Daniel Ray Partee, 34, of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States has been arrested. He is accused of killing Kunta Tavarius Davis.
Kalamazoo is home to Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Western Michigan University. The city is around 1,227 miles away from Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida, USA, which is home to the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa.
Kunta Tavarius Davis
Davis was born in Kalamazoo to Robert Lee Hardy and Johnnie Bertha Davis. Kunta is Shirley Ann Davis, Maurice Davis, Tollie Wichtman, Trinisha Davis and Rotanya Davis‘s brother.
Kunta is Mary Jean Dunigan‘s nephew. He has one son named Zyaire Davis, 13 nephews including Andrew Davis and 10 nieces.
On June 3, 2023, Kunta turned 43. On September 22, 2023, he was fatally shot in the 1300 block of Cameron Street in Kalamazoo allegedly by Partee.
Daniel Ray Partee
On September 15, 2016, Partee registered to vote in Kalamazoo. He allegedly hid in Tampa after killing Kunta.
While Partee was on the run, the cold case team of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety worked on the case involving Kunta’s murder. The newly established team has two detectives assigned to focus exclusively on unsolved homicides.
On August 7, 2025, the Kalamazoo County prosecutorโs office issued a two-count felony warrant against Partee for open murder and felony firearm. On August 23, 2025, a citizen turned in the Kalamazoo man’s wallet to the police department of Temple Terrace, Hillsborough County.
On August 24, 2025, deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office found Partee. They took him into custody without incident on an open murder warrant in connection to Kunta’s death.
When deputies searched Partee, they found a clear plastic bag containing several Xanax bars so he was charged with possession of a controlled substance. He will be extradited to Michigan.
CONAN Daily 