A Columbus man faces a murder charge after city homicide detectives allege he killed his brother and tried to hide his body under a tarp and mulch.
Markus Yeanay, 28, of the city’s Northeast Side, is accused of killing Xavier Reynolds, 39, who court records say was Yeanay’s brother. In addition to murder, Yeanay also faces an evidence tampering charge, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records.
According to the complaint, Columbus police responded at 9:54 p.m. May 11 to a report of a possible homicide in the 2400 block of Brocton Court. The 911 caller, which the complaint identified as the father of Yeanay and Reynolds, told officers he believed that Yeanay killed Reynolds and that Reynolds’ body was lying on the side of the house.
Officers went to the house and found Reynolds’ body wrapped in a rug and covered with a tarp, with mulch piled on top in what appeared to be an attempt to conceal the body, according to the complaint.
Columbus Division of Fire medics declared Reynolds dead at the scene at 10:07 p.m., according to the complaint.
In the complaint, prosecutors allege that Yeanay’s father told detectives that Yeanay has “anger issues” and that when the father got home, he noticed Yeanay was acting strangely in the driveway on the side of the house. He said he saw Yeanay pouring mulch onto a pile, and when he approached the pile, he realized it was a body.
The father confronted Yeanay and asked if it was Reynolds, prosecutors allege in the complaint. Yeanay began crying and fled from the home on foot. The father called police and tried to follow Yeanay but lost sight of him in the woods.
Detectives searched the home and found “a large amount of blood” inside the living room area and down the hallway to the bedroom, according to the complaint. A detective said there seemed to be so much blood that he believed that “homicidal violence” took place inside the home.
Detectives also collected evidence from the trash cans on the side of the house, including discarded clothes and weapons that prosecutors allege Yeanay possibly used.
Police arrested Yeanay on May 12, and he remains at the Franklin County jail in lieu of a $1 million, according to jail records.
Authorities ask anyone with information to contact the Columbus police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or provide an anonymous tip to Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, ShahidMeighan on X and shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus man charged with killing his brother and hiding his body
Reporting by Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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