The Murder of Steve Harvey

This Thursday will mark 29 years since Steve Harvey, a local jazz musician, was murdered in Penn Valley Park. His killer was acquitted in state court, but thanks to Harvey's family and local activist Alvin Sykes, the feds took up the case and convicted the killer on a federal civil-rights charge. The case was featured on A&E's "City Confidential" a few years ago, and Aaron Barnhart wrote a good article about Harvey here.

Comments

["Brad" is just an alias]

Ray Bledsoe is the scariest person I have ever met.

[kybo61]

I don't remember clearly, but I used to watch City Confidential years ago when I had TV service, before I moved to KC. I thought Steve had a wife whom I remember saying sorrowfully something like, "The music would just come out of him." It was enough to make me cry. At the time I had no idea I was going to live here someday. Now, I'm reminded, and it's so awful that someone who made beautiful music out of his soul would be killed, probably by people who mistook him out of their own hatred for a gay man. Terrible, on so many levels. It makes me question why I even read these stories, something like this.

[kybo61]

I misunderstood, CC is upcoming. But there was a special about this case about 10 years ago in a similar venue. Perhaps not CC. But it was still heart-wrenching. God rest his soul.

[Thomas Simmons]

I went to Pinkerton Elementary with Steve. We were in the same 6th grade class. We sat together when the class went to the KC Philharmonic. I ran into him years later at Penn Valley Community College. He'd play the piccolo in the courtyard. He also ran 100 meters and other events for the PVCC track team. Steve liked to laugh. Was everybody's friend. Last person I talked to that knew him was our 6th grade teacher. She was working for DOD in Japan on Yokosuka Base. We were on a flight back to the States for a holiday. I kept the KC Star photo of him for years and lost it somewhere in Asia. Thanks for giving me a new one. It is in my screen saver file.

I can still hear him laugh and his piccolo from time to time.