BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) - A county attorney says she is seeking first-degree murder warrants for two Missouri men in connection with the March slaying of a Burlington teenager, though no formal arrests have been made.
Des Moines County Attorney Amy Beavers told The Hawk Eye (https://bit.ly/2iRnKs6 ) that she asked a district judge Friday to issue the warrants in the case of 16-year-old Kedarie Pierre Johnson. Beavers said she’s prohibited from releasing the names of the men until the warrants are executed.
“All I can say at this time is that a Des Moines County district judge is reviewing my request for murder warrants for the two men,” she said.
Beavers said the men are currently in custody on unrelated charges in Missouri. She said the process of acquiring the warrants took several months in part because of laboratory testing in connection with the killing.
Police say Kedarie, a high school junior, was found in an alley with several gunshot wounds. Burlington detectives and state investigators have conducted dozens of interviews and executed several search warrants in connection with the case, which garnered statewide attention.
Days after the killing, Sen. Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, referenced the case on the Senate floor amid a discussion over a hate crimes bill. The boy’s stepfather told the newspaper that Kedarie was gay.
Lt. Jeff Klein, commander of Burlington’s Department of Criminal Investigation, later said the lawmaker had no firsthand knowledge about the investigation. Klein has repeatedly said the killing did not meet the legal definition of a hate crime in Iowa.
According to the newspaper, Klein said weeks ago that police had identified a possible motive in the killing but he declined to elaborate until charges are filed. Beavers has also declined to discuss a motive in the killing.
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Information from: The Hawk Eye, https://www.thehawkeye.com
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