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THE KANSAS CITY STAR.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012
WWW.KANSASCITY.COM
Show of support LaKeshia Jackson (holding sign at center), with the Communication Workers Association and the Jackson County Children’s Division, was part of a group Monday outside Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s office at 101 W. 31st St. to thank him for opposing cuts in benefits to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. DAVID EULITT | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
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COLD CASE SQUAD | DNA is a link to unsolved crimes two decades ago in Kansas City
MAN CHARGED IN TWO RAPES Suspect, who was convicted of raping a woman in New York, had registered in Platte County as a sex offender. By CHRISTINE VENDEL The Kansas City Star
Jackson County prosecutors charged a convicted sex offender Monday with two counts of forcible rape after Kansas City police linked his DNA to the unsolved rapes of two teens in 1992. Investigators from the Police Department’s cold case squad arrested Keith L. Harris, 48, on Sunday at his Platte County home. Harris, who works as an over-the-road truck driver, previously was convicted of raping a 27-year-old woman in New York in 1995. The two 1992 victims told police they were at a tavern in Kansas City, Kan., when a man who identified himself as
Hungry children get help, give help
“Keith” approached, said he was from Louisiana and offered to take them to another tavern in his semi. They agreed, but the man instead drove them to a vacant dirt lot near Nicholson and North Monroe avenues in Kansas City. The man pulled a knife, forced the teens into the sleeper area and ordered them to disrobe. He pressed his knife against one victim’s throat and threatened to kill her. He told the victims, ages 18 and 19, that he had a gun before raping them. One victim escaped the truck and ran to a nearby home to call police. The rapist let the other victim go before driving away. When the first victim returned to the scene, the rapist was gone and the second victim was in a police car. Police collected evidence from the second victim and developed a DNA
profile of an unknown offender. In 2010, Harris’ DNA profile was added to a national database after he moved to Missouri and registered in Platte County as a sex offender. EviHarris dence from the 1992 double rape had yet to be entered into the system. Earlier this year, cold case investigators reviewing unsolved cases added the unknown offender’s profile to the database. It matched Harris’ DNA, according to court records. One of the victims was excited to hear of the break in the 20-year-old case, but the other victim reacted with more hesitation because she hadn’t told many people about the attack, said De-
tective Keith Steinbach, who investigated the case. Harris’ New York case bore similarities to Kansas City’s case, Steinbach said. The New York victim told police she met Harris in a bar and he offered her a ride home in his semi. Instead, he raped her inside the cab. He served eight or nine years in prison before returning to Louisiana, where he had grown up, Steinbach said. He married a woman he had impregnated before going to prison, and the family moved to Missouri. His daughter is 18. He pleaded guilty to marijuana possession in October, according to online court records. He remained in jail Monday on a $350,000 bond. To reach Christine Vendel, call 816-234-4438 or send email to cvendel@kcstar.com.
SO, HAVE YOU BEEN A GOOD DOG THIS YEAR?
By LAURA BAUER The Kansas City Star
The way Shane sees it, some kids don’t always have enough food. Maybe they’ve eaten everything in the house and their mom and dad aren’t home yet, the 11-year-old Kansas Citian says. It could be that no one has gone to the store in a while. Maybe some parents can’t afford all the food their family needs. “The prices keep going up,” he says. “Things are really expensive at the stores.” Shane is sitting in a basement room at his Kansas City public school with Stephanie, another fifth-grader. Both take home packs of food each Friday to help them get through the weekend. On this day, they have come in to talk about what the food, provided by a Leawood church, means to them each week. “It helps my parents so they don’t have to go shopping every day,” says Stephanie, also 11. “Sometimes my brother asks me for some of my food.” Adds Shane: “They put something in there for every holiday. Sometimes they put cookies in there. Chocolate chip.” Ninety-seven percent of the kids at their school qualify for free or reduced-price school meals. Staffers say many of their families are homeless. Others have two working parents in the home, but they still don’t make enough to pay all the bills and provide plenty of SEE HUNGER | A7
FEEDING HUNGRY CHILDREN Every weekend, Harvesters provides backpacks full of food to 17,000 schoolchildren in the 26-county area who otherwise wouldn’t have enough to eat.
DAVID EULITT | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Roscoe the Pembroke Welsh corgi had his first photo taken with Santa Claus at Zona Rosa on Monday evening as part of “Santa Paws for NAWS” (Northland Animal Welfare Society). The 3-year-old dog was adopted six months ago by Ellen and Sean O’Brien of Kansas City.
