As the owner of Denim & Diamonds, the popular country-and-western bar at 1725 Swift Avenue in North Kansas City, Dennis Hess was known for his hospitality. When he made the rounds and greeted his customers each night, he could make a patron feel like the most important person in the room.
But when Sgt. Chad Phillips of the Platte County Sheriff's Office walked into the bedroom of Hess' Platte City home, 64-year-old Hess was silent.
Hess was sitting upright on the bed, his mouth open and his head tipped back against the headboard. Thin streams of blood trickled down his chin and over his shirtless chest, soaking into the waistband of his jeans. In his lap was a small-caliber handgun. On the ground lay a black-scorched set of false teeth, blown out of Hess' mouth by the force of the gunshot.
Phillips touched the dead man's right shoulder. It was still a little warm.
When the emergency responders pulled up in the driveway of 19015 Humphrey Access Road moments earlier on June 15, 2009, Hess' 36-year-old wife, Lena Hess, was outside with her young daughter. "He blew his brains out," she told them.
He'd been talking about taking his own life for a couple of days, she said. "I didn't think he would do it. I should have known."
Outside, Lena asked Phillips whether the bullet had come out the back of her husband's head. She asked him again later, and a third time after that. Each time, Phillips told her that he wouldn't know until the medical examiners arrived to remove the body.
News of Hess' death made big waves in the small, tightknit community of bars lining Swift Avenue in North Kansas City. Denim & Diamonds was very successful. The owner and his much-younger wife had been having problems. North Kansas City gossips had no trouble connecting the dots.
Platte County Sheriff's Office investigators would soon find plenty of reading material on the Hesses' tortured relationship. Between the couple's 2005 wedding and this summer, the pair filed a dizzying number of legal actions against each other, including police reports, restraining orders and three petitions for divorce. There was more than enough on the public record to suggest that the marriage had been headed for a violent end. On Hess' request for a restraining order that he sought against Lena on February 8, 2008, for example: "She is buying a gun and has told me it [sic] for me to taste."
When Lena hears that the Hess family has planned a memorial for Dennis on June 25 — at Bar 12 on Swift Avenue — she schedules a separate event at the bar that once belonged to her husband. Regulars call the place "Denims." She makes sure that her memorial happens on the same night, at the same time.
At the Denims memorial, Lena sits alone at a cocktail table at the edge of the dance floor, a vast expanse of polished wood hemmed in by railings that give it the appearance of a livestock pen. She's slim, with high cheekbones. Her earrings, hammered-silver hoops, poke out from beneath her straight dark-brown hair. She has left a few of the topmost, mother-of-pearl snaps on her plaid shirt undone to reveal a hint of cleavage. She wears clear braces on her teeth.
Lena says she was married to Hess for "six amazing years." No one from Hess' large, Catholic family has joined her at this memorial. It's after 9 p.m., and the place is nearly empty.
Lena handled the funeral arrangements. Two of Hess' older daughters say Lena called from the funeral home 30 minutes before the body was cremated to tell them that, if they hurried, they could see their father one last time.
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Dear pitch, I hope if there is anything you can do to keep this investigation ongoing, you do it! She is a total gold digging b#*ch and everyone who knows dennis think that she is responsible for the loss! I hope she gets caught and burns in hell!
Dear pitch, I hope if there is anything you can do to keep this investigation ongoing, you do it! She is a total gold digging b#*ch and everyone who knows dennis think that she is responsible for the loss! I hope she gets caught and burns in hell!
Just looking over Casenet and maybe the new info about the medical examiner & Lena wanting ALL Dennis's records sealed have something to do with each other?????? Ponder on that for a while...I really feel bad for the families that this happened to..especially if it was ruled suicide and they couldn't collect on a life ins. policy..
Just looking over Casenet and maybe the new info about the medical examiner & Lena wanting ALL Dennis's records sealed have something to do with each other?????? Ponder on that for a while...I really feel bad for the families that this happened to..especially if it was ruled suicide and they couldn't collect on a life ins. policy..
Hot off the presses....Families Question Jackson County Medical Examiner...go to InsideNBCActionNews.com and it basically says some mistakes have been made previously. I know for a fact that NO ONE from that office would return the family's phone calls and believe me, they had plenty of questions. Sometimes things just aren't what they appear to be!!!!
Hot off the presses....Families Question Jackson County Medical Examiner...go to InsideNBCActionNews.com and it basically says some mistakes have been made previously. I know for a fact that NO ONE from that office would return the family's phone calls and believe me, they had plenty of questions. Sometimes things just aren't what they appear to be!!!!
Nadia, there is more to this story. You should look into the mysterious death of Lena's father Kenneth Hayes around the same time as Dennis Hess' death. Dennis and Kenneth were close friends from my understanding
There have been rumors for decades that Lena's mother tried to have Kenneth killed. The story surrounding Kenneth's death doesn't add up, not to mention how the county and hospital dropped the ball on the autopsy. There is much more to this story then just Denim & Diamonds
Nadia, there is more to this story. You should look into the mysterious death of Lena's father Kenneth Hayes around the same time as Dennis Hess' death. Dennis and Kenneth were close friends from my understanding There have been rumors for decades that Lena's mother tried to have Kenneth killed. The story surrounding Kenneth's death doesn't add up, not to mention how the county and hospital dropped the ball on the autopsy. There is much more to this story then just Denim & Diamonds
The Pitch can help....We would all agree that women can get away with most any crime even murder...Total double standard from Prosecuters......But the Pitch did investigate Tina and Det.Richard McKinley for framing Ted White for molestation ...eventually leading to his exonneration and the McKinleys financial ruin....They should be in the pen........Do it again Pitch...lead the charge to charge the Black Widow with murder.....Men need justice too.
