A Kansas man was arrested nearly seven years after police say he fatally shot a 15-year-old refugee from Myanmar during an attempted robbery of a laundromat where the teen worked. The police in Kansas City announced this on Thursday.
Luis Samano, 24, did charged with murder and attempted aggravated robbery in the death of high school student December Htoo.
A co-worker found Htoo dead on the morning of November 18, 2017, at the Maple Hill Laundromat in Kansas City. according to NBC affiliate KSHB.
Htoo lay face up next to a washing machine with multiple gunshot wounds, a police spokesman said told ABC News at the time. There were no signs of forced entry, no cash had been stolen and nothing had been broken at the scene.
Htoo’s case would remain cold until September 2021, when the police restored a gun used in the murder during a traffic stop for narcotics. Things turned cold again until May of this year, when detectives obtained new information through interviews and re-examination of surveillance footage.
Authorities were eventually led to Samano, who was 17 years old at the time of Htoo’s death. He has been in prison since 2019 on an unrelated arson conviction.
Htoo had arrived in the United States when he was only six years old. Say Htoonay, Htoo’s sister, told ABC News that he was a hard worker who joined his high school’s wrestling team and choir and aspired to become a doctor.
In a statement Thursday, Htoo’s family said he is deeply missed by all who knew him.
“We understand that it is quite difficult to get cold cases solved,” the statement said. “We had never experienced anything like this in our culture because our Karen community was fairly new to the US. We think it is wonderful and are grateful for the work that detectives have done.”