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Beyond the Murder: Leon Jordan's Legacy in Kansas City

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-925992.mp3

Kansas City, MO – This summer, Kansas City police re-opened an unsolved murder case from 1970. Leon Jordan was a pioneering local politician and civil rights leader. 40 years after he was gunned down outside the bar he owned, Jordan's murder remains one of the most vexing mysteries in Kansas City history.

In part two of KC Currents' series on Leon Jordan, hear the story of his life and legacy from a man who may know more about Leon Jordan than Jordan knew himself. UMKC professor emeritus Robert Farnsworth has been working on a biography of Jordan for the past five years. He was almost finished, when he caught wind of a police file he hadn't seen before.

Click here to hear part one of KC Currents' story on potential motives for Leon Jordan's murder.

Stories about the Leon Jordan murder in the Kansas City Star by Mike McGraw and Glenn Rice helped convince police to re-investigate the case. Read them here:
Unsolved killing echoes civil rights era
The missing gun turns up -- in use by the police

This story was produced for KC Currents. To listen on your own schedule, subscribe to the KC Currents Podcast.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Susan admits that her “first love” was radio, being an avid listener since childhood. However, she spent much of her career in mental health, healthcare administration, and sports psychology (Susan holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Bloch School of Business at UMKC.) In the meantime, Wilson satisfied her journalistic cravings by doing public speaking, providing “expert” interviews for local television, and being a guest commentator/contributor to KPRS’s morning drive time show and the teen talk show “Generation Rap.”
Sylvia Maria Gross is storytelling editor at KCUR 89.3. Reach her on Twitter @pubradiosly.
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