Charges filed in cold case murder of 15-year-old Harmon High School student

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV) - When December Htoo was shot and killed in KCK, it sent shockwaves through multiple communities. He was only 15, kind and hardworking, killed while clo a laundromat where he worked.

On Thursday, Kansas City Kansas police announced that they had solved the case and obtained charges nearly seven years later.

Capt. Katie Yarsulik, who manages the agency’s cold case unit, said it wasn’t just detectives and the victim’s family hoping for this day but uniformed officers and crime scene investigators as well.

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“There’s some cases you just carry and calls you never forget. And this was one of those calls,” Yarsulik said. “Officers in the department the name December Htoo and they feel gratitude to the detectives and joy that we are getting to bring some justice to the family.”

Luis Samano, age 24, has been charged with felony murder and attempted aggravated robbery. Felony murder applies when a death results in the commission of a related felony. It carries the same penalty as premeditated murder. Kansas City Kansas police said Samano was already in prison, incarcerated since 2019, for an unrelated aggravated arson conviction when he was charged with the 2017 murder.

A LOVING, SMART, ENGAGED TEEN TAKEN TOO SOON

Htoo was a refugee from Myanmar. He came to the United States as a young boy. He was a student at JC Harmon High School active and wrestling and choir. He was involved with his church and the Karen community of immigrants from southeastern Myanmar.

He was working at Maple Hill Laundromat at 34th Street and Gibbs Road in the Argentine neighborhood on November 18, 2017, when he was shot and killed inside the business as he was closing. The charges now reveal that it happened during an attempted robbery.

Htoo’s mother didn’t live to see the day. She died two years ago. His family issued a statement that read in part, “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. We want to thank the community and the police department for looking at the case again.”

The initial case detectives who began investigating his killing have since retired. The case was assigned to another homicide detective. It was eventually transferred to the cold case unit. Police didn’t let up and continued legwork until they were able to connect the dots all these years later.

A LENGTHY INVESTIGATION TIMELINE

November 2017

When police answered the homicide call, all they had was shell casings and exterior surveillance. There was no interior surveillance showing what happened. There were no witnesses. Detectives watched the surveillance video of cars coming and going during the hours-long window of time when the homicide could have occurred. There were many. They saw no suspicious driving behavior that would have set one apart from another. They entered the shell casings into a federal database. The case went cold.

September 2021

A break came in 2021 when Lenexa police recovered a gun from a narcotics stop. They submitted it to the federal database.

December 2021

Results from the database linked the gun to the shell casings found at the murder scene.

Veteran homicide Detective James Gunzenha had taken over the case at this point. He noted that the ballistics match was essential but not nearly enough on its own. DNA was inconclusive.

“At the time this gun was recovered, we’re four years after the homicide,” he explained, “so just the amount of people that possibly transition that firearm is just astronomical. And all that test told us is that is the firearm that was used. It doesn’t tell us who used it.”

Gunzenha discovered the gun had been stolen from Kansas City, Missouri. He interviewed the owner of the gun. That person had a hunch who did it. A “kid” named Luis Samano who at this point had been incarcerated at Larned Correctional Facility since 2019. But they didn’t have evidence that placed him at the scene or proved he was in possession of the gun at the time of the shooting.

January 2022

The Kansas City Kansas Police Department established a dedicated cold case unit with three full-time detectives and a captain. As they explained it, homicide detectives are skilled but also tasked with new homicides to investigate while evidence is fresh. A cold case unit can dedicate more time to cases after initial leads run dry.

May-June 2024

Cold Case Detective Lily Szewc was assigned to the case. She scoured the surveillance video once again. , they didn’t have an exact time for when Htoo was shot.

“It was probably in the hours of that video 30 to 50 cars that drove through that a lot,” Szewc said. “In watching that, it’s hard when you don’t know what specifically to look for. You don’t know what car might be involved, and I can’t say that initially watching the video that anything suspicious stood out to me.”

She did additional interviews, yielding more on the suspect named three years earlier and placing him at the crime scene.

“Once I was able to develop a vehicle for my suspect, I was able to recall that I had seen that particular type of vehicle on this surveillance,” Szewc described.

July 2024

Luis Samano, already in prison for an unrelated crime, was charged with felony murder and attempted aggravated robbery.

NOT JUSTICE BUT ANSWERS

The team of detectives and of the department’s victim’s services program sat down with Htoo’s family together on Thursday morning to tell them about the charges.

Victim’s services supervisor Wendy Medina said the family has a deep Christian faith, and that gives them solace even though Htoo’s mother could not be there physically to get the news.

“Nothing is ever going to make it feel better or go away but they had a sense of peace and gratitude that they expressed,” Medina said.

The family’s full statement is below:

”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. We want to thank the community and the police department for looking at the case again. We understand it is pretty hard to get cold cases solved. In our culture, we had never experienced something like this because our Karen community was fairly new to the US. We think it is wonderful and are grateful for the work that detectives did.”

RESULTS OF COLD CASE UNIT

The Kansas City Kansas Police Department reports that when the cold case unit was established in January 2021, they had 289 cases. To date, they have reviewed 63 cases. Currently, 25 remain active. Four so far have resulted in charges filed.

Stay with KCTV5 for more on this developing story as we break down all the pieces that came out one at a time and years apart.

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