An Alabama middle school assistant principal has been extradited to Clayton County, Ga., where he faces charges in connection with a cold case triple murder that happened over a decade ago. Keante Harris, 45, was booked into the Clayton County Jail around 2:30 a.m. Thursday, as reported by FOX 5. The school official, who worked at McAdory Middle School in Jefferson County, was placed on administrative leave following his arrest.
Harris and three other men stand accused of the murder of 33-year-old Quinones King, 43-year-old Rodney Cottrell, and 32-year-old Cheryl Colquitt-Thompson. Authorities said the victims were lured to a residence in Jonesboro, Ga., where they were held at gunpoint, and tortured, and killed before being transported and abandoned in a vehicle along Interstate 85 in Fulton County. According to Front Page Detectives, the Clayton County Sheriff's Office indicated that the apprehensions took place within 48 hours after warrants were issued.
The case left a dark shadow over the families of the victims for eleven years. The grandmother of one of the victims Rosetta Colquitt, expressed her relentless hope and gratitude toward the law enforcement that worked the case. "It was hard. Can you imagine me sitting up half of the night crying? I couldn't understand how someone could take my children, my granddaughter, my son's life," Colquitt told FOX 5 in an emotional recount of her ordeal.
The investigation was revitalized when Clayton County Police issued arrest warrants for Harris and the other men: Kenneth Thompson, Kevin Harris, and Darrell Harris. While it remains unclear if the three Harrises are related, the Clayton County police, led by Chief Kevin Roberts, have been commended for their work in cracking the case. The indictment, as Sheriff Levon Allen noted in a statement obtained by Front Page Detectives, has enabled District Attorney Tasha Mosley to move forward with the prosecution.
The school district where Keante Harris was employed commented that the charges appear to not be related to his position with the schools. As the legal proceedings continue, the hope for answers and closure pulses through a community left in the wake of a tragedy that took three of its own, with implications reaching into educational realms where trust and safety should never be compromised.
