Affidavit: 2 suspects in woman’s killing on Chautauqua had wrong address

The two suspects in a September homicide apparently were at the wrong house when Jacquelyn Harvey was shot to death, according to a probable cause affidavit released Friday.

Jacob Strouse and Brittany McDay are charged in the September death of Harvey, 66, whose body was found in her house in the 300 block of South Chautauqua. Strouse, who went to collect money at a house on the same block, kicked in the door and shot Harvey before realizing he was at the wrong house, Strouse’s girlfriend told police in an interview that was recounted in a probable cause affidavit.

According to the affidavit, the girlfriend told police Strouse said he found Harvey in the bathroom after breaking in. He then “aimed and touched the gun to her.” Harvey resisted and grabbed the gun, and the gun went off, Strouse’s girlfriend told police, according to the affidavit.

Strouse told an acquaintance Harvey “wasn’t supposed to get shot,” and that he had gone to the wrong house on Sept. 15.

He went to the house with McDay. A friend of McDay’s told police that McDay was standing outside the house when she heard a shot, according to the affidavit.

The friend also told police McDay said that she and Strouse robbed someone, and that when they went to do the robbery, it “went south,” according to the affidavit.

Harvey was found dead by her son the next morning as he dropped his son off at her house. Harvey was going to drive her grandson to school. She is the city’s most recent homicide victim.

When police investigated, they found Harvey’s Jeep and purse, along with several documents and forms of identification, were gone. Later that day, police found the Jeep in an alley next to a Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits restaurant in the 1600 block of South Seneca.

Strouse was arrested and booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on Sept. 18.

Police issued an arrest warrant for McDay on Sept. 22, and she was arrested in the Planeview neighborhood on Sept. 27.

Both are charged with felony first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and theft. McDay is also charged with attempted criminal use of a financial card. Strouse also faces two felony charges for weapons violations.

McDay is next due in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. Strouse has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 28. Both hearings are likely to be postponed.

Police tracked down Strouse and McDay by examining Harvey’s bank records and surveillance photos, and by conducting interviews with people who knew them, according to the affidavit.

McDay and another man identified in the affidavit by the initials “C.D.” used Harvey’s Intrust Bank debit card at Walmart stores, QuikTrip and Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits on the afternoon and evening of Sept. 15, according to the document. The affidavit said the pair bought a laptop computer at Walmart and pawned it 30 minutes later.

Surveillance cameras at the QuikTrip and Walmart locations where McDay and C.D. made purchases captured images of the two. C.D. was identified by police as a person of interest in the case and was taken into custody at his house in the 1600 block of South Seneca on Sept. 17, according to the affidavit.

When he was interviewed by police, he disclosed he had made multiple purchases on Sept. 15 with a woman named “Brittany,” according to the affidavit.

C.D. ultimately was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on an outstanding warrant, but he is not implicated in the homicide, police have said.

Police were later able to identify the woman as McDay using information from C.D. and other witness interviews. Strouse’s name also came up in several of the interviews.

This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 8:53 PM with the headline "Affidavit: 2 suspects in woman’s killing on Chautauqua had wrong address."