The prosecution’s timeline begins with a late-night meeting and ends near a field where witnesses heard screams and gunfire.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Elaysha Gilliam left home shortly after midnight to meet a former boyfriend, beginning a sequence that prosecutors say ended hours later with her bound and fatally shot near a Kansas City park.
More than two years later, Jackson County prosecutors charged Ramello Robinson-Parks with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm. The state’s account follows Gilliam’s movements through witness statements, travel records, cellphone tower data and evidence recovered from her body. No one is described in the public filing as having witnessed the shooting itself, making the timing and movement of people and devices central to the case.
Gilliam and Robinson-Parks had returned from Las Vegas on the morning of Feb. 16, 2024, according to a woman interviewed by detectives. The trip began Feb. 10, and the two arrived back in Kansas City between 6 and 7 a.m. The witness said Robinson-Parks remained at her home until about 2 p.m. Feb. 17, when he left to attend a baby shower for another woman who was pregnant with his child. The account places Robinson-Parks with one person during part of the period investigators were examining, while cellphone records describe the movement of a device associated with him during the hours before dawn.
Gilliam’s own final known trip began hours earlier. A sister told police that Gilliam planned to meet Robinson-Parks after midnight Feb. 17. Another family account placed Gilliam in a black Jeep Grand Cherokee associated with him at about 12:30 a.m. Prosecutors have not publicly released surveillance video of that meeting or explained whether anyone saw Robinson-Parks driving the vehicle. The last-seen statement nevertheless became the starting point for the prosecution’s reconstruction because Gilliam did not return home and was not seen alive publicly afterward.
Shortly before 3 a.m., a cellphone associated with Robinson-Parks began moving away from towers near his residence, the probable cause statement says. At about 3:30 a.m., the device used towers serving the area around Oakley Avenue and East 36th Terrace. That location was near the vacant lot where Gilliam’s body would be discovered. The device later moved toward another residence identified during the investigation. The court filing does not provide the phone’s exact coordinates, the size of the tower sectors or evidence establishing who held the device during the trip.
At about 4 a.m., a couple staying in the area heard a woman scream and then heard gunshots, they told detectives. They did not report seeing the source of the sounds. The approximate time came about 30 minutes after the phone appeared near the lot. Prosecutors are expected to use that sequence to argue that the digital records and witness memories support each other. Defense attorneys may question the precision of both, including whether the couple could reliably place the sounds at a specific time when interviewed two days later.
The couple returned to the field Feb. 19 and discovered Gilliam’s body while walking through the overgrown property. Police found her hands and feet bound with zip ties. Duct tape covered her mouth and encircled her head. She had multiple gunshot wounds, including wounds to her head, neck, torso, arm and buttocks. Investigators collected five .40-caliber casings during the initial search. An ATF dog later found three additional casings. The medical examiner determined that Gilliam died from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled the death a homicide.
Gilliam was identified publicly as a 26-year-old Kansas City woman and mother of four. Her relatives said she also was pregnant. The killing initially drew attention as a suspicious death before police confirmed that it was being investigated as a homicide. Her family asked the public and investigators not to allow the case to fade. They described Gilliam as energetic and generous, with a strong bond to her children. Her obituary said she was known as “Lay” and regularly tried to help others.
The relationship history offered investigators a broader context for the late-night meeting. Witnesses said Gilliam and Robinson-Parks had been together for about seven years before separating during the summer of 2023. Despite the breakup, they remained in contact and traveled together. Friends and relatives told detectives that Robinson-Parks was jealous, insecure and controlling. Some said Gilliam received threatening messages from people connected to him. One person said Gilliam believed she was being watched, while another recalled her fear that future violence would become worse.
A witness also alleged that Robinson-Parks had assaulted Gilliam in the past and that one attack caused the loss of a twin pregnancy. The public charging documents do not describe a conviction arising from that allegation. Such statements can become contested in a murder case because prosecutors may seek to use them as evidence of motive, intent or the nature of a relationship. The defense can argue that the accounts are unverified, unfairly prejudicial or based on statements that cannot be tested directly because Gilliam is dead.
Robinson-Parks gave detectives his own account March 5, 2024. He said he had spoken with Gilliam on Feb. 14 while she attended the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade. He said nothing appeared wrong during the conversation. He also told police that Gilliam sometimes disappeared for several days after arguments. When detectives asked for more information about their recent discussions, he said he needed to “get himself together” before continuing. The statement does not include a confession or an admission that he met Gilliam after midnight Feb. 17.
Investigators continued developing evidence after the interview. DNA testing linked Robinson-Parks to samples taken from Gilliam’s mouth and beneath a fingernail on her right hand, prosecutors said. His DNA also was found on a torn piece of a latex medical-type glove recovered from her hair. Prosecutors have not publicly said whether the fingernail material showed signs of a struggle or how long DNA could have remained in each location. Because Gilliam and Robinson-Parks had recently traveled together, the timing and meaning of the samples are likely to be disputed.
The scene evidence produced a mixed forensic picture. Robinson-Parks’ DNA was not reported on the duct tape, zip ties or shell casings. Police also have not announced the recovery of the gun used to kill Gilliam. Prosecutors can present a case without DNA on every object or possession of the alleged murder weapon. The defense, however, may emphasize that the items most directly used to restrain Gilliam did not yield a reported genetic match to Robinson-Parks.
A later arrest supplied another connection. Federal authorities took Robinson-Parks into custody May 16, 2026, in an unrelated firearm matter. Detectives searching his backpack found gloves that prosecutors said resembled the fragment recovered from Gilliam’s hair in color and appearance. The filing does not state that a laboratory conclusively matched the fragment to one of those gloves. The discovery came more than two years after the killing, leaving prosecutors to explain why the similarity matters and the defense to examine whether the gloves were common or recently acquired.
Jackson County filed the murder case in June 2026. First-degree murder requires proof that Robinson-Parks knowingly caused Gilliam’s death after deliberation. The armed criminal action charge alleges use of a deadly weapon during the killing. The firearm possession charge is based on his prior felony record and the state’s allegation that he possessed a .40-caliber gun. Robinson-Parks has not entered a publicly reported plea in the state case and is presumed innocent.
Several parts of the final-hours timeline remain undisclosed. The filing does not state whether Gilliam’s phone was recovered, whether it traveled with the device linked to Robinson-Parks or whether messages documented the planned meeting. It does not explain how Gilliam entered the field or whether investigators believe she was shot at the place where she was found. No public account identifies a driver, passenger or second person at the lot.
The unresolved points will shape the court process. Prosecutors must connect the late-night meeting, the phone movement and the gunfire into a reliable sequence. Defense attorneys can test the witnesses’ memories, tower analysis and assumptions about who possessed the phone. Both sides also may seek expert testimony about digital location data and the possible timing of DNA transfer.
A judge set bond at $100,000 cash only. No trial date has been announced. Robinson-Parks remains in federal custody and is expected to be transferred to Jackson County as the murder case advances. The next milestone will be the formal testing of a timeline that currently covers only a few hours but carries the weight of the entire prosecution.
Author note: Last updated July 12, 2026.