An assistant principal in Alabama has been arrested and charged in connection with a triple murder that occurred in Georgia in 2013. Per WVTM, McAdory Middle School assistant principal Keante Harris is among four suspects linked to the 2013 cold case.
Harris on May 8 turned himself in to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on a fugitive of justice warrant. A spokesperson with the Sheriff’s Office said authorities in Clayton County, Georgia, issued the warrant.
The other three suspects linked to the triple murder were identified as Kevin Harris, Derrell Adams, and Kenneth Thompson. They are also in custody.
Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen in a statement said officers with the Union City Police Department were on a “general patrol in the area of Interstate I-85 (Fulton County)” on January 13, 2013, when they noticed a 2010 Dodge Charger that seemed to be abandoned.
The officers upon “further inspection” found the bodies of three people in the car. “It was determined through the investigation that all three victims were tortured and murdered in Clayton County and dumped in Fulton County,” the statement said.
The victims, identified as Cheryl Colquitt-Thompson, 32, Quinones King, 33, and Rodney Cottrell, 43, were “lured to a residence on Magnolia Drive in Jonesboro where they were forced into the residence at gunpoint,” added the statement. “Later, they were loaded into the back seat of a Dodge Charger and taken to Fulton County.”
The four suspects have each been charged with three counts of murder/malice. Harris’ work with the Jefferson County Schools system was confirmed by Superintendent Dr. Walter Gonsoulin, WVTM reported.
“At this time we still are gathering facts about the specifics of this situation,” Gonsoulin said. “However, early indications are that the charges are not related to this individual’s employment with Jefferson County Schools.”
He said Harris has since been placed on paid administrative leave – which is the school system’s standard procedure for such cases. “As more facts become available, we will act according to our district’s policy,” Gonsoulin said.
Harris on his social media page shared that he started working as an educator in 2006, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. He also said he became a Jefferson County Schools employee in 2018.
