Ann vice principal The Alabama middle school student is in prison awaiting extradition to Georgia after being charged with murder in connection with a brutal triple murder that occurred more than a decade ago.
Last week, Keante Harris, 45, an assistant principal at McAdory Middle School in McCalla, Alabama, about 32 miles southwest of Birmingham, turned himself in to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on a fugitive warrant. A few days later, he signed the necessary documents and handed over He will be sent to Georgia, where he awaits more serious charges: three counts of malicious murder.
“My brother did not deserve the death that was inflicted on him.”
These murder charges are related to an incident that occurred in January 2013. On the 13th of the same month, police discovered the bodies of the three victims, Cheryl Colquitt Thompson, Quinones King, and Rodney Cottrell, in Alabama. inside an abandoned vehicle on an Interstate 85 exit ramp in Fulton County, Georgia.
Investigators say the three victims were lured to a home in Jonesboro, Georgia, forced inside at gunpoint, then tortured and eventually killed and left in an abandoned vehicle. I think it was done. Two of the victims were found suffocated and the other strangled.
Harris is one of four suspects arrested and charged with three counts of malicious murder in connection with the incident. The other members are Kenneth Thompson, Kevin Harris, and Darrell Harris. It is unclear whether any of the suspects are related or how they met the victim.
For now, law enforcement remains tight-lipped about how investigators solved the case, the first in 11 and a half years. But Tony Garrett of Central Alabama Crime Stoppers suggested advances in “technology” may play a role.
“DNA investigations are being conducted and agencies are combining more resources,” Garrett said. “We recognize that it’s a better solution or a better way to investigate. So the technology is catching up and the communication is getting better.”
Garrett, who has been working with the victim’s family since the murder, warned that the arrest was just the beginning of a much longer legal process. “I have to tell people to be careful because this is just the beginning,” Garrett said. “It’s still a long process for the family because they still have to investigate and take this to court. So my prayers and my heart go out to them.”
Over the years, member of the victim’s family They spoke out in hopes of bringing justice to their loved ones. “Her brother did not deserve the death penalty,” said Bridget Miller, Rodney Cottrell’s sister. “He just left behind a lot of people who loved him. The way they were killed was personal and just heartbreaking.”
Rakita Ruiz, who was related to two of the victims, is similarly distressed by the brutality of the crime and the callousness with which the victims were dumped on the side of the road. “They were killed in one place, and the people who killed them there put them in cars,” she said. “They put my uncle and Rodney in the back seat and her sister in the trunk of their car.”
Harris is scheduled to be taken into custody in Georgia until May 28. fugitive of justice The charges in Alabama are likely to be dropped.
For now, Harris has been placed on administrative leave in accordance with district protocol.
“I have learned that Mr. Keante Harris has been arrested.” [on May 8]”At this time, we are still gathering the facts regarding the details of this situation,” Jefferson County Schools said in a statement. However, early indications indicate the charges are not related to this person’s employment with Jefferson County Schools. Following standard procedure, Mr. Harris was placed on paid administrative leave. As more facts become known, we will act in accordance with district policy. ”
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