Brian McKay Murder Case: Verdict, Sentencing, and Civil Suit

The Brian McKay murder case ended on May 14, 2026, when a Shawnee County District Court jury in Topeka, Kansas, convicted the 55-year-old of premeditated first-degree murder and four related counts in the November 2024 killing of his estranged wife, Monica McKay, a 50-year-old hospital administrator who was beaten, strangled, and drowned in a bathtub at their co-owned home the day before Thanksgiving.¹ He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 20, 2026, and faces a mandatory life term under Kansas law.

The Victim and the Killing

Monica Brook McKay was the Director of Physician Clinics at the University of Kansas Health System’s St. Francis Campus in Topeka, a role she had held since August 2023 after five years as Director of Primary Care at Stormont Vail Hospital.² She had two sons, Ryan and Tyler Wollum, from a previous marriage.

On November 27, 2024, she was attacked inside the home she and Brian co-owned at 2333 SE Tecumseh Road, in the Tecumseh area south of Topeka. The autopsy, performed by pathologist Maneesha Pandey, listed drowning as the cause of death, with strangulation and multiple blunt-force trauma as contributing factors.³ Monica suffered five broken ribs and blunt-force injuries to her hands, arms, elbows, and knees.⁴ Her son Ryan Wollum found her body the following afternoon, Thanksgiving Day. Investigators located signs of a struggle outside the home near where her phone was recovered, along with clothing that appeared to have been run through the washing machine.⁵

A Pending Divorce and a Protection Order

Brian and Monica married in July 2009. The relationship was turbulent: they divorced once, remarried, and had been married for roughly ten years at the time of her death.¹ In October 2024, Monica filed for divorce a second time. Two days earlier, on October 14, 2024, a court had granted her a protection-from-stalking order against Brian.⁶ The divorce was still pending when she was killed. Prosecutors would later argue that the divorce threatened Brian financially and supplied the motive.

Surveillance Devices in the Home

A charging affidavit by Shawnee County Sheriff’s Detective James Landry described extensive surveillance Brian had conducted on his wife. Investigators alleged he had bugged the home with covert cameras, microphones, and possibly an Amazon Echo device, and that he maintained a subscription to a Tracki GPS service to track her vehicle.⁶ A warrant on his Google account turned up searches related to hacking passwords and lock picking.

Witnesses testified that Monica believed her husband was listening to her conversations in real time. She reached that conclusion after he texted her challenging something she had said during a private phone call while he was outside the house.⁷ Prosecutors established that Brian canceled the GPS tracking subscription on the same day Monica was killed. The presiding judge noted this suggested he knew she was dead and the service was no longer needed.

How Investigators Placed Brian at the Scene

Brian’s phone GPS data placed him at his own home during the time of the killing. Police theorized he had deliberately left the phone behind and used an electric bicycle to travel to and from Monica’s house.⁶

Security camera footage from a neighbor’s home, about two-tenths of a mile away, allegedly showed Brian’s red Jeep passing toward the victim’s home on the afternoon of November 27 and returning roughly 10 minutes later. The same camera captured what investigators identified as his electric bicycle passing on November 28 and returning nine minutes later.⁷ Prosecutors also argued that Brian was the person who accessed Monica’s cell phone at 2:59 p.m. to use her Ring doorbell app.⁸

Brian McKay was arrested on February 11, 2025, and formal charges followed on February 21. He was released on bond ahead of trial.

The Trial and the Alternative-Suspect Defense

The trial opened before Judge Maban Wright and ran eight days, with closing arguments on May 13, 2026. Brian McKay did not testify. Deputy District Attorneys Will Manly and Lauren Amrein prosecuted the case under District Attorney Mike Kagay.⁹ Defense attorney Thomas Bartee represented McKay.

Bartee acknowledged that his client had engaged in “considerable surveillance” of his wife but argued the behavior mirrored his conduct during an earlier divorce period when he had not harmed her.¹ The defense pointed to an alternative suspect: Eric Lessig, a Lawrence man Monica had recently begun dating and to whom she had given a house key 12 days before her death. Lessig’s whereabouts were unaccounted for between roughly 1:56 p.m. and 3:56 p.m. on November 27, and the defense argued the sheriff’s office had not investigated him thoroughly.⁸

Lessig took the stand. He acknowledged he may have misled Monica into believing he worked for the Department of Homeland Security when he was actually unemployed, and he provided only limited access to his cell phone data, citing overlapping romantic relationships.⁴ Manly told jurors Lessig was a man who lied about himself but showed no sign of wanting to harm Monica.

Bartee also attacked the timeline. He argued the evidence showed Brian was in the area for no more than 10 minutes, which he called far too short to beat, strip, strangle, and drown the victim, break five of her ribs, and clean up afterward.

Verdict on All Five Counts

On May 14, 2026, the jury of seven men and five women found Brian McKay guilty on every count:¹⁰

Premeditated first-degree murder, an off-grid felony
First-degree murder in the commission of an inherently dangerous felony, an off-grid felony
Aggravated burglary, a severity level 4 felony
Stalking, a severity level 9 felony
Violating a protection-from-stalking order, a misdemeanor

The court granted the prosecution’s motion to revoke bond, and McKay has been held at the Shawnee County Department of Corrections since.

What He Faces at Sentencing

Judge Wright set sentencing for 2:00 p.m. on July 20, 2026. Both murder counts are off-grid felonies. Because Monica McKay’s death occurred after July 1, 2014, premeditated first-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence with parole eligibility after 50 years, unless the judge finds substantial and compelling reasons to impose a “Hard 25” term with parole eligibility after 25 years.¹¹ The felony murder conviction carries parole eligibility after 25 years. No appeals or post-conviction proceedings have been reported as of June 2026.

The Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Alongside the criminal case, Monica’s son Ryan Wollum, acting as executor of her estate, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Brian McKay seeking $11,005,533.76 in damages. The civil complaint alleges Brian’s actions caused Monica pain and suffering as well as economic and noneconomic damages to her heirs.¹²

A motion for summary judgment was filed on May 29, 2026, and a motion to amend the filing to add punitive damages followed on June 12. Shawnee County District Judge Thomas Luedke set a hearing on both motions for July 21, 2026, one day after the criminal sentencing. A three-day civil trial is scheduled for September 23, 2026. Brian McKay is representing himself in the civil case. Wollum is represented by Topeka attorney LJ Leatherman.

1
The Topeka Capital-Journal. Brian McKay Found Guilty in Murder of Wife Near Topeka
2
The Topeka Capital-Journal. Charges Filed in Killing of Topeka Hospital Official Monica McKay
3
Law & Crime. Husband Strangled and Drowned His Wife in Bathtub After Obsessively Bugging Her Home and Vehicle With Spy Devices
4
The Topeka Capital-Journal. Estranged Husband Won’t Testify at Trial in Topeka-Area Woman’s Death
5
WIBW. Court Documents Describe Investigation of 2024 Tecumseh Homicide
6
The Topeka Capital-Journal. Brian McKay Is Accused of Killing and Stalking Wife Monica McKay
7
The Topeka Capital-Journal. Former Husband Bound Over for Trial in Killing of Topekan Monica McKay
8
The Topeka Capital-Journal. Conflicting Timelines Debated as Topeka-Area Murder Trial Goes to Jury
9
AOL News. Man Convicted of Murder of Estranged Wife
10
WIBW. Man Convicted in Connection With 2024 Murder in Tecumseh Area
11
Kansas Legislative Research Department. Sentencing Overview and Criminal Justice Reform Issues
12
The Topeka Capital-Journal. Family Seeks $11M in Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Topeka-Area Murder