Palmer Scott Thompson was 29 when he was found dead inside his North Topeka home at 302 N.E. Spruce Lane after a fire in the early morning hours of September 26, 2021. Firefighters arrived about 7:30 a.m.; during the response one firefighter briefly fell through the floor into the basement but was rescued. Once the blaze was controlled, Thompson’s body was recovered from the charred single-story house.

Authorities opened a homicide investigation and later determined Thompson died from a gunshot wound and that the fire had been set intentionally, causing about $121,540 in damage. Investigators arrested 34-year-old John Clayton Riley II on September 29, 2021. Riley had been charged earlier in an unrelated burglary and theft matter for which Thompson testified at a March 4, 2020 preliminary hearing; Riley was awaiting trial on those charges when Thompson was killed. Prosecutors later charged Riley with multiple counts, including first-degree murder, and alleged Riley stole Thompson’s identity and accessed his financial accounts after the killing.

Thompson was remembered as a loving father of two, a 2011 Silver Lake High School graduate and co-owner of the home. Did anyone in the Topeka area see or hear anything unusual near Spruce Lane around September 26, 2021?