KANSAS CITY, MO – Asia Maynard was a loving young Black woman and a mother of four. She loved to cook and was deeply caring and protective of her family. She never used heavy drugs, her family members say.
They have been afforded little time to grieve, as they have instead been outraged at the missing pieces, “cover-up” and botched police investigation following her death last week on February 18th, at age 29.
Her family does not believe that Asia died of “natural causes”– as the Kansas City Police Department initially told them even before pursuing an autopsy or toxicology report – and one can’t blame them for doubting such a premature conclusion. Especially considering the family says she had no pre-existing health conditions and was a perfectly healthy 29-year old.
How did Asia Die?
We spoke with Asia’s cousin Hailie Loomis who helped recount the sequence of events leading to Asia’s death.
“Asia had gone out with this man (Isiah Crown) that she had met earlier in the week, she had plans to go on a date with him, he had canceled because he needed a babysitter but at the last minute he found someone to watch his child and decided to follow through with the date arrangement.
Asia decided to go out with him that evening, and she didn’t return home, even though she has 4 children. The next morning on the 19th, he calls the police, and tells them that she wasn’t feeling well and found her lying down. He rolled her over to see if she was still alive and found she was found stiff. The police picked her body up. Her vehicle was at his home.
It wasn’t until the 20th at about 2:30pm that they decided to report her missing and that they had properly identified her and that she was deceased. Keep in mind that we had spent the previous 24 hours already calling them and reporting her missing. They wouldn’t share any information with us regarding where they found her. They wouldn’t say where she was found or even his name.
They had said that although they are waiting for the toxicology report they believe it was from natural causes and so there would be no further investigation. And so because there was no further investigation they wouldn’t give us any information on who the man was that she was found with.
The information we had from her friends that she went on a date with him was the only reason we got any information. When we decided to post it to social media, that’s how we got information. A lot of people have reached out and said he is responsible for other overdoses and deaths in the community.
His own family has also gone to the police and admitted that they are aware of these cases he has been involved in. One former classmate of his said he is responsible for up to 7 other overdose cases.
Who is Isiah Crown?
We spoke with numerous former friends of Isiah, including his former roommate, here’s what they had to say:
Cameron Kean (Ex-Roommate of Isiah) Testimony;
“First off, usually I wouldn’t say anything, in my friend circle we usually don’t talk like this or nothing cuz its considered snitching. The only reason I’m saying this is because my friend died, and now this lady died.“
“One of the reasons I’m speaking out is because I also overdosed and nearly died because of him. I was laying on the ground barely breathing almost dead. While the ambulance was on the way he wasn’t helping me he was hiding the stuff. He kept selling the same pills even after our friend died and after I overdosed. Everyday I think about our friend. I can’t even look his mom in the face.”
“What he’s giving people is not what he’s telling them. Me, him and our friend all lived together, we were all hanging out. For this to happen again after our friend dying because of Isiah’s laced stuff, for him to keep giving these to people, it just, no.”
“He’s definitely trying to make it known that ‘nobody told you to do this.‘ I blocked his number but he must have gotten a new phone or something, cuz he reached out from a new number and said that to me just a few days ago after this most recent incident. This kid (Isiah), me and him go back, but I had to say something, my fiance begged me to say something too. When our friend died because of him we felt like nobody was trying to listen to what we were saying about him.“
“Somebody has to be held accountable and responsible. We lived together for a whole year. We partied and did all types of drugs together, but then he started hurting people. It’s like our lives never mattered to him.“
Mercedes Marie (Ex-Friend of Isiah) Testimony;
“I knew Isiah, we went to school together. We all used to hang out with my friend Luie who passed away because of Isaiah. He is the reason why Luie is not here. I was letting the family know that he is the cause. It’s not just my friend that has happened to it’s multiple friends of ours. Luie passed away from an overdose of fentanyl, he received the pills from Isaih.”
“He is very well known in the whole independence and Kansas City area for this. Everyone knows not to go around him and to just stay far from him. He doesn’t really care about anyone except for himself. He actually showed his face at Luie’s funeral for just like 5 minutes and everyone was shocked that he would even show his face there because he knew he did it.“
“After he had showed up we were all questioning why he would do that to his friend. He was in denial and everything but he told us that he was going to keep selling them because he didn’t want to waste the $300 that he spent on them. Other people died from the pills after as well.“
“Those people were mostly his friends who were older. It’s just like more and more people who go around him end up dying. The police did not investigate the situation with Luie at all. He was left at a party, everyone just left him there to die.“
Brittney (Ex-Friend of Isiah) Testimony;
“He is definitely aware that he has been responsible for people’s deaths. The money and the fun, I feel like he actually has fun from hurting people. He doesn’t have any morals. His son would be in the other room crying for him, he would just turn the music up a little bit louder. He just has no morals and no feelings.“
“He definitely knows what he’s doing, he’s not blind to it. The more he gets away with it, the more he gets satisfaction out of it. He definitely is aware of what he is doing by now.“
What the Community’s Saying
Asia’s family, friends and hundreds of Kansas City community members are speaking out to say that without a doubt racism and carelessness of Black lives is at play and can explain why KCPD performed virtually no investigation of her death and took so long to notify the Maynard family of her death, or to rigorously investigate the last person known to have been in her company – Isaiah Crown, a white man she met earlier a few days earlier and who asked her on a date.
This wouldn’t be the first time that a Black woman has been killed following a date with a sketchy white man, in fact her case is nearly identical to the National story of Lauren Smith-Fields.
Similar to the Smith-Fields case, the KCPD officers and detectives who are leading Asia’s case should be immediately fired for their negligence and for covering up Maynard’s death, as well as for failing to pursue Isiah and stop him from murdering more people.
This is a developing story.
