On the night of June 24, 2021, officers responded to a call for an unknown medical issue at a home in the 1200 block of N.W. Polk in Topeka. They found 51-year-old Bradley Bellinder suffering from a gunshot wound; he was pronounced dead at the scene and the Topeka Police Department opened a homicide investigation.

Investigators identified a suspect and, a few days later, arrested 38-year-old Marshall Stewart IV of Topeka. Stewart was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on charges of second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with Bellinder’s death.

In September 2021, while still in custody at the county jail, Stewart suffered an apparent heart attack, was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead; his death was investigated by the Shawnee County Department of Corrections and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Anyone with information about Bradley Bellinder, the shooting, or what happened that night is asked to come forward.