KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On the surface, the death of Paul Lockhart seemed like a tragic, but simple accident.
In October 2023, while on a business trip in Kansas City, Paul was found dead in a hotel room.
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The police ruled it as an accidental death, but now, evidence shared with the family suggests there may have been foul play involved.
“Questions have been unanswered and unaddressed,” Lora Lockhart, Paul Lockhart’s Neice said.
His family, particularly his niece, is left grappling with the unanswered questions surrounding his death.
Paul Lockhart was no stranger to travel. As a dedicated worker in the construction industry, he frequently visited cities across the country for his job. It was an ordinary part of his life.
But something was different this time. It was more than unusual for Paul not to show up for work as expected.
Lora remembers the shock of hearing that Paul had failed to show up for his job that fateful day.
“On top of the grief, you have some disheartenment around the lack of answers and the lack of pursued justice,” she said.
Paul got to his hotel on Oct. 17, 2023, ready for another day of work.
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But by the next morning, he was dead. How he died—and why—remains a mystery that his family feels has been neglected.
Surveillance footage from the hotel tells a story that raises more questions than answers.
Police reports reveal that a woman met Paul in the lobby, and the two went upstairs to his room together. Minutes later, the same woman was seen meeting another woman in the lobby, and the two of them headed back to Paul’s room.
An hour later, both women left the hotel. But then, the first woman returned alone to Paul’s room. She left with items that she hadn’t been carrying before.
What happened during that hour? What could these women know about Paul’s death?
The investigation uncovers even more troubling details. After leaving the hotel, one of the women crashed Paul’s car.
She then fled to a waiting vehicle where the other woman had been seen going to.
“There is a danger out there, and at this point, we don’t know,” Lora said.
Despite the suspicious circumstances, the Kansas City Police Department’s response has been lackluster at best, according to the family.
Police were called to the scene after the crash, but they only knocked on Paul’s door. They never entered.
It wasn’t until several hours later, when Paul missed work, that a welfare check was conducted. When hotel staff entered his room, they found Paul dead, naked and hanging halfway off the bed.
The medical examiner’s report revealed that Paul had died from fentanyl overdose. The cause of death was ruled an accident, and the case was quickly closed.
For Paul’s family, this official conclusion felt like a dead end.
Lora explained how this ruling didn’t sit right with them: “He was a hard, hard worker, committed to traveling to make places better, to construct buildings in other cities,” she said.
As fentanyl deaths continue to rise across the country, the Lockhart family feels that their loved one’s death has not been fully investigated. They’re frustrated by the lack of transparency and progress in the investigation.
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Lora voiced her frustration, saying, “Really hope we can get somewhere to get justice served.”
Paul’s family refuses to let his case fade into obscurity. They’re determined to find out what really happened to him, and they won’t rest until they have answers.
The Lockhart’s will meet with detectives once again on April 7, hoping that this time, the case might finally move forward. But will they get the justice they seek?
FOX4 reached out to KCPD and early in the afternoon, they said they’ll see what they could provide us. More than four hours later, we hadn’t heard back and reached out again.
That time, they responded saying that the case was closed but didn’t provide much of anything besides that.
FOX4 will continue to keep you updated as this case unfolds.
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