The Pitch can help....We would all agree that women can get away with most any crime even murder...Total double standard from Prosecuters......But the Pitch did investigate Tina and Det.Richard McKinley for framing Ted White for molestation ...eventually leading to his exonneration and the McKinleys financial ruin....They should be in the pen........Do it again Pitch...lead the charge to charge the Black Widow with murder.....Men need justice too.
Did anybody else notice in the picture of Dennis and Lena, her hand looks crooked and bent, like that of a witch? Or big like a "man hand"? Just my observation...
Did anybody else notice in the picture of Dennis and Lena, her hand looks crooked and bent, like that of a witch? Or big like a "man hand"? Just my observation...
The "picture" broke my heart..I can tell you for a fact that Dennis WOULD NOT have wanted that printed. I understand the "shock value", but shouldn't the Pitch print pictures of teenagers who just got killed in a car wreck or a drive-by shooting before they drape them with a sheet? What makes their families & friends any different than Dennis's?? So Pitch, please play fair and at least consult the ones these pictures are going to hurt..In this case, Lena could care less!!!
For those who think the photo taken after his death was innappropriate and disrecpectful to print, sometimes it takes a strong photo like that for the reality of such an awful situation set in. People deserve to know the truth about this man. There has been question about the nature of his death and maybe this will get enough people going to AT LEAST stop going to Denim and Diamonds while under Lena's hand and management. Let's try to get this bar back to the family where it belongs. DO NOT GIVE LENA BUSINESS OR MONEY.
I agree with everyone about the picture, it's not tasteful. But I think the Pitch wrote this article to raise those questions that people have about this suicide. Sure this story could have been told in a different way, but it also has people talking and questioning now as well.
The "picture" broke my heart..I can tell you for a fact that Dennis WOULD NOT have wanted that printed. I understand the "shock value", but shouldn't the Pitch print pictures of teenagers who just got killed in a car wreck or a drive-by shooting before they drape them with a sheet? What makes their families & friends any different than Dennis's?? So Pitch, please play fair and at least consult the ones these pictures are going to hurt..In this case, Lena could care less!!!
For those who think the photo taken after his death was innappropriate and disrecpectful to print, sometimes it takes a strong photo like that for the reality of such an awful situation set in. People deserve to know the truth about this man. There has been question about the nature of his death and maybe this will get enough people going to AT LEAST stop going to Denim and Diamonds while under Lena's hand and management. Let's try to get this bar back to the family where it belongs. DO NOT GIVE LENA BUSINESS OR MONEY.
Thank you Charlie, couldn't have said it better myself. Yes, Lena is a predator. People from her past before Dennis have said that as well.
I agree with everyone about the picture, it's not tasteful. But I think the Pitch wrote this article to raise those questions that people have about this suicide. Sure this story could have been told in a different way, but it also has people talking and questioning now as well.
I don't know either of the parties, but after reading the story, it would seem that Dennis was a great guy who fell for a predatory female who deceived him and played him for all he was worth. His death seems at odds with facts. Here's a guy that was fighting cancer and did not take the easy way out... No mention is made of his owning a firearm, yet there is mention of her purchasing one... If we look at the usual Means,motive and opportunity issues, Lena should be at the top of whomever investigated his death. One would wish that God would be swift with his retribution, but in His wisdom He is patient. People like Lena get theirs in installments and with interest. She'll find out that you reap what you've sown and that the winter of her life may well be cold, bleakand lonely. Let's hope that the authorities don't give short shrift to this very suspicious death.
I had not even heard of the Pitch until this article came out......see I am not missing much! After reading this and seeing the photo that you so disrespectfully posted, I have no desire to EVER read your paper. Don't you think this family has been through enough? All this paper did by posting that picture was bring up feelings in this family that I just can't imagine. Would the editor of this paper put something like that up of his family member. Imagine if it were your loved one? Do you not have any common sense? I do believe the Pitch and so called editor who published this, owes this family a public apology!!!
Thank you Charlie, couldn't have said it better myself. Yes, Lena is a predator. People from her past before Dennis have said that as well.
I don't know either of the parties, but after reading the story, it would seem that Dennis was a great guy who fell for a predatory female who deceived him and played him for all he was worth. His death seems at odds with facts. Here's a guy that was fighting cancer and did not take the easy way out... No mention is made of his owning a firearm, yet there is mention of her purchasing one... If we look at the usual Means,motive and opportunity issues, Lena should be at the top of whomever investigated his death. One would wish that God would be swift with his retribution, but in His wisdom He is patient. People like Lena get theirs in installments and with interest. She'll find out that you reap what you've sown and that the winter of her life may well be cold, bleakand lonely. Let's hope that the authorities don't give short shrift to this very suspicious death.
I had not even heard of the Pitch until this article came out......see I am not missing much! After reading this and seeing the photo that you so disrespectfully posted, I have no desire to EVER read your paper. Don't you think this family has been through enough? All this paper did by posting that picture was bring up feelings in this family that I just can't imagine. Would the editor of this paper put something like that up of his family member. Imagine if it were your loved one? Do you not have any common sense? I do believe the Pitch and so called editor who published this, owes this family a public apology!!!
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