On the afternoon of January 3, 2026, Stella M. Mahkuk, 43, a woman from Topeka, Kansas, was found shot in the 800 block of SW Tyler after police were called to the scene just after 2 p.m. The initial report was simply that something had gone terribly wrong, but when officers arrived they located one victim with injuries serious enough that medics rushed her to a nearby hospital for emergency care.
In the days that followed, word spread that she hadn't survived.
Authorities later confirmed she died from the injuries she suffered in the shooting; while the shooting occurred on January 3, her death was reported publicly a few days later as investigators continued working the case. Her obituary recorded that she died at Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka on January 4, 2026, and she was remembered there as a loved one whose life ended far too soon. She was also identified in community remembrance as Prairie Band Potawatomi.
What happened in those moments on SW Tyler—who fired, why, and what led up to it—has not been laid out in any detailed public narrative by investigators. The official public information released in early reporting was stark: one victim, one shooting scene, and an investigation that was still active. As of the reporting that followed, police had not announced any arrest, nor had they publicly identified a suspect or suspects, described a motive, or released charging documents connected to the killing.
