RICE COUNTY – A Rice County man suspected of murdering Mark Reif earlier this month in Rooks County was found dead inside his residence on Saturday, Sept. 14, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation announced.

The KBI and the Rooks County Sheriff’s Office released new information related to the murder of Reif on Monday:

On Wednesday evening Sept. 11, and Thursday morning Sept. 12, KBI agents interviewed a suspect who was identified in the case, Jon Flowers, 47, of rural Inman. Multiple search warrants were also served at Flowers’s residence at 2385 31st Rd. in Inman. Although the city of Inman is in McPherson County, the residence was west and south of town, actually in Rice County, a KBI spokesman explained.

Then, on Saturday, Sept. 14, at approximately 7:25 p.m., deputies from the Rice County Sheriff’s Office responded to Flowers’s home for a welfare check when he did not show up to work or respond to contact from family. When deputies arrived, they discovered Flowers dead inside the residence. An autopsy was conducted, and the preliminary results indicate that Flowers’s manner of death was suicide. 

At this time, it is believed that Flowers acted alone in the murder of Reif, and there is no indication that the violence was random. 

The investigation remains ongoing.

The KBI announced its homicide investigation in Rooks County on Sept. 10.

The Rooks County Sheriff’s Office requested KBI assistance at approximately 10 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 9. Special agents and the Crime Scene Response Team responded. 

The Rooks County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call around 9:10 a.m. that morning when a family member went to 2610 19th Rd. in rural Rooks County and found 56-year-old Mark E. Reif deceased inside his home. Deputies arrived at the residence around 9:20 a.m. and discovered that Reif had died from gunshot wounds.