Harrisonville grads remember slain classmate Katie Rios with white roses

As Harrisonville High School’s Class of 2014 paraded onto the football field at Memorial Stadium to the tune of “Pomp and Circumstance,” each graduating senior held a white, short-stemmed rose.

Upon reaching their seats on the track, with hundreds of friends and family members cheering behind them in the stands, one by one, students dropped the roses into a basket sitting on a chair by itself.

The seat — left empty — was there in honor of a friend and former classmate, Katie Rios, who should have been graduating alongside of her peers on May 16.

Katie died in January 2010 at the age of 14, after being stabbed by a 16-year-old cousin who had lived in her home. He is serving a life term in prison without parole for the killing, which occurred Jan. 7 when both were home on a snow day from school.

More than four years have passed since the Harrisonville Middle School eighth grader passed away, but her classmates haven’t forgotten her. Family and friends have kept the memory of Katie alive through an instrument donation closet and scholarships in her honor, among other things.

On May 6, friends dedicated a tree in honor of Katie outside their former middle school.

And during the graduation ceremony, school officials held a moment of silence for Katie, along with other friends and family members who had passed away.

Filling five rows on the school’s district track, 216 students received their diplomas.

This story was originally published May 26, 2014 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Harrisonville grads remember slain classmate Katie Rios with white roses."