CARMEL -- Teachers at Carmel High School who had the chance to know Karl Harford have no trouble understanding what, to some, has been one of the most curious facts about the night he was killed -- the fact that he gave a ride to three strangers.
"He is exactly the type of person to give you a ride home," Sheri Pankratz said. Pankratz was Harford's instructor for Student Resource Time at Carmel High School.
"He's always been that person as long as I knew him."
Pankratz met Harford when he was a freshman in high school. Thursday, she attended his viewing at a funeral home in Carmel, along with many other people from Ball State, Carmel and elsewhere. At times, the line of well-wishers reached out the door of the funeral home into harsh, bitter winds.
Harford, who was a sophomore, was killed Sunday morning after leaving a house party to give three men a ride home, police say. According to police documents, the men decided to rob Harford of all his money, $2 in cash. From there, the situation escalated, and one of the men shot Harford. Two of them, Brandon Patterson, 18, and a juvenile suspect, have been arrested.
Thursday, Muncie Police Chief Joe Winkle said the third suspect, Damien Sanders, 21, might have left town. Investigators are still hunting down leads.
Winkle also said the evidence investigators have gathered all indicates that Harford gave his attackers a ride even though he had never met them before.
"He was a victim of his own naivete," Genene Kambs Halverson, Carmel High School's German Club adviser, said. "Karl didn't understand meanness."
Halverson and Pankratz said there was nothing about Harford that would make people see him in a negative light.
"He's a sweet boy, just a sweet personality," Pankratz said. "He just had the cutest smile."
His demeanor was the result of the close involvement of Thomas and Livia Harford, Karl Harford's parents, Halverson said.
"He was raised by such kind, caring, loving parents to be that way," Halverson said. "Then he falls victim to someone who is the antithesis."
Halverson said there have been many people asking for ways to get in touch with the family.
"People are feeling like they really want to communicate," Halverson said. "Everyone who knows the parents is just stung by this."
Family and close friends of Harford have, for the most part, declined to speak to reporters this week. However Harford's cousin, Kimberly Clark, released an open letter to Harford Thursday evening for the press to print.
Harford's funeral will be held today in Westfield at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church, and he will be buried in Our Lady of Peace cemetery.
Stay with the DN Online for continuing coverage of this story throughout Spring Break.
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