A Kansas man will spend at least 50 years in prison. A jury found him guilty. He killed his ex wife. Before he killed her, he spied on her for weeks. He used hidden cameras. He used a tracker too.

Brian McKay is 55 years old. A judge sentenced him on July 20. The killing happened in Shawnee County, Kansas. That is near Topeka. He killed Monica McKay. She was his ex wife. She was 50 years old. They lived in a small town called Tecumseh.

This case did not happen in Texas. El Tejano is covering it for a reason. It shows how bad stalking can get during a divorce. The warning signs here matter in South Texas too. Families here should know them.

Monica and Brian got married in 2009. They split up in the summer of 2024. Monica filed for divorce that October. Before she filed, her son found hidden devices in her home. Police say the devices were secret cameras. They were also secret microphones. Brian put a tracker on Monica's car too. The tracker showed everywhere she drove. It showed her house. It showed her job.

Monica got a protection order against Brian. That happened five days before she filed for divorce. A protection order is a court paper. It orders one person to stay away from another. Brian got served with that paper on October 17, 2024. Police say he kept stalking her anyway. He did not stop until the day she died.

Monica was found dead on November 28, 2024. That was Thanksgiving Day. Police say she had been choked. She had also been beaten. She had been drowned in a bathtub. When police first talked to Brian, he lied. He said he had not seen Monica since her order. Officers saw fresh marks on his face. They saw marks on his neck too. He said one mark was a scar from surgery. He said the other was a scratch from a tree branch. Police did not believe him.

The sheriff's office called Monica's death a homicide. That means someone killed her on purpose. Police arrested Brian McKay on February 11, 2025. They charged him with murder. They charged him with breaking into her home. They charged him with stalking. They charged him with breaking the protection order. A jury found him guilty on all counts. That happened on May 14, 2026.

Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay spoke after the sentencing. "Today's sentence ensures that Brian McKay will be held fully accountable for the deliberate and calculated murder of Monica McKay," Kagay said. "The evidence established that this was not a crime of impulse. It was the culmination of weeks of stalking, planning, and escalating conduct that ended in a cruel killing."

Kagay thanked the jury too. He thanked the police as well. "Justice cannot erase what happened," he said. "But today our justice system fulfilled its responsibility by holding the defendant accountable for his crimes. Our thoughts remain with Monica's family and friends, who have endured unimaginable loss."

Monica McKay worked at a Topeka hospital. She ran the doctor clinics there. Her obituary said she cared about her patients. It said she cared about her community too.

Brian's murder charge is the top crime under Kansas law. It means he gets life in prison. He does not get a set number of years. The judge said his other terms run at the same time. He will not serve extra years on top.

This case matters far from Kansas too. Experts say protection orders only work one way. Police and courts must take them seriously from day one. If you find a hidden device in your home, call the police right away. If you feel watched by an ex, get help fast. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233. It works all over the country. That includes South Texas.