In the late evening hours of September 22, 2023, the city of Kalamazoo was marked by its 16th homicide of the year, a grim new record. On that Friday, at approximately 8:55 p.m., officers from the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety were dispatched to the 1300 block of Cameron Street following a report of a person down. Upon their arrival, they discovered 43-year-old Kunta Taveris Davis, a Black male, unresponsive on the ground, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.
Emergency medical services rushed him to a local hospital, but his injuries proved to be fatal, and he was pronounced dead a short time later.
For nearly two years, the investigation into Davis's death remained without a public breakthrough, becoming one of several unsolved homicides from a year that saw a historic level of gun violence in the city. The case was eventually taken on by the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety's cold case team, which was established in 2025 with two detectives dedicated to investigating such unresolved homicides. Their persistent efforts ultimately bore fruit.
In a significant development, on August 7, 2025, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor's Office issued a two-count felony warrant for 34-year-old Daniel Ray Partee, charging him with open murder and felony firearm in connection with Davis's death. Just over two weeks later, on August 24, 2025, deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Florida located and arrested Partee on the outstanding warrant. He is currently in custody in Florida, awaiting extradition to Michigan to face the charges against him. Although an arrest has been made, authorities have indicated that the investigation into the killing of Kunta Taveris Davis remains active.
