KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Kansas City man accused of killing a popular Missouri bar owner goes to court this week in a trial that could shed some light on claims that a college student from Saudi Arabia paid him to take the businessman’s life.
Reginald Singletary, 28, is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Sept. 1, 2012, shooting death of Blaine Whitworth. The 25-year-old Warrensburg bar owner was gunned down in his driveway.
His trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Cass County on a change of venue from Johnson County. His public defender, Craig Napier, didn’t return calls seeking comment.
According to a probable cause statement, Singletary was arrested three days later and admitted to investigators that he shot Whitworth with a handgun at the request of Ziyad Abid in exchange for money.
That statement led to the arrest of Abid, a senior aviation student at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, on the same charges as Singletary. The Saudi Arabian government posted $2 million for Abid in April 2013, but Circuit Judge Michael Wagner refused to free the 24-year-old because he was afraid the Saudi would flee or be deported.
Court documents, including dozens of motions filed while Abid’s lawyers were trying to get him released, mention neither a motive for Whitworth’s slaying nor any evidence against Abid other than Singletary’s statement to investigators.
Abid’s attorneys have said Singletary was fired as a bouncer at one of Whitworth’s two bars a week before the shooting, and that the only evidence tying Abid to the crime was Singletary’s claims.
Charges against Abid were dropped in August, with Johnson County prosecutor Lynn Stoppy saying a key witness was no longer cooperating.
“Very recently, our understanding of evidence previously obtained from a critical witness has changed,” Stoppy said in an email to The Associated Press on Aug. 2. “As a result, the state is currently left without sufficient evidence to support the prosecution at this time.”
Three weeks later Abid was back in Saudi Arabia and Singletary remained behind bars on $1 million bond.
Stoppy’s announcement was heartbreaking for Whitworth’s parents, who said they believed Abid was getting away with murder.
Barry Whitworth, Blaine’s father, told the AP last week it will be good to get the criminal matter resolved, but it won’t heal the family’s wounds.
“We are happy but nervous about the opportunity to finally realize justice for the murder of Blaine,” he said. “Nothing can bring Blaine back, and even with a successful prosecution there will be no happiness - only some closure.”
The trial is scheduled for four days in Harrisonville.
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