Detectives dedicated to investigating Kansas City, Kansas, cold cases have solved the killing of a 15-year-old high schooler who was shot to death in his workplace in 2017, police said Thursday.
Police say a suspect has been charged by the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office in the killing of December Htoo. The suspect has been held in the Larned State Mental Health Facility following conviction in a separate case, according to a police spokesperson.
Police identified the suspect as Luis Samano, 24, who was 17 years old at the time. He has been held at the state facility since 2019 on two felony arson convictions in Johnson County, online records with the Kansas Department of Corrections show.
Samano is charged with murder and attempted aggravated robbery, according to police. A spokesman for the district attorney’s office said the office doesn’t comment on juvenile cases.
In November 2017, Htoo was shot to death inside the coin laundry where he worked in the 2400 block of South 34th Street in the Argentine neighborhood. His body was discovered the following morning.
Htoo and his family escaped to the U.S. through a refugee camp during his early childhood, The Star previously reported.
Family and friends at the time remembered Htoo as an intelligent student who was fluent in English, his second language. He had aspirations of someday becoming a mixed martial arts fighter.
Htoo was a member of the J.C. Harmon High School wrestling team, where his daring style earned him a reputation in his freshman year. The team had just finished its first week of practice when Htoo died.
There were no eyewitnesses to the teen’s killing. Evidence available at the onset of the investigation included shell casings and “grainy” surveillance footage, according to police.
In 2021, police recovered a gun during a drug-related arrest in Lenexa. A Kansas City, Kansas detective assigned to Htoo’s case interviewed the gun owner, who said Samano had stolen it, according to police.
In 2022, a forensic lab test by the KBI confirmed the gun was the murder weapon, according to police. But police lacked any evidence at the time that placed Samano at the crime scene.
In May, Kansas City, Kansas police Det. Lily Szewc was assigned to handle the case. She interviewed Samano that month, according to police, and criminal charges were filed against Samano last week.
On Thursday, Kansas City, Kansas police released a statement on behalf of the teenager’s family, saying they had requested privacy as they process the news.
“December is loved and is deeply missed by his family, friends and community. He always smiled, had a positive energy, and always participated in his community including his church youth camp and bible study,” the family said in the statement. “We want to thank the community and the police department for looking at the case again.”
Kansas City, Kansas police formed a dedicated cold case unit in 2022 under the direction of Police Chief Karl Oakman, hired to lead the department the year prior. Community activists had long called for a dedicated squad, specifically urging investigations into the unsolved killings primarily of Black women.
In September, the newly formed unit announced alongside Wyandotte County’s top prosecutor that four murder cases had been cleared.
Among them were the killings of Christina King, on Christmas Day 1998, and Pearl Barnes, who also went by Sameemah Musawwir, who was found dead in a vacant house in 1996. Prosecutors charged Gary Dion Davis, 52, with two counts of second-degree murder in those homicides after the cold case unit’s investigation.
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