Investigators say relationship conflict intensified before Nevada Mosley was killed and her boyfriend, Antwon Shirley, was charged with murder.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two days before Nevada Mosley was fatally shot in her Kansas City bedroom, investigators say her boyfriend had taken her cellphone and later returned both the phone and the keys to her house, one of several details authorities are using to reconstruct the final days before her death.
Police allege that the relationship between Mosley, 38, and Antwon Shirley, 43, had been deteriorating before the Aug. 1 shooting. A witness told investigators the two had not been getting along and described Shirley as “very jealous,” according to a probable cause statement cited by news organizations. Mosley had also asked for her house keys back, police said. Shirley is now charged with second-degree murder and five other felony counts connected to Mosley’s death and the circumstances inside her home.
The account of what happened begins before police were called to Agnes Avenue. According to court-document reporting, a witness said Shirley took Mosley’s cellphone on July 30. He later returned the phone as well as the keys to her home that night. Investigators were also told that Shirley returned to the residence around 2 or 3 a.m. and asked to be let inside. The available reports do not say what conversation occurred at that point or establish how Shirley later entered the home.
By shortly before 7 a.m. Aug. 1, police were being sent to the 5600 block of Agnes Avenue for a reported shooting. Officers found a juvenile outside and the front door open. In a back bedroom, they discovered Mosley seriously wounded. Emergency responders took her to a hospital, but she died from her injuries. Three juveniles were inside the home when the violence occurred, according to authorities.
The condition of the bedroom became significant to the investigation. Police said its door appeared to have been kicked in. Investigators recovered shell casings from the floor and found paperwork associated with both Mosley and Shirley. Surveillance video placed Shirley’s vehicle outside the residence, according to the probable cause statement. Those pieces of evidence, together with witness accounts, quickly focused investigators’ attention on him.
One of the children provided the most direct account of the moments before the gunfire, police said. The child reported hearing a clicking noise and seeing Shirley aim a firearm at Mosley. According to the police account, Mosley attempted to get out of bed but struck her head on a dresser. Gunshots followed, and the child fled the room to find a relative. Authorities said two other juveniles were asleep when the confrontation started.
Prosecutors later charged Shirley with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child in addition to second-degree murder, armed criminal action, first-degree burglary and unlawful possession of a firearm. The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office publicly confirmed those charges in an Aug. 7 weekly case update. Its notice also stated that criminal charges are accusations and that defendants are presumed innocent unless they plead guilty or are found guilty.
The sequence surrounding the keys and the damaged bedroom door could become important as prosecutors pursue the burglary charge. The available public accounts establish that a witness said Mosley wanted Shirley to return her keys and that police later found the bedroom door damaged. They do not establish every detail of how Shirley allegedly entered the residence or what legal arguments prosecutors and the defense may make about access to the home. Those questions would be resolved through evidence rather than assumptions based on the couple’s relationship.
Investigators also collected statements about what Shirley allegedly said after the shooting. One of his relatives contacted police and reported speaking with him after Mosley was shot. According to the probable cause statement, Shirley allegedly said he had done something bad and had “snapped.” Police said he also admitted shooting Mosley during that conversation. On separate occasions, investigators were told, he discussed turning himself in and said he believed people throughout the city would be searching for him.
Authorities nevertheless allege that Shirley first tried to make his location harder to track. Police said he disposed of his cellphone and got rid of a vehicle registered in his name. The public charging accounts do not explain where those items were left, how investigators learned about their disposal or whether either was later recovered. No additional charge tied specifically to those alleged acts was identified in the prosecutor’s published list of counts.
Shirley surrendered to police Aug. 2. Local reporting said he went to the Kansas City Police Department’s East Patrol Division, ending the effort to locate him one day after Mosley’s death. A judge subsequently set bond at $500,000 cash only. The prosecutor’s office announced the charges later that week among dozens of newly filed cases.
The allegations place the days before Mosley’s death at the center of the case without establishing a legal motive. Witnesses described jealousy and relationship trouble, and investigators documented the return of Mosley’s phone and keys. But those statements are allegations contained in an early criminal investigation. No reviewed court finding establishes why the shooting occurred, and nothing in the available record permits a definitive conclusion about Shirley’s state of mind beyond the statements attributed to him and others.
The criminal counts also address different alleged conduct. Second-degree murder concerns Mosley’s death. Armed criminal action alleges use of a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon in committing another felony under Missouri law. The burglary count concerns alleged unlawful entry, while the firearm charge alleges Shirley was prohibited from possessing a gun. The child-endangerment counts arise from circumstances involving juveniles in the home. Prosecutors must establish the elements of each charge separately.
Mosley’s killing also left police dependent on accounts from people in and around a private residence rather than a public crime scene. The investigation described in the probable cause statement drew connections among what family members and children said, what surveillance footage showed outside, what detectives found in the bedroom and what Shirley allegedly told people afterward. That combination allowed prosecutors to bring charges within days of the shooting, but filing charges is not equivalent to proving them.
A preliminary hearing was initially scheduled for Sept. 2, according to reports published shortly after the arrest. Reliable sources reviewed for this article did not provide a confirmed account of what occurred at that hearing or identify a subsequent trial date. Because that scheduled date is now in the past, the earlier hearing notice should not be treated as the present procedural status without an updated court record.
What remains documented is a narrowing timeline: Mosley sought the return of her keys, according to a witness; Shirley returned them along with her cellphone; he later came back to the residence; and hours afterward, police found Mosley mortally wounded in the bedroom. Authorities say a child witnessed part of the confrontation and that Shirley surrendered the following day. The prosecution must now turn that investigative timeline into admissible evidence capable of proving its allegations in court.
Author note: Last updated Sept. 20, 2026.