For Immediate Release
April 21, 2020
Four Kansas City men have been indicted by a Jackson County grand jury in connection with the July 1, 2017 murders of three Tulsa men visiting Kansas City, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.
Rashidi Crosdale, dob: 3/17/984, Tyree West, dob: 12/1/1978, each face three counts of Murder 1st Degree and three counts of Armed Criminal Action, while Terrence Harden, dob: 7/17/1998, and Ravon Freeman, dob: , each face two counts of Murder 1st Degree and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.*
Attached is the grand jury indictment and a probable cause statement for Crosdale; the same probable cause statement was presented for all co-defendants.
According to a probable cause statement presented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who led the investigation, Darren Harris, John Waldon and Andre Barnes traveled from Tulsa, Okla., to Kansas City on July 1, 2017. Harris told a witness that the three were traveling here for a drug deal. Kansas City police officers responding about 9:30 p.m. on July 1 to the 1600 block of East 80th Street found a silver BMW on the street. The drivers-side window was shattered and Harris was found dead in the driver’s seat. He had been shot. All vehicle doors were locked but the passenger side door. Harris had been shot with .45 caliber shells. A little more than a half hour later, the bodies of Barnes and Waldon were found in the street, dead from gunshots, near 28th and Myrtle in Kansas City. About three dozen .40 caliber and .45 caliber shell casings were found at the second crime scene.
Witnesses told Kansas City police detectives, according to the probable cause statement, that Harris was with a man they knew as Dirty, who police determined was Tyree West. Harris told one witness he dropped the other two Tulsa men at another location in Kansas City. West’s fingerprints were found inside the BMW that Harris was later found in. Investigators also determined that West’s phone was in the area of Harris’ homicide about the time of the fatal shooting. Investigators also determined Crosdale’s phone was in the area of the second crime scene about the same time as the crimes occurred.and
In addition, according to the probable cause statement, text messages were sent by a phone number associated with Harden to Crosdale just hours before the July 1 shootings at 28th and Myrtle. The messages pointed to the spot at 28th and Myrtle and said: "...it’s all hidden, it’s all bushes..." Another witness told law enforcement that Crosdale stated he had killed two men in 2017 and that defendant Freeman was with him. Harden, in an interview with investigators, admitted to being at 28th and Myrtle during the fatal shootings of Barnes and Waldon. But he said he didn’t take part in the killings. A witness also told investigators that Freeman stated he and Crosdale had shot two men from out of town. After that, Freeman had six bottles of PCP after the homicides, the witness stated.
Freeman and Harden were taken into custody today; Crosdale and West are currently in federal prison, awaiting trial. FBI agents and Kansas City police detectives worked closely together on this investigation.
Prosecutors requested each defendant be held on a $500,000 cash bond.
For more information, contact:
Michael Mansur
Director of Communication
Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor
Work : (816) 881-3812
Mobile: (816) 674-3954
mmansur@jacksongov.org
http://jacksoncountyprosecutor.com
*Charges are only accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until the defendant is either found guilty or has pleaded.