LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — The case involving the death of five-year-old Cady Harris is now in the hands of Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson. In a news conference Wednesday morning Thompson announced Marcus McGowan, 30, is now charged with first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. Click here for more information on these and other charges McGowan faces.
Police found Cady dead following a police chase and shooting that ended in Leavenworth last Friday night, July 18. The girl’s mother, Christina Harris, told FOX 4 her relationship with McGowan was a rocky one.
FOX 4 has also learned this is not Harris’ first time dealing with the death of a child, and not the first time it involved a relationship filled with turmoil.
Cady is the third child of Harris’ to either die or be seriously injured. Her first son died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and her second is now severely mentally injured after being the victim of Shaken Baby Syndrome.
“In 2008 we had a horrible case of a shaken baby,” Atchison County Attorney Gerald Kuckelman said.
Kuckelman said a four-month-old baby was injured so badly, he suffered permanent brain damage and was taken away from Harris. Her boyfriend at the time, Bryan Quinley was charged with abuse of that child.
Tom Forge was a juror in Quinley’s trial.
“The evidence that was presentable in court was not enough to convict him on,” Forge explained.
That was the second child tragedy for Harris. Two years before, Harris and Quinley had a child, Bryan Quinley II, who died, authorities say, of SIDS at four-months-old.
“We heard about that and of course it raised all of our eyebrows, but we couldn’t admit any of that information,” Forge said.
“At the time the child lived with mother Christina Harris and Mr. Quinley,” Kuckelman said. “The jury ultimately found him not guilty, concluding that they weren’t certain who caused the injuries.”
No one else was ever charged with that crime. FOX 4 has learned that Harris has a history of violence, and has also been in trouble with the law. She was tried in a 2001 aggravated battery case and three years later…
“She had a case here. She was convicted of battery. Battery, obstruction and leaving the scene,” Kuckelman said.
Kuckelman said Harris ran down a man with a car outside of a bar in 2004. For that, Harris received probation.
The child who was the victim of Shaken Baby Syndrome is now six years old. He is severely brain-damaged and has been adopted by the family who took care of him during the trial.
