Brian McKay did not testify before jurors convicted him in Monica McKay’s death.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Brian McKay declined to testify at his murder trial before a Shawnee County jury convicted him of killing his estranged wife, Monica McKay, in a bathtub drowning prosecutors called deliberate.
The verdict came May 14 after jurors heard eight days of evidence and arguments about a death in a co-owned home, a divorce filed weeks earlier, a protection from stalking order and devices allegedly used to monitor Monica McKay. The defense questioned the investigation, but the jury convicted Brian McKay on all five counts.
McKay, 55, told Shawnee County District Judge Maban Wright late in the trial that he would not take the witness stand. He said he made the decision after consulting his lawyers. About 50 people watched from the gallery when he reaffirmed that choice as proceedings continued the next morning. Wright later told the parties that closing arguments would follow, with each side given one hour. The decision left jurors to judge the case from witness testimony, documents, forensic evidence and statements investigators said Brian McKay made after Monica McKay’s death.
The defense used the trial to question the thoroughness of the sheriff’s investigation. Prosecutors answered with a timeline that began before the killing and centered on the couple’s separation. Brian and Monica McKay had married in 2009, divorced at one point, then remarried. Prosecutors said they separated about four months before Monica McKay died. She applied for and received a protection from stalking order in mid-October 2024. Brian McKay was informed of it on Oct. 17 and served the same day. Monica McKay filed for divorce on Oct. 19.
The state said money and control helped explain what happened next. Prosecutors told jurors the divorce was financially damaging to Brian McKay and that he had become increasingly obsessed with Monica McKay. They said the case was not only about a killing on Nov. 27, 2024, but also about the conduct that came before it. Jurors heard that one of Monica McKay’s adult sons had found devices in the home. An arrest affidavit described them as covert cameras, microphones and possibly an Amazon Echo device, and said family members believed Monica McKay was being monitored.
The same affidavit said Brian McKay placed a GPS tracking device on a vehicle operated by Monica McKay. Investigators said the device tracked movement from her residence to her place of employment and followed other patterns that matched her regular life. Prosecutors linked that evidence to the stalking count and the protective order violation. They also used it to support their theory that Brian McKay knew where Monica McKay was, followed her routines and acted with planning rather than impulse. The defense challenged the state’s interpretation and pressed jurors to consider gaps in the investigation.
The medical evidence gave jurors another set of facts. Prosecutors said Monica McKay was beaten, stripped, strangled and drowned in a bathtub at 2333 SE Tecumseh Road, the home she and Brian McKay co-owned. A preliminary autopsy listed drowning as the cause of death. Authorities also identified injuries consistent with strangulation. The final autopsy listed drowning as the cause, with strangulation and multiple blunt force trauma as contributing factors. Those findings supported the state’s charge of premeditated first-degree murder and its separate felony murder theory tied to an inherently dangerous felony.
Investigators also described Brian McKay’s statements and appearance after Monica McKay died. When police asked when he had last seen her, he said he had not seen her since she got what he called a “stupid restraining order.” Officers observed a red spot on his left cheek and a scratch on the back right side of his neck. Brian McKay said the cheek mark came from skin cancer removals and the neck scratch came from a twig while he was clearing brush with a tractor. Jurors had to decide how those explanations fit with the rest of the evidence.
Monica McKay was 50 and worked in health care administration in Topeka. She had been director of physician clinics at the University of Kansas Health System’s St. Francis Campus since 2023. She previously served as director of primary care from 2018 to 2023. Her professional background added local recognition to the trial, which drew a large courtroom audience when the verdict was read. More than 60 people watched as the seven-man, five-woman jury returned convictions after several hours of deliberation.
The verdicts covered premeditated first-degree murder, first-degree murder in the commission of an inherently dangerous felony, aggravated burglary, stalking and violating a protective order. Monica McKay’s aunt, Deanna Compton, said after court that she was “happy, happy, happy” about the outcome. Jay Spiegel, a close friend of Monica McKay, said he was relieved and “glad that the system worked the way it was supposed to.” District Attorney Mike Kagay said his thoughts were with Monica McKay’s family and loved ones.
Wright scheduled sentencing for 2 p.m. July 20. Brian McKay remains convicted in the trial court, with punishment still to be imposed and any later appeal left for the next stage of the case.
Author note: Last updated June 17, 2026.