Police say separate evidence involving video, cellphone movements and Brown’s property converged on an Independence residence connected to William Morrison.
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Two cadaver dogs searching an Independence basement on May 23 alerted independently near a freshly poured concrete slab, directing investigators to the place where authorities say they recovered the remains of missing 45-year-old Johnathon Brown and transformed a disappearance investigation into a homicide case.
The basement discovery is the most visible piece of a much broader set of allegations against William Morrison, who has been indicted on one count of first-degree murder and one count of armed criminal action. Court records describe evidence developed through different investigative channels: video documenting vehicles, cellphone records tracking Brown’s device, witnesses describing his last known activities, a wallet found at a residence tied to Morrison and an employee’s account about two phones. Prosecutors say those strands support the charges. Morrison has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.
The search of the basement occurred 10 days after Brown was reported missing. Authorities brought human-remains detection dogs to the property while investigating what had happened after Brown was last seen on May 10. The dogs separately alerted near the northwest portion of the new slab and near a dirt pile on the other side of it, according to the probable cause statement. Investigators then excavated the concrete and found a body. The remains were subsequently identified as Brown, and the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide caused by a single gunshot wound to the head.
Police had not reached the basement by chance. Interviews conducted during the missing-person investigation indicated that Brown had planned to do concrete work with Morrison. A resident of the property told detectives that both men arrived on the night of May 10 to perform basement construction. The work included digging and preparing the area for concrete, according to the court filing. That description gave investigators a direct connection between Brown’s final known evening, Morrison and the slab that would later become the focus of the search.
The same witness supplied an account that detectives could test against physical and digital records. She told police she temporarily left the basement after being asked to arrange food. When she returned, Brown was gone. Morrison allegedly told her Brown had left with another woman. Rather than accepting either account on its own, detectives obtained video from a nearby residence. The recording showed a white sedan arriving late May 10 and leaving shortly after 3 a.m. the next morning. Police said only a likely food-delivery vehicle approached during that period.
A separate set of records placed Brown’s cellphone around the residence during much of the same window. Investigators said historical location data showed the device near the property from around midnight until shortly before the sedan departed. That timing mattered because police believed it did not fit the claim that Brown had already left with someone else. After about 3:20 a.m., the phone began moving. Its later route took investigators away from Independence and eventually toward Urich, Missouri, more than an hour’s drive from the property where Brown’s remains were found.
Detectives reconstructed that later trip using tower information and store surveillance. Brown’s phone traveled south along U.S. 71 and then east before connecting with a tower near Urich, the probable cause statement says. Police went to the area and reviewed video from a Casey’s store. Investigators identified a white pickup truck that they believed had been traveling with the phone. A woman associated with Morrison’s business was visible getting out of the vehicle and moving near an exterior trash container, according to the filing.
Police interviewed the woman in June. She said Morrison had given her two Android phones and instructed her to dispose of them while traveling toward Springfield. She told detectives she instead stopped in Urich and discarded a phone case before later throwing the phones into a field. Investigators returned to the area with her in an effort to recover the devices, but the phones were not located. Her account became part of the state’s investigative narrative, though the publicly available filing does not allege that she took part in Brown’s killing.
Another witness gave investigators evidence connected to Brown’s personal property. An employee of Morrison told police that Morrison contacted him from jail and directed him to money hidden at Morrison’s residence. The employee also checked an area above an air duct and found a leather wallet. After seeing Brown’s identification inside, he left the wallet where it was and contacted law enforcement. Detectives later searched the residence and recovered the wallet, according to the probable cause statement. Prosecutors highlighted the wallet when they announced the charges in September.
The investigation also relied on Brown’s communication habits. Friends, family and associates told detectives he routinely stayed in contact through calls, text messages, social media and face-to-face conversations. His abrupt disappearance was therefore considered unusual. Brown’s mother reported that he sent her a Mother’s Day message on May 10 and then stopped communicating with her. That silence helped define the time investigators were trying to reconstruct when they compared witness statements, camera footage and phone records.
Authorities additionally examined the relationship between Brown and Morrison. Multiple witnesses described the men as business partners and said they had ongoing dealings involving money and business ventures. Some witnesses told investigators Morrison had substantial influence over elements of Brown’s finances, housing and business activity. Police included those assertions in the probable cause statement, but the public record does not establish them as a proven motive. Prosecutors have not announced a specific reason they believe Brown was killed.
When Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson’s office announced the case Sept. 3, it charged Morrison with first-degree murder and armed criminal action and said he was being held without bond. The announcement summarized the disappearance, surveillance evidence, cadaver dog search, basement excavation and wallet discovery. Later that month, a Jackson County grand jury returned an indictment on the same two charges. The indictment meant the prosecution could proceed without first establishing probable cause at a preliminary hearing.
The probable cause statement also said Morrison was already in custody on unrelated matters when investigators were developing the homicide case and that he had an active felony parole-violation warrant. It described him as being under Missouri Department of Corrections supervision for theft and involuntary manslaughter. Those prior matters do not establish guilt in Brown’s death and are separate from the evidence a jury would ultimately be asked to consider on the new murder and armed criminal action charges.
Morrison remained in the Jackson County jail without bond in the latest available reporting. He was scheduled to be arraigned at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 20, one day after this update. No trial date had been publicly announced. The state’s evidence will now move from an investigation and grand jury presentation into adversarial court proceedings, where Morrison can contest the allegations and prosecutors will be required to prove any charge they pursue.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.