Man accused of killing two in Topeka, kidnapping child booked into Shawnee County Department of Corrections

TOPEKA (KSNT) – A man accused of killing two people in Topeka and kidnapping a two-year-old child is now booked in a local correctional facility.

Records with the Shawnee County Department of Corrections show that Christopher K. W. Barnshaw, 32, was booked at 2:35 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30. He is accused of killing Sean E. Thornton, 55, and Ashley T. Brown, 29, both of Topeka, and kidnapping Zabe Mendez in July this year.

Shawnee County District Attorney charged Barnshaw with the following crimes:

• Two charges of murder in the first degree.
• Aggravated burglary of a dwelling.
• Aggravated endangering of a child.
• Kidnapping.

Topeka police were called around 9:50 a.m. on July 22 to a home in the 500 block of Wabash to conduct a welfare check. Officers found a man and woman dead, later identified as Thornton and Brown, and discovered a two-year-old child was missing. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) issued an AMBER Alert for the child shortly after the deaths were discovered.

The Mattoon Police Department (MPD) in Illinois later arrested Barnshaw for his alleged role in the Topeka killings and kidnapping of Mendez. Barnshaw’s bond is currently set at $10,000,000.

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