Earon Cooper was a 31-year-old husband and father from Lawrence, Kansas, known to family as Deayon. Born March 31, 1993, and a 2011 graduate of Highland Park High School, he was the eldest of six siblings and enjoyed dancing, bowling, and going to the gym.

Just after midnight on July 20, 2024, Topeka police found Cooper in his vehicle near a Crunch Fitness in the 2900 block of Southwest Topeka Boulevard with numerous gunshot wounds. First responders pronounced him dead at the scene; his death was Topeka’s 11th homicide of 2024.

Two suspects were later arrested: 21-year-old Silas Bishop Amaru Kriner of Baldwin City and 19-year-old Delano A. Washington of Topeka. Kriner pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated robbery and was sentenced on April 16, 2026, to 267 months in prison and 15 years of violent offender registration upon release. Washington had also accepted a plea and was scheduled for sentencing in May 2026.

Did anyone who knew Earon or saw activity near Southwest Topeka Boulevard on July 20, 2024, notice anything that could help fill gaps in the timeline?