Justice for Kourtney: A Family’s Fight After the Shocking Murder of a Young Girl

The evening was supposed to be ordinary, the kind that slips quietly into memory without leaving a mark.
Family members gathered inside a Kansas City home, talking, laughing, sharing the comfort of being together.

No one imagined that within moments, that sense of safety would be shattered forever.

Kourtney Freeman was only eleven years old.

She was still a child in every sense of the word, small enough to curl up near the people she loved, young enough to believe home was the safest place in the world.

That belief would be taken from her in the most brutal way imaginable.

She sat inside the house with her family, unaware of what was unfolding just outside.
Phones buzzed, messages were exchanged, and plans were made that should never have crossed paths with a child’s life.

The danger crept closer without warning.

According to investigators, an interaction on Snapchat set everything into motion.
An 18-year-old Missouri man, Re’Mori Roath, then 16, used the app to arrange what was supposed to be a marijuana purchase.

The meeting point was the very home where Kourtney was spending the evening.

Inside, a young woman had been messaging with someone she believed was coming to the house.
She told police that the person on Snapchat said they had arrived and were waiting outside in a white vehicle.

Family members stepped onto the porch, then back inside, unaware of how close violence had come.

Seconds later, gunfire erupted.
A burst of shots tore through the front glass storm door, shattering it instantly.

The sound was deafening, sudden, and impossible to process in real time.

Kourtney was hit where she sat.
Bullets struck her multiple times, tearing through her head, chest, back, and body.

She was killed in front of her family, her life ending before anyone could shield her or even understand what was happening.

Witnesses would later describe the shooting as terrifyingly methodical.

A rapid volley of gunfire filled the air, followed by a brief pause that felt endless.
Then came a final round, sealing a moment that would haunt everyone present forever.

When the gunfire stopped, silence rushed in.
Glass littered the entryway, blood pooled inside the home, and the porch and sidewalk were stained with the aftermath.
A child’s blood marked the place where safety had once lived.

Police arrived to a scene that told its story without words.
At least twelve spent 9 mm shell casings were scattered across the porch and yard.
The storm door lay shattered, its fragments reflecting flashing lights and stunned faces.

Detectives worked through the chaos, piecing together what had happened.
Surveillance footage, witness accounts, cellphone records, and DNA evidence began to form a clear picture.
Every detail pointed back to the same person.

A Glock 9 mm handgun was later recovered from Re’Mori Roath’s bedroom.
The shell casings matched those found at the scene.
The evidence was overwhelming and unrelenting.

Roath was arrested in May 2024.

Despite being only sixteen at the time of the shooting, he was charged as an adult.
The law recognized the weight of the crime, even as it struggled to make sense of such senseless violence.

Months turned into years as the case moved through the courts.
The family endured hearings, delays, and the slow grind of a justice system that can never truly restore what was lost.

Grief settled into their lives, heavy and permanent.

In November 2025, Roath pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
This week, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison in Jackson County Circuit Court.

The courtroom was filled with the echoes of a life that should still have been growing.

For Kourtney’s mother, Samantha Freeman, no sentence could ever feel like justice.
She has said her daughter “was a baby,” a child who never had the chance to grow up.

Kourtney was not just her daughter, but her best friend.

Samantha described Kourtney as a child who hated violence.
She was gentle, loving, and far removed from the world that took her life.

That contrast makes the loss even harder to bear.

Kourtney’s sister, Kaliah Washington, stood before the court carrying both strength and sorrow.
She said the sentence brings a little closure, but nothing could ever equal the life their family lost.

Still, she tries to move forward, knowing the case is no longer unsolved.

That knowledge offers only a fragile kind of comfort.
It does not bring back laughter, birthdays, or the small moments that define childhood.

It only closes one door while leaving countless others forever open with grief.

Kourtney’s life ended before she reached middle school milestones, before dreams could fully form.
She will never know who she might have become, what she might have loved, or where life might have taken her.

Her future was stolen in seconds.

Her family now lives with memories instead of possibilities.
Every holiday, every quiet evening, carries the weight of her absence.
Time moves forward, but grief does not obey the same rules.

This case has become a painful reminder of how digital choices can spill into real-world consequences.
An app meant for connection became the doorway to irreversible loss.
A decision made casually resulted in a child’s death.

Yet Kourtney must be remembered for more than the way she died.
She was a child who belonged, who was loved, who mattered deeply.
Her life held value far beyond the headlines.

In the end, the courtroom fell silent as the sentence was read.
No cheers, no relief, only the heavy understanding that justice is imperfect.
Twenty years cannot measure the weight of one stolen childhood.

Kourtney Freeman should still be here.
She should be growing, laughing, learning, and dreaming.
Instead, her story stands as a testament to loss, love, and a family forever changed.

Protecting the Innocent: The Tragic Death of Bre’Asia Simone Johnson 3226c

There are stories that make headlines for a day.
Then there are stories that carve themselves into the memory of a community — stories of courage, sacrifice, and a final act of love so instinctive and powerful that it forces people to stop and ask:

Who protects the protectors?

This is the story of Bre’Asia Simone Johnson, a 29-year-old pregnant mother of three, a woman who died shielding children who were not even old enough to understand the danger closing in around them. A woman who, in her final seconds, acted with a bravery so fierce that even the investigators on scene struggled to speak without emotion.