(Developing: Will be updated)
Authorities are investigating a fatal crash involving a truck registered to the missing Peabody town clerk who vanished three weeks ago amid a criminal investigation.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office, and the Kansas Highway Patrol are investigating the circumstances of a crash involving a 2011 Chevy Silverado registered to Jonathan Clayton who disappeared Aug. 3.
On Monday, Clayton’s husband, Christopher King, told the Wichita Eagle that it was Clayton who died in the crash. He was identified based on his wallet contents and items in his possession.
The Harvey County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a property owner at about 2:45 Sunday afternoon who had located the truck crashed on his property.
Deputies responded to the area, which was a field near mile marker 32 at the U.S. 50 and Interstate 135 interchange. A deceased male was located inside the vehicle.
The Harvey County Sheriff’s Office requested KBI assistance at approximately 3:10 p.m.
The KHP’s Critical Highway Accident Response Team also responded to investigate.
Investigators suspect the vehicle was driven off the road, where it crashed into a tree.
Clayton had worked at the Kansas Department of Commerce where he oversaw the administration of millions of dollars in federal COVID-relief money.
He worked at Commerce from 2020 to 2023.
Last week, Kiowa County Sheriff Kendal Lothman confirmed that he was conducting criminal investigations of Clayton but declined to be more specific.
The sheriff was believed to be investigating theft of $120,000 from the Mullinville Community Foundation and $70,000 from a local cemetery board.
The Commerce Department filed a lawsuit Aug. 7 against the Mullinville Community Foundation, where Clayton had been listed as the secretary/treasurer on the group’s board of directors.
The lawsuit was separate from questions raised in the city of Peabody about how Clayton had accounted for a $740,000 state grant there this year when he served as the town’s interim clerk. He left the Commerce Department in 2023.
The Commerce Department asked for a temporary restraining order freezing the foundation’s bank account stemming from its lawsuit against the foundation.
The agency is demanding repayment of $425,000 in grant funds for failure to properly account for the money. The lawsuit indicates the agency believes there is $211,000 left.
An affidavit filed in the lawsuit shows that Commerce has been advised Clayton was alleged to have embezzled funds from the foundation.
A judge has already issued a temporary restraining order that blocks the Mullinville Community Foundation and any of its employees, officers or contractors from withdrawing money from an account with Haviland State Bank.
Clayton disappeared about three weeks after the Marion County Record first reported Clayton’s criminal history in which he pleaded guilty in 2018 in Philadelphia to forgery, theft and conspiracy to commit theft.
He was sentenced to five years of probation and house arrest. He was allowed to travel to work and attend church. He was permitted to attend eight hours of community service on one weekend day until 200 hours of community service were completed.
He also had to pay $210,000 in restitution at a rate of $600 a month. He owed about $195,000 as of June 10.
The Commerce Department hired Clayton as the southwest regional project manager covering 18 counties in March 2020.
In August 2021, Clayton became director of the recovery office for the Commerce Department, where he said he administered hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID-relief funds, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Clayton said in an email to a variety of people that he was forced to resign from Commerce without citing a specific reason. The Commerce Department said it could not comment.
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department said the agency was not aware of Clayton’s background when he was hired in 2020.
In recent weeks, Clayton had come under scrutiny for how he had administered a $740,000 grant for the town of Peabody’s Main Street Association.
He disappeared the morning he was scheduled to meet with members of the association to help them locate documentation that the state was demanding for administering the grant.
Five days after his disappearance, Clayton foreshadowed his death in an automated email sent to a variety of people, including reporters, the governor’s office as well as Commerce Secretary David Toland and his chief of staff.
“I have made several mistakes in my past and have most likely paid for them with my life,” Clayton said in the email.
“That is why I have assured a life insurance policy that will hopefully accommodate those errors in judgment,” he wrote.
“An optional life insurance policy through KPERS has been established and all those who feel owed may speak with the trustee of my estate.
“Again, my deepest regrets to those whom I’ve hurt, betrayed, or misled,” he said.
