Inset: Kourtney Freeman. Background: The Missouri home where 11-year-old Kourtney Freeman was shot and killed during a Snapchat meetup gone wrong (WDAF/YouTube).
A Missouri teen has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for shooting an 11-year-old who was sitting inside her home — blasting her in the head, chest, back and buttocks in front of her family members — after using Snapchat to arrange a meeting at the residence to buy marijuana, according to court records.
“Several individuals were held under siege in a home while it was being riddled with bullets,” wrote Jackson County prosecutors in their sentencing memorandum for Re”Mori Roath, 18, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the April 2024 shooting death of Kourtney Freeman and was sentenced Monday.
“Those same people were forced to bear witness to an 11-year-old child getting shot and killed in their presence inside their home,” the prosecutors said. “Every time the victim’s family returns home, passes the vestibule where she died, or sees a picture where she enjoyed better times, they will be traumatized and retraumatized over and again. They will never see her smiles or her tears.”
A probable cause affidavit outlines how Roath, who was charged as an adult, used Snapchat to arrange a meeting with an individual in the home where Kourtney was with family. A female at the residence told police “she was communicating with an unknown individual via Snapchat about selling them marijuana,” according to the affidavit.
“The unknown individual stated they were at the location in a white vehicle,” the affidavit says, noting how Kourtney’s family was out on the porch. “The other occupants of the residence went inside … and shortly after that, someone started shooting into the residence through the front storm glass door, striking the victim who was inside.”
Police were told by residents that there was a “rapid succession of gunfire, followed by an approximately 9 second pause, then another single shot could be heard,” per the affidavit. The glass storm door was shattered with glass on the front porch and into the interior of the home, according to cops.
“Pools of apparent blood were located inside the front door of the residence and in the dining room, on the front porch, down the stairs and onto the sidewalk near the street,” the affidavit says. “Detectives observed one spent 9 mm casing on the front porch, and 11 additional spent 9 mm casings around the yard and leading up to the front porch.”
Kourtney’s mother, Samantha Freeman, spoke to local ABC affiliate KMBC after her daughter’s murder, saying, “She was a baby. She didn’t even get a chance to do anything to be whoever she wanted to be.”
Police used surveillance footage, witness testimony, cellphone data and DNA evidence to track Roath down and arrest him. A Glock 17 9 mm handgun and the same shell casings found at the murder scene were discovered in his bedroom during an execution of a search warrant, cops reported.
Roath was arrested at school in May 2024 and charged with murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. He told Kourtney’s family at his sentencing that he was sorry about what happened and called the shooting a “sad circumstance” that “shouldn’t have happened like that,” according to local CBS affiliate KCTV.
“I know 20 years is a long time, but not long enough for me,” Kourtney’s sister, Kaliah Washington, told KCTV after the sentencing hearing. “I got a little closure from it. Not enough.”
