By Lucky Kidd
NEWTON, Kan. — A pickup truck linked to missing interim Peabody City Clerk Jonathan Clayton was found Sunday afternoon just outside Newton, with a body inside. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has joined the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office in an investigation.
In a Sunday evening news release, the KBI said Harvey County deputies were called about 2:45 p.m. Sunday by a property owner near the north I-135/US50 junction on the northeast edge of Newton who found a 2011 Chevy Silverado crashed on his property.
When deputies arrived, a deceased male was found inside the pickup. A Critical Highway Accident Response Team from the Kansas Highway Patrol responded along with the KBI. Investigators suspect the pickup was driven off the road where it crashed into a tree.
According to the KBI’s statement, the vehicle is registered to Clayton. Positive identification of the body is pending, and an autopsy will be conducted.
Clayton disappeared August 3rd, shortly before he was to meet with members of the Peabody Main Street Association to assist them in straightening out issues with paperwork connected with a BASE grant it received and for which the Kansas Department of Commerce have given them until Sept. 4 to submit.
Clayton had been named Interim City Clerk in June by the Peabody City Council, on which his husband serves, following a mass departure of city employees. He had been convicted of multiple felony crimes in Philadelphia prior to coming to Kansas and had served as Director of Economic Recovery for the Kansas Department of Commerce from which he left in 2023.
He also did work for two entities in the Kiowa County town of Mullinville, where missing funds from both are being investigated.
An email was sent from an account linked to Clayton Aug. 8, in which he made a number of allegations against Secretary of Commerce and Lieutenant Governor David Toland, and others including current Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson related to how COVID relief funds were distributed.
