A husband in Kansas has been arrested for strangling and drowning his estranged wife, which took place after he bugged her home and car with spy devices.
Brian McKay was found guilty of first-degree murder on Thursday, May 14, in connection to the November 2024 death of his wife, Monica McKay.
Brian, 55, and Monica, 50, were in the middle of a bitter divorce battle at the time of her death. The divorce reportedly cost Brian a lot of money and made him upset, which prompted Monica to obtain a “protection from stalking” order against him, according to an arrest affidavit viewed by Law & Crime.
During the trial, prosecutors told a Shawnee County jury that Brian had emotional and economic motives for killing Monica, according to The Topeka Capital-Journal.
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Monica filed for divorce on October 19, 2024, which reportedly had a negative impact on Brian financially. He allegedly grew increasingly obsessed with Monica after they separated four months earlier and he ended up bugging her home and vehicle to keep an eye on her.
“[One of Monica McKay’s adult sons] previously discovered devices in the home, from which they believed the deceased was being monitored by her husband,” the arrest affidavit stated, per Law & Crime. “These devices were described to [police] and also to the court as covert cameras microphones, and possibly an Amazon Echo Device (Alexa).”
The affidavit noted that Brian “placed a GPS tracking device on a vehicle operated by Monica,” which tracked movements “from Monica’s residence to her place of employment and also followed other patterns of life consistent with normal movements.”
Monica applied for and was granted a “protection from stalking” order against Brian just five days before she filed for divorce. He learned about the order on October 17, 2024, and was served with the paperwork that same day.
Following Monica’s death, police spoke to Brian and asked him when he last saw his estranged wife. Brian told police he had not seen her “since she got that ‘stupid restraining order,’” per the affidavit.
During the interview, police noticed “two marks on Brian’s person,” with one being described as a “red spot” on his left cheek.
“[Police] asked what it was and he said it was a scar from getting skin cancer removed multiple different times,” the affidavit said. “The second mark was a scratch on the back right side of his neck. … When asked what it was from, Brian said that it was from a twig while he was clearing brush with his tractor.”
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An autopsy was performed on Monica, which determined her preliminary cause of death was drowning.
Authorities also reported injuries that were consistent with strangulation, and her final autopsy report stated that her cause of death was “drowning with contributing factors of strangulation and multiple blunt force trauma.”
In addition to being found guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, Brian was convicted of first-degree murder in the commission of an inherently dangerous felony, stalking, aggravated burglary and violating a protective order.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place on July 20.
