2,000 cash reward for any information that can lead to an arrest in this case.

All tips to the Crimestoppers/TIPS hotline are 100% anonymous. You can call the number here: 816-474-TIPS, or go to www.kccrimestoppers.com where you can safely and anonymously submit your tip.

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