A man who was taken into custody in connection with a fatal downtown Lawrence stabbing on Sunday has not been charged but is still a suspect as “the investigation remains ongoing,” according to law enforcement.
Officers arrested 25-year-old Keisonn Smith Jr., of Topeka, on Sunday as a suspect in the death of 20-year-old McMillin Tutu, of Kansas City.
The stabbing occurred near the breezeway between Seventh and Eighth on Massachusetts streets after “a bar brawl turned deadly,” according to Lawrence police.
Smith is still in custody of the Douglas County jail on unrelated matters.
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“This gives our detectives time to continue the investigation, but he remains the suspect in this case,” Laura McCabe, a spokesperson for the police department, said via email Wednesday.
She said it was a large crime scene with multiple witnesses and a lot of evidence to compile.
Lisa Moore, chief of staff at the Douglas County DA’s office, said via email Tuesday night that a judge had found probable cause that a crime had occurred.
“(W)e are working closely with the Lawrence Police Department,” Moore said Wednesday. She said no further information was available.
Moore had said Smith was set to appear in court Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, but court staff members said both of those appearances were canceled. The hearings were both to be first appearances, at which defendants are formally charged, their bonds are set and a judge appoints an attorney for them if needed.
George Diepenbrock, spokesperson for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, said Smith was still in custody at the jail Wednesday morning for a no-bond federal hold and a municipal court warrant for failure to appear for disorderly conduct. Both are unrelated to the stabbing.
He said Smith’s bond had been set on Tuesday at $500,000 cash or surety, meaning Smith would likely have had to pay a bond agency $50,000 to be released from jail if there was a pending case against him.
Arrestees and defendants in criminal cases should be presumed not guilty unless they are convicted.
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Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at [email protected].
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