Murder suspect caught 7 years after Kennewick home invasion robbery
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kennewick police and FBI found Kavonte Conley in Pasco after three years
- Prosecutors charged Conley with first-degree murder; two others have pleaded guilty.
- Investigators matched shotgun DNA to Groce and tied weapon to Conley’s family.
The final suspect wanted for a 2018 Kennewick home invasion robbery turned murder was arrested Tuesday after three years on the run.
Kennewick police, with help from the FBI, found Kavonte E. Conley, 26, in a home in Pasco, Kennewick police said in a Facebook post. Pasco police and the Tri-City Regional SWAT team helped arrest Conley on an arrest warrant for first-degree murder.
Conley is believed to have been one of three who set out to rob Hunter Black, 18, inside a Yelm Street home in October 2018. He was in the house along with suspected shooter Lawrence I. Groce, 27, when Black confronted them.
A short struggle ended with Black being fatally shot.
It took another four years before prosecutors filed charges against Conley, Groce and a third man, Wardell E. Braxton, 25.
Groce and Braxton already have pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for their roles in the death. Braxton is serving nearly 14 years in prison and Groce is serving 20 years.
A nationwide arrest warrant was issued for Conley.
3 years on the run
Commander Isaac Merkl told the Tri-City Herald that detectives believed Conley was in another state for much of the past three years. It’s not clear when he came back to the Tri-Cities.
“This has been a very lengthy investigation,” he said. “The detectives over the case never stopped working on it.”
Conley appeared in Benton County Superior Court on Wednesday and pleaded innocent to first-degree murder. Bail remains set at $1 million.
His attorney, Daniel Stovern, held off arguing about the bail amount to another hearing.
Robbery plot
In October 2018, Black and his then-pregnant girlfriend were asleep in their Yelm Street home. The woman told police she woke up to yelling, and saw Hunter in the bedroom doorway shouting at two masked men.
The men, believed to be Groce and Conley, were making demands of Black who sold marijuana. Hunter moved toward a man holding a shotgun and quickly fell to the ground, according to previous testimony.
One of Black’s roommates confronted the men and in the struggle the gun was left behind. Police later linked the shotgun to Conley’s grandmother, who lived in Pasco. She told police Conley kept the gun under his bed.
Washington State Patrol Crime Lab scientists later linked DNA on the shotgun shell to Groce. Braxton was the lookout.