Authorities are currently looking for a suspect involved in the fatal stabbing of a Missouri Air National Guard member over the weekend.
Cody Harter, 23, was fatally stabbed in the chest Saturday around 7:30 p.m. near the junction of Missouri 291 and Interstate 470. He had served deployment tours in Iraq and Qatar, and also helped in hurricane relief efforts in Houston and Puerto Rico.
Witnesses told police that Harter and a driver of a second vehicle were in an argument before Harter was stabbed in the chest near his truck. The suspect fled the scene in their own vehicle.
Police are investigating the incident, and Harter’s family is asking for help to find his killer.
The man who was stabbed on I-470 in Lee's Summit last night was Cody M. Harter, 23, of St. Joseph, Mo. Harter was a member of the Air Force Reserve. pic.twitter.com/xFtw9eVLzu
— Nathan Vickers (@nathanvickers) May 6, 2018
“If you saw anything, even if you think it as nothing – please call,” Harter’s mother, Kerrie, said, ABC News reported. “Let’s find who did this senseless act so you’re not sitting here when it’s your child. Please call and send us a message … Please.”
Harter’s mother wondered if the argument was over her son’s driving speed.
“He had been to war and back, and to die because someone was angry,” she said. “My son drove 65 [miles per hour] because he was so frugal with his gas mileage.”
“I can only imagine someone was upset because he wasn’t going fast enough,” she added. “But that’s not a reason to take his life and leave him there.”
After Harter collapsed into traffic, Good Samaritans stopped to help him.
“I want to thank all the people that stopped and held his hand and prayed with him,” Harter’s mother said. “Whoever did this may have thought he died alone. He did not die alone.”
Harter was in his final semester at Missouri Western State University and was about to graduate with a degree in engineering technology.
Harter was an avid dirt bike racer and owned a small lawn care business.
“Hundreds of cars would have passed by and saw this or maybe this disturbance take place on 291 Highway or possibly saw the actual incident along 470,” Lee’s Summit Police Sgt. Chris Depue said. “What we’re asking people to do is come forward and help this wonderful family get closure and help us bring them justice in this case.”
