Officers scoured ditches and tree lines Wednesday near U.S. Highway 40 west of Lawrence, following up on leads in the murder investigation of Lawrence rapper Anthony J. Vital.

Lt. Kari Wempe, a Douglas County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said she couldn’t provide information about the search.

“As this is an ongoing criminal investigation, it would be inappropriate to discuss specifics,” Wempe said.

Deputies were seen searching ditches along U.S. 40 near the field where Vital’s body was found Oct. 15. An autopsy of Vital showed he died from multiple gunshot wounds.

The only “person of interest” identified in the case, Major C. Edwards, was arrested Sunday in a hotel room in Verona, Miss. Edwards, who has been convicted of a felony, was arrested for being in possession of a firearm: a .38-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver.

Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson’s office has not filed any charges related to the murder.

Sheriff’s investigators have interviewed Vital’s family and friends.

Court records show Vital’s wife, Kristie, last saw him on the night of Oct. 14 as he left their home with Edwards.

Two separate police informants confirmed that Edwards possessed the revolver, and subsequent interviews and evidence investigators collected confirmed that the gun had been in Edwards’s possession, court records show.

It is unclear whether the gun has been located or what caliber bullets killed Vital.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Matt Cahill said he thought Edwards made his first court appearance Tuesday in Mississippi and would be brought to Kansas to face charges within the next three weeks.

Jim Cross, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said Edwards was not yet listed on the office’s docket.