Lawrence police work the scene of a homicide investigation Sunday night at the Brookwood Mobile Home Park, 1908 E. 19th St. Two people were arrested Monday morning in connection with the death of Jerry Deshazer, 62.

Jerry Deshazer’s mobile home in eastern Lawrence was a busy place.

“He always had young people coming and going,” neighbor Paul Lee said. “They were coming in there at all kinds of times.”

Deshazer, 62, was found dead in his home Saturday. After a weekend investigation during which no information was released to the media, Lawrence police issued a statement Monday saying Deshazer’s death was a homicide.

Two people were arrested Monday morning in Deshazer’s death. Jared Buffalohead, 36, of Lawrence, and Shanna “Shay” Friday, 37, of Topeka, were booked into Douglas County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder. Charges are pending but might be filed today, District Attorney Charles Branson said.

At noon Saturday police responded to a report of an unresponsive person at Deshazer’s mobile home in the Brookwood Mobile Home Park, 1908 E. 19th St., according to a news release issued by Capt. Mike Pattrick.

Deshazer was pronounced dead, and an autopsy conducted Sunday concluded that he died a victim of violence, Pattrick said. He did not say specifically how Deshazer was killed. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation also assisted with the on-scene investigation, Pattrick said.

Always helping

Deshazer’s niece Shelly Snow, 37, of Lawrence, said his death has shocked family members.

She described her uncle, a Vietnam veteran and retired truck driver, as someone who loved to help people. Especially around the holidays, he volunteered with Penn House and ECKAN to help others, she said.

“He was a very, very good man, and he would have done anything and everything that he could for anybody,” Snow said.

Deshazer moved to Brookwood in 2003, and the family believed he had allowed Friday to live in his home during the last few weeks because she was homeless. He wanted to help her get back on her feet, Snow said.

Friend Teressa Harvey described Deshazer as a handyman who was always willing to help out. He had volunteered to do work for local social service agencies, she said, and worked for managers at previous mobile home parks where he lived.

“He always did things for everybody,” Harvey said. “Why would someone do anything to hurt him? I just don’t know why.”

Deshazer, who had been disabled, experienced bad luck in 2001 when fire destroyed his home in a North Lawrence mobile home park, according to a story in the Journal-World.

Previous run-ins

The suspects in Deshazer’s death are no strangers to police.

Jail logs show Buffalohead had two outstanding arrest warrants for failure to appear in court, one on a traffic charge and the other for a misdemeanor criminal charge. Additional information about those charges was unavailable Monday.

Douglas County court records show that Friday had previous convictions including felony forgery and theft and misdemeanor assault on a police officer stemming from cases in the late 1990s and in 2000. The forgery conviction resulted in probation, which was later revoked, and she was remanded to the Kansas Department of Corrections. She also spent time in Douglas County Jail.

In Shawnee County, Friday was convicted of domestic battery and criminal damage to property, both misdemeanors. She spent six months in jail.

When police responded to Deshazer’s mobile home they locked down the immediate area around it and wouldn’t let residents leave, according to Lee, Deshazer’s neighbor. Police interviewed neighbors about a death but wouldn’t say any more about what was going on, Lee said.

“They wouldn’t let nobody in or out,” he said. “The whole place was filled with cops. And we didn’t hear nothing on the news.”

Throughout the weekend police declined to release any information about what they were doing at the mobile home park when asked by the Journal-World.

Despite the constant flow of young people at Deshazer’s home, Lee said he neither saw nor heard signs of trouble.

“These kids didn’t have no place to go, so they’d hang out at his place and he didn’t mind,” Lee said. “We didn’t hear anything.”

The homicide was the city’s first since Oct. 4, 2005, when 5-month-old Risha Lafferty was found dead. The girl’s father, Jay Decker, was convicted of first-degree murder in November 2006 and was sentenced to life in prison.