As part of the multimedia art exhibition Closure Is Not Justice, we will host a panel discussion on "Law, Media, & Art" at 6:30 p.m. this Thursday, September 14th at Vulpes Bastille (1737 Locust, KCMO). Panelists will include co-defendant Bryan Sheppard, attorney Cyndy Short, and artists Aja Mujinga and Andrew Johnson. It will be moderated by KC Magazine's Molly Higgins. https://www.closureisnotjustice.com/ for more info.

KCUR | By Julie Denesha July 2, 2023

Andrew Michael Johnson / Closure Is Not Justice

Beginning this week and continuing for two more weeks, Kansas City writer Andrew Michael Johnson is renting billboard space around the metro in an attempt to gather stories from the 1988 South Kansas City explosion that killed six firefighters. The recordings Johnson collects will be presented as part of a public exhibition in September at the gallery Vulpes Bastille in the Crossroads.

Kansas City Magazine March 1st, 2023 By Molly Higgins

Firefighters search through the rubble in the aftermath of two explosions at a construction site off of U.S. Highway 71. A deadly combination of twenty-five thousand pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel used to clear the limestone cliffs, caused two storage units to explode, killing six city firefighters. Photo provided by Joe O'Connor.

It was one of the most shocking murder scenes in the history of Kansas City, a town that’s had more than its fair share. In the early hours of November 29, 1988, six city firefighters were killed in the explosion of a storage unit stuffed with twenty-five thousand pounds of ammonium nitrate used to blast through the limestone cliffs on what’s now U.S. Highway 71. The explosion made the city shake, figuratively and literally, sending shockwaves felt five miles away and thirty-five years later.

The Monday after Thanksgiving, a brother and sister working as security guards on a cold and windless night called 911 to report a fire. They claimed to have returned from QuikTrip to find one of the guard’s pickup trucks ablaze. On the call, guard Robert Riggs, who was working the job with his sister Debbie Riggs, said he could also see smoke rising from the construction site they were supposed to be guarding. The Kansas City Fire Department reported to the scene and extinguished the truck fire, then headed down the hill to the other fire. Unfortunately, that fire had reached the trailer full of construction-grade explosives. The firefighters who rushed down to extinguish the blaze were killed. Forty minutes later, after the perimeter was clear, an even larger blast rocked the city.

The cause of the fires was unclear. For years, law enforcement thought it had something to do with labor tensions at the construction site. Later, prosecutors claimed that the fire was set to divert security guards so that people from the neighborhood could pull off a heist of tools from the construction site. The obvious flaw in this theory was that both security guards had left the site—at the same time—and thus were not around to be distracted. The security guard whose truck was destroyed, Debbie, admitted under oath to involvement in a separate automotive insurance fraud scheme.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - There are some undisputed facts about what happened the morning of Nov. 29, 1988.

Firefighters were called to a construction site at 71 Highway and 87th Street and found two separate fires. Six firefighters were killed instantly when the trailers exploded. The cause of the fires was ruled “arson.”

Six firefighters were killed instantly when the trailers exploded.(KCTV5 News)

Thirty-three years later, questions remain. Five people were convicted in the case nine years after the crime happened. But, some question if those five are really responsible and if everyone who played a role was actually held accountable.

“I’m innocent,” Richard Brown, one of those convicted in the case, told us in a recent telephone interview. “I promise you that. I’m innocent.”

Brown is serving a life sentence at Coleman Federal Prison Complex in Florida.