Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced Tuesday a Kansas City man has been charged in connection with the death of Harry Stone, who was shot and killed in 2012.
"With physical evidence, surveillance video, murder weapon, ballistic, witness statements, that's how this case was built, and now we have a murder charge," Baker said.
Craig L. Brown, 24, is charged with second-degree murder.
On May 13, 2012, Stone, 60, was on a morning jog in Raytown. At Blue Ridge Boulevard near 67th Street, someone in a passing vehicle shot Stone.
"On the morning of May 13, 2012, I kissed him goodbye as he left for his run, for what I did not know at that time was the very last time," Bobbie Stone, Stone's widow, said at the news conference. "I mean the very last time, because my husband’s body was considered a crime scene. Even in death I was unable to touch him, to say goodbye, to kiss him again; I had to do that at a distance.”
Stone was transported to an area hospital, where he gave doctors a description of the men who shot him. He later died in surgery.
According to court records, on Feb. 1, 2015, Brown was in an auto accident in Kansas City, Mo. Police secured a pistol found in the vehicle’s glove box.
Court records say in June 2015, detectives with the Kansas City Police Department crime lab test fired the gun and, according to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, it matched the gun used to kill Stone.
According to court records, detectives found the purchaser of the handgun, who lived in Kansas City at the time of Stone’s fatal shooting. She told police she purchased the gun when she was living with her boyfriend, who is now in federal prison, in Kansas City.
Court records say in July 2015, police also interviewed the woman’s boyfriend in federal prison. During the interview, the man indicated he knew who killed the “jogger” from Raytown. In November 2015, he identified Brown, also known as “CJ,” as the person who shot Stone.
Court records say the man told detectives he sold Brown the gun purchased by his girlfriend. The man also told detectives Brown approached him again to see if he would buy the gun back because it was “hot.” The man told detectives he asked “CJ” who he shot, and “CJ” said someone in Raytown.
Prosecutors requested a bond of $250,000 secured.
"We believe Craig Brown is the shooter," Baker said. "We believe there's another individual involved, and we want to know who that is."
Baker said the case remains under investigation.
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