The victim and the suspect in Lawrence’s first homicide of 2003 had been informally sharing an apartment near 23rd and Iowa Streets, police said Sunday morning.

Lawrence Police believe 31-year-old Lawrence resident David Joel Uptain killed 49-year-old Michael Bruce Riley, Lawrence, who was found Saturday in his apartment at Hampton Court complex near 23rd and Iowa streets.

The killing happened either late Friday or early Saturday. Police discovered it after an informant called and said someone might be seriously injured.

An autopsy to be performed Sunday should determine the cause of death, but Lawrence Police Chief Ron Olin said he couldn’t discuss details about the crime scene nor the events that led up to the murder.

“Apparently they had been roommates for a short period of time,” Olin said Sunday morning.

Riley worked as a cook at International House of Pancakes, 3102 Iowa, Olin said.

He rented apartment No. 23 at 1722 W. 24th St. about Dec. 31, Lt. David Cobb said. Uptain needed a place to sleep and began staying with Riley, Cobb said.

Police would not say how the two men knew each other.

Uptain’s address on a jail booking log is listed as 407 W. 13th St. Apt. 5, but Cobb said Uptain didn’t have a permanent address at the time of his arrest.
Police began looking for Uptain shortly after they got the tip that someone was hurt. They found him sleeping in an apartment in Old West Lawrence, Cobb said.

“Once we found him, we asked him if he would come with us to the police department and answer a few questions about his relationship to the victim,” Cobb said.

Uptain agreed to go, and when police finished interviewing him they booked him into the jail about 2:43 a.m. Sunday.

For more updates on this story, check back on this site later or pick up a copy of Monday’s Journal-World.