Arrest made in death of 4
Sunday, July 12, 2009
By DONALD BRADLEY and MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
For four months, people wondered who would break into a home and kill four persons, including two young brothers, ages 10 and 7.
Authorities said Friday it was Gevante E. Anderson, whom relatives have identified as a former boyfriend of the boys’ aunt.
The quadruple homicide case against Anderson warrants strong consideration for the death penalty, Jackson County Prosecutor Jim Kanatzar said at a news conference.
Authorities arrested Anderson, 24, early Friday at his home. Prosecutors said he murdered the two Clemons brothers, Gerard, 7, and Amir, 10, at the Raytown apartment of their aunt, Precious Triplett, 21, who also was killed that day in March.
The fourth victim was Triplett’s new boyfriend, Andre Jones Sr., 33.
In an indictment returned Friday, Anderson was charged with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of burglary and five counts of armed criminal action.
No bond was set.
The indictment revealed that three of the victims were shot to death but that Gerard Clemons died by stabbing. Gerard and Amir, who played on the same basketball team, arrived at their aunt’s house on March 15 to spend the night. They were on spring break from school.
Their father, Gerard Clemons, a standout on the ESU football team during the 1990s, found the bodies the next day in Triplett’s apartment near 61st Street and Raytown Road. Later that week, investigators searched Anderson’s Kansas City home.
Triplett’s 1-year-old son was found inside the apartment, unharmed. A witness said at the time that the toddler had blood on him and apparently had been walking around the corpses for hours.
No family members attended the news conference at the Jackson County Courthouse.
Kanatzar said the parents of Amir and Gerard were relieved by the arrest “as the entire community should be.”
Don Kelly, a friend of the Clemons family, said that he took assurance from the charges because police told him they wouldn’t seek an indictment unless the case was “ironclad” and “solid.”
“It’s a bittersweet type of situation,” Kelly said. “While we’re very happy to see some progress and movement in the case, now the family has to go through the gruesome details again. But we’re excited that charges have been brought against this person.”
Kanatzar said that Anderson, if convicted on all counts, automatically would be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
No decision has been made on whether to seek the death penalty, but Kanatzar said he would call a meeting of his death penalty review committee. Members of the committee include several senior homicide prosecutors in his office.
Information about the murders has been tightly held by investigators in the months since the bodies were discovered. Kanatzar said the investigation had been thorough and hinted that some of the delay in bringing charges may have came from the need to get more extensive scientific tests performed.
“I want to thank the Raytown police and the metro squad for all their hard work on this case, and I know they utilized every investigative technique at their disposal, including forensic science,” Kanatzar said.
He declined to discuss motive in the case, other than to note: “We believe the defendant may have had a past relationship with Precious Triplett.”
Troy Simon, who coached Amir and Gerard in youth basketball, said he was ecstatic to have new information to tell his own son, who was close to the boys.
“My son hasn’t been able to sleep,” Simon said. “You just hope that the police get the right man. It’s good to know there’s going to be some closure to this.”