Cemetery dog is captured, but deer pal is perplexed By MATT CAMPBELL The Kansas City Star
The abandoned dog that was befriended by Ella the deer in Kansas City’s Elmwood Cemetery has been taken in by Wayside Waifs, where it will receive veterinary care and attention before being put up for adoption. The dog and the doe, which lives at the historic cemetery, had been constant companions in recent weeks. Cemetery officials and volunteers said it appeared the two misfits had developed a bond. But while the deer can survive the winter, there was concern that the dog would not. After their story appeared in The Star, several people offered to help. Many suggested that the cemetery set up a doghouse. But cemetery officials were reluctant to give the dog shelter and food for fear that would attract other strays that
HOW YOU CAN HELP The Star is partnering with Harvesters to host a virtual food drive. All money raised will go to Harvesters’ BackSnack program for kids. Go to feedingkckids. harvesters.org. If you’d like, you can designate your donation in the honor or memory of a family member or friend. The Star will publish the dedications on Christmas Day. Dedications need to be in by 5 p.m. Dec. 23 to appear in the Christmas paper.
PUPPET PREPARATIONS Members of the Paul Mesner Puppets troupe got ready Monday for performances of “The Nativity” at Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City. Erika Baker helped Paul Mesner pull Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, out of a storage bag. Five performances are scheduled on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. SHANE KEYSER | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
COURTESY OF BRUCE MATHEWS
Ella and pal at Elmwood Cemetery
might not be as friendly toward the deer. Two people from Wayside Waifs came to the cemetery Friday. They baited a humane trap with dog treats, and on Saturday a cemetery volunteer reported that the dog had been captured. Ella was by the trap when the team from the shelter came to retrieve the dog. “Ella was standing right by the van when the dog departed, looking kind of forlorn,” said John Weilert, president of
the Elmwood Cemetery Society. Weilert said a team at Wayside Waifs would work with the dog to socialize it in preparation for adoption. Before saying farewell to the dog, Weilert named it EpiTaph, or ET for short. Ella was born at Elmwood Cemetery and has become a mascot for the cemetery at Truman Road and Van Brunt Boulevard, showing up at weddings and funerals and tagging along on tours. On Friday, before the dog was taken away, Elmwood trustee Bruce Mathews photographed the unlikely pair. “It breaks my heart that they have to be separated, but they must,” Mathews said in an email to friends of Elmwood. “Am I sorry they found each other? Absolutely not! I believe they became friends to teach us a lesson, however we each might interpret it.” To reach Matt Campbell, call 816-234-4902 or send email to mcampbell@kcstar.com.
Kansas plans to merge agencies Juvenile justice would be folded into adult corrections system under Brownback’s plan. By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA | Gov. Sam Brownback announced Monday that he intends to merge Kansas’ juvenile justice agency with the adult Department of Corrections system, arguing that two critical legislative audits show the need to abandon “a failed social services approach” to handling young offenders. Brownback contends that the juvenile programs would be better managed and that money now going toward administration of the Juvenile Justice Authority could be diverted into programs for offenders. The Republican governor plans to issue an executive order early next year to the GOPcontrolled Kansas Legislature, a move immediately endorsed by incoming Senate majority leader Terry Bruce, a former county prosecutor. Under the state constitution, Brownback will have 30 days to issue the order once legislators convene in mid-January. Lawmakers will then have 60 days to reject it or the order will take effect on July 1. Brownback removed the Juvenile Justice Authority’s top two officials earlier this year. Since then, the legislative audits questioned the authority’s handling of safety issues and suggested that education programs fail to prepare young offenders for careers. The state separated juvenile justice programs in 1997 from the agency that became the Department for Children and Families, partly to give the programs more attention and partly to hold young offenders more accountable. Brownback said the agency’s recent problems — and the ones predating the authority’s creation — demonstrate that corrections professionals should run juvenile programs and centers. “A long-term solution is to increase the emphasis on safety at our youth facilities,” Brownback said during a statehouse news conference. “This has been an area of problem for some period of time.” Brownback said the Juvenile Justice Authority will become a division of the Department of Corrections, with a deputy secretary. He said he intends to appoint acting juvenile justice commissioner Terri Williams, a former deputy corrections secretary, to the position and praised her for doing “a very good job in a difficult set of circumstances.” The Department of Corrections houses about 9,400 adult offenders. The Juvenile Justice Authority oversees programs for 1,500 young offenders. Bruce, a conservative Hutchinson Republican, called Brownback’s plan prudent, particularly for offenders housed in the Topeka and Larned centers. “By the time an offender is required to serve in that situation, you need to acknowledge that it needs to be in a structured corrections environment,” Bruce said. Last year, Brownback proposed folding the juvenile justice programs into the Department of Children and Families. However, key Republican legislators argued that the plan was hastily conceived and ignored history, and the governor backed off.
FOR PHOTO ALBUMS OF EVENTS ACROSS KANSAS CITY, SEE COMMUNITY FACES AT WWW.KANSASCITY.COM