Police track down leads in homicide of Topeka man

Authorities continue to track down leads and investigate the homicide of a 39-year-old Topeka man whose body was found Jan. 5 in northwestern Douglas County near the Shawnee County line, said Sgt. Steve Lewis, a Douglas County Sheriff’s spokesman.

Lewis said no one had been arrested in connection with the death of Corey M. Brown the same day that Topeka police arrested — in an unrelated case — a 38-year-old Topeka man who has connections to the retail development, where Brown was a vice president. Investigators have not said how Brown died other than that a gun was involved.

According to Shawnee County Jail records, Monroe E. Lockhart, an owner of Mo’s Express convenience store at the Hudson Crossing development, was booked into jail on several charges including aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and battery and aggravated intimidation of a witness.

Topeka police in January said they were investigating whether a burned vehicle owned by Lockhart that was found in Topeka hours after Brown disappeared was linked to the homicide.