Gustavo Ortiz accused of killing Denise Streeter, whose body was found in Platte Purchase Park
Jackson County prosecutors have charged Gustavo Ortiz with second-degree murder in the death of Denise Streeter.
Streeter’s body was found in a field adjacent to Platte Purchase Park November 29. Streeter was 49.
According to court records, an unnamed witness told police that she and Ortiz, 37, picked up Streeter at a casino in Kansas City, Kansas. They allegedly wanted to buy drugs from Streeter.
Court documents say Ortiz drove Streeter from the casino to his home at 3237 Brooklyn Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. The three did unspecified drugs, according to the witness, and then Ortiz became angry and blamed Streeter for an assault on him. The records say Ortiz punched Streeter in the face, knocking her to the floor, where he choked her. Then, he said, “This bitch is still breathing,” and told the witness to get him an electrical cord, which she did, and he used it to strangle Streeter to death, according to the records.
The witness told police that she and Ortiz loaded Streeter’s body onto a flat-bed truck and drove to a grassy field near the park, where Ortiz dumped Streeter’s body. Ortiz and the witness then drove to 112th and North Main where Ortiz allegedly ordered her to toss Streeter’s purse from the truck’s passenger window, court records say.
The witness told police that Ortiz threatened her with the same fate as Streeter if she talked with police.
On December 6, Kansas City police executed a search warrant at 3237 Brooklyn Avenue, and a luminol chemical test indicated the presence of blood on the living room floor. Detectives contacted Ortiz the same day.
Ortiz told detectives that he and the witness picked up Streeter at the Seventh Street Casino but dropped her off at a place known as “Checkers.” Ortiz denied any involvement in Streeter’s death.
