Overlooked

Chapter 2: The wrong Lamonte

By Peggy Lowe,

Published October 19, 2022 at 3:00 AM CDT

Ways To Subscribe

Left: The mug shot taken when Lamonte McIntyre, then 17, was arrested for a double homicide on April 15, 1994. Right: Lamonte McIntyre in September 2022, five years after being cleared of the crime and released from prison.

In 1994, Kansas City, Kansas, Police arrested Lamonte McIntyre for a double homicide he didn’t commit — sending him to prison for more than two decades before he was finally exonerated. Except McIntyre was a mile away from those Hutchings Street murders. As it turns out, the only evidence police had to charge McIntyre was his first name, and the coerced testimony of two eyewitnesses.

Read more about how Lamonte McIntyre's release after 23 years exposed decades of police corruption from KCUR's Peggy Lowe.

Overlooked is a production of KCUR Studios and the NPR Midwest Newsroom, and a member of the NPR Podcast Network.

It’s hosted by Peggy Lowe, with reporting by Peggy Lowe, Steve Vockrodt and Dan Margolies. Mackenzie Martin and Suzanne Hogan produced, mixed, and did the sound design for the podcast, with editing by CJ Janovy and mixing help from Paris Norvell and Trevor Grandin. Digital editing by Gabe Rosenberg. Social media promotion by Allison Harris. Photos by Carlos Moreno and Julie Denesha. Artwork by Crysta Henthorne. Music from Blue Dot Sessions and Jay-Z.

Special thanks this episode to Genevieve Des Marteau, Lisa Rodriguez, Holly Edgell, the Open Mike podcast, and KMBC.

Overlooked: Season 1

Peggy Lowe

I’m a veteran investigative reporter who came up through newspapers and moved to public media. I want to give people a better understanding of the criminal justice system by focusing on its deeper issues, like institutional racism, the poverty-to-prison pipeline and police accountability. Today this beat is much different from how reporters worked it in the past. I’m telling stories about people who are building significant civil rights movements and redefining public safety. Email me at lowep@kcur.org.

See stories by Peggy Lowe

Mackenzie Martin

Whether it’s something happening right now or something that happened 100 years ago, some stories don’t fit in the short few minutes of a newscast. As a podcast producer and reporter at KCUR Studios, I help investigate questions and local curiosities in a way that brings listeners along for adventures with plot twists and thought-provoking ideas. Sometimes there isn’t an easy answer in the end – but my hope is that we all leave with a greater understanding of the city we live in. Reach me at mackenzie@kcur.org.

See stories by Mackenzie Martin

Suzanne Hogan

Every part of the present has been shaped by actions that took place in the past, but too often that context is left out. As a podcast producer for KCUR Studios and host of the podcast A People’s History of Kansas City, I aim to provide context, clarity, empathy and deeper, nuanced perspectives on how the events and people in the past have shaped our community today. In that role, and as an occasional announcer and reporter, I want to entertain, inform, make you think, expose something new and cultivate a deeper shared human connection about how the passage of time affects us all. Reach me at hogansm@kcur.org.

See stories by Suzanne Hogan