Assistant Middle School Principal Charged In Cold Case Murder Of 3

An Alabama middle school assistant principal is among four people arrested in connection to a 2013 Georgia cold case triple murder, Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen announced on Friday.

Keante Harris, assistant principal at McAdory Middle School, faces three counts of malice murder, alongside Kevin Harris, Darrell Harris and Kenneth Thompson. The four are accused of killing and torturing three victims who were discovered dead in Fulton County, Georgia, in 2013.

According to Allen, the bodies were discovered by police on the side of a highway inside an abandoned Dodge Charger.

Detectives determined the three victims were lured to a home in Jonesboro, Georgia and forced inside at gunpoint, before later being placed in the back seat of the vehicle, Allen said.

According to local news station WSFA , the victims are Cheryl Colquitt-Thompson, 32; her uncle, Quinones King, 33; and Rodney Cottrell, 43. Medical examiners determined that King and Cottrell died from asphyxiation and Colquitt-Thompson died by strangulation.

Authorities have not announced a motive or detailed the circumstances surrounding the alleged torture and killings, but Cottrell’s family told WSFA in 2018 that they believed the victims were visiting family of Colquitt-Thompson and King at the time of their deaths.

The suspects were captured across Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina without incident, according to Allen’s announcement.

In a statement to local NBC affiliate WVTM made before the murder charges were announced,  Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin confirmed Harris was an employee within the school system.

“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.”