Killings suspect was on parole
He was released before serving one-tenth of burglary term
One of the suspects arrested Wednesday in the slaying of a Spring couple had been sentenced to 30 years in prison for a string of more than 20 burglaries in the same part of Houston, but was freed by the state parole commission after serving less than three years behind bars.
Court records show that the crimes netted 23-year-old Khari Kendrick and his crew tens of thousands of dollars in stolen goods — including a gold Rolex watch and expensive jewelry.
Public records show that he was released in November after serving two years and 11 months, said Andy Kahan, victim advocate with the city of Houston.
“I was just dumbfounded when I saw that he did less than 10 percent of his time,” Kahan said. “He was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, and it makes you wonder how many more of them are out there.”
Kendrick, a 6-foot,
6-inch standout basketball player who graduated from Cypress Creek High School in 2012, was arrested after the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office released surveillance video of suspects sought in the grisly execution of the wealthy couple last week.
The video appeared to show a towering man wearing a high school letterman’s jacket with “CC” emblazoned on it.
Now, Kendrick has emerged as a central figure in the slayings. Police say he has admitted to involvement in the killings.
Kendrick and two other men, 21-year-old Aakiel Kendrick and 20-year-old Erick Peralta, are being held in the Harris County jail without bail on charges of capital murder, accused of robbing and killing Bao and Jenny Lam, both 61-year-old immigrants from Asia.
The couple enrolled in college after coming to Houston and invested in food franchises including Marble Slab and Subway restaurants, according to their adult son Richard Lam.
Details of Khari Kendrick’s earlier crimes, outlined in a probable cause affidavit from a deputy constable, mirror the way the Lams were robbed.
Investigators said three men were caught on surveillance cameras crawling under the gate that surrounds the Northgate Forest community. Police believe the Lams arrived at their $800,000 home after dinner on Jan. 11.
After they pulled into the garage, the suspects, who were already inside, confronted them and forced them into the house. Richard Lam found the wealthy couple two days later, tied and shot to death execution-style in the master bedroom.
Officials said the three men repeatedly returned to the home after the murders, and brazenly hauled off possessions, including guns and jewelry, before the bodies were found.
In 2013, Khari Kendrick was involved in a similar home invasion, but the owners of the house in the 13800 block of Naples Park did not interrupt the burglary.
In that case, a north Houston woman came home in the afternoon to find her back door kicked in and a safe full of jewelry missing, along with televisions, purses, clothing and a gun.
A neighbor’s surveillance video showed a white Nissan Maxima backing up to the front door of the home and being loaded up. The woman’s teenaged children recognized the car and police tracked it to one of their acquaintances, Israel “Izy” Quintero.
Quintero, who later pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to six years in prison, told police he loaned the car to a friend named Kappy Joe. He later admitted to helping sell $14,270 worth jewelry from that burglary for $2,700 to a gold and silver buyer at a Valero gas station near Beltway 8. He returned to police many of the stolen goods, including a $15,000 Rolex watch.
Joe, who later admitted guilt in exchange for five years probation, told investigators he and his friends NuNu, Kevo and Khari broke into the house.
NuNu was identified as Christopher Cornett, who confessed he and Khari Kendrick also burglarized a home in the Tallowood subdivision around the same time.
Cornett then took police on a tour showing them at least 18 homes the crew had burglarized around Willowbrook Mall. In one instance he told police about, he walked into an open garage at a home in the 8900 block of Ashridge Park and took a set of golf clubs and an iPod.
Both men identified Kevin Hayes as Kevo, who also admitted he was in the crew. Hayes told police the young men broke into several houses, including one in the 11800 block of Cypress Place, where they stole jewelry, TVs and a gun. The homeowner reported the value of the possessions, including a coin collection, at $86,842.
Hayes was later sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement.
All of the men, and the gold and silver buyer, identified Khari Kendrick.
He admitted to the thefts in exchange for five years’ probation, but when he was later caught with a gun and implicated in another burglary, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for engaging in criminal activity and 20 years for the latest burglary, both sentences that ran concurrently.
His attorney from those cases, who is no longer eligible to practice law, could not be reached.
At a hearing before a magistrate judge Thursday, prosecutors said Khari Kendrick admitted to involvement in the killings and implicated Aakiel Kendrick and Peralta, who do not have criminal records in Harris County.
If convicted, all of the men could face life in prison without parole. Prosecutors could also seek the death penalty. Decisions about whether to seek death are generally made months after an arrest.