Assistant school principal charged in cold case murders

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

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

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

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

This was reported by the local news channel 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 of asphyxiation and Colquitt-Thompson died of strangulation.

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

According to Allen’s announcement, the suspects were captured without incident in Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina.

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

“At this point, we are still gathering facts about the specifics of this situation,” Gonsoulin said. “However, initial indications are that the charges are not related to this individual’s employment with Jefferson County Schools.”