Topeka Police Arrest 19-Year-Old in Fatal Mobile Home Park Shooting
A two-week homicide probe ended with the arrest of 19-year-old Tayvian Smith in southeast Topeka. Police had already asked for help identifying a person of interest before making the case move.
A fatal shooting at a southeast Topeka mobile home park turned into an arrest in just over two weeks, with police taking 19-year-old Tayvian Smith into custody in the death of 22-year-old Devin David-Lee Hoadley.
Officers responded to the 200 block of Southeast 29th Street, at 245 SE 29th, around 1:13 p.m. on April 13 after reports of a shooting. Police found Hoadley, a Topeka resident, with a gunshot wound. First responders rushed him to a local hospital, where he died just before 6 p.m. that same day.
The Topeka Police Department publicly identified Hoadley as the victim on April 15, while investigators were still piecing together the case. Before the arrest, police had already gone public with a request for help identifying a person of interest, signaling that detectives were working leads from the scene and from witnesses in the hours after the shooting.
On April 28, police arrested Smith in connection with the killing and charged him with second-degree murder and aggravated battery. The arrest marked the first major resolution in a case that moved quickly from a 911 response to a homicide investigation and then to a named suspect.
What police have not publicly detailed is the specific evidence that tied Smith to Hoadley’s death. The reporting confirms the arrest, the charges, and the earlier push for tips, but it does not lay out the exact sequence of witness statements, physical evidence, or other investigative steps that led detectives to Smith.
That timeline matters in a city where violent deaths stay under close watch. One local report said Hoadley’s death was Topeka’s third homicide of 2026. A separate report noted the city recorded 21 homicides in 2024, down from 36 in 2023, a reminder of how closely each new killing is tracked by residents and investigators alike.
Police listed multiple ways for the public to pass along information during the investigation, including the Topeka Police Department at 785-368-9400, Detective Victor Riggin at 785-368-9503 and Shawnee County Crime Stoppers at 785-234-0007. For a case that began with a gunshot wound at a mobile home park in southeast Topeka, the arrest of Smith is the first clear sign that detectives believe they have moved from an open homicide scene to a suspect they can charge.
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