Greensboro police arrest suspect in 2023 River Oaks homicide

A River Oaks Drive killing that police once said had no suspects now has an arrest. Greensboro police said Kendal Isaiah Roberts, 25, was taken into custody without incident and charged in the 2023 death of Bakari Aman Lee, reopening a case that had gone quiet for more than two years.

Roberts was booked into the Guilford County Jail and remains there without bond. Police said Lee’s next of kin have been notified, and court documents are available through Guilford County eCourts. Roberts is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Lee was 24 when he was shot on Nov. 26, 2023, in the 4:29 a.m. call on River Oaks Drive. Officers found him in front of a building with gunshot wounds, and Guilford County EMS tried life-saving measures before Lee died at the scene. At the time, police said all involved parties had been identified and they were not looking for any suspects.

The new arrest came after what police described as continued work by the Greensboro Police Department Homicide Unit. Investigators obtained a warrant after further examining the fatal shooting, a reminder that homicide cases can move slowly before detectives have enough to file charges. In older cases, that often means checking records, reviewing evidence, re-interviewing witnesses and tying a suspect to a scene long after the initial call.

Police said the arrest was made Tuesday by members of the department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, with assistance from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The charge is second-degree murder, which under North Carolina law covers murders other than first-degree murder. State law generally treats it as a Class B1 felony, though some cases can be punished as a Class B2 felony depending on the theory of malice alleged.

The case adds to the broader question of how many old homicide investigations in Greensboro still sit open and how often arrests come after long gaps. Greensboro police maintain a public crime summary dataset that stretches from 1975 to the present, showing the city has long dealt with fluctuating waves of violent crime. The dataset records 24 murders in 1988, 35 in 1990, 21 in 1993, 36 in 1994 and 20 in 1998, a long run of figures that helps explain why solving older killings remains a continuing public-safety priority in Guilford County.