A man convicted of a May 2021 Topeka murder was sentenced Thursday to life in prison with no chance of parole until he serves 51 years and eight months.
Shawnee County District Judge Cheryl Rios imposed that sentence on Jeremy F. Volle, who was convicted in March of crimes including first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Aaron D. Shepherd in downtown Topeka.
Volle, who turned 37 on March 1, will receive credit for time served in the Shawnee County Jail, where he has been incarcerated since June 2021. He would become eligible for parole in February 2073, one month before his 86th birthday. .
How did the police connect Jeremy Volle to the crime?
Shepherd, 49, died at a Topeka hospital after being shot just before 4:45 a.m. on May 27, 2021, on SW 17th Street, east of SW Buchanan, Topeka police said.
Shepherd was found lying in the road next to his vehicle. He had a gunshot wound, said Katie Garceran, public information officer for District Attorney Mike Kagay’s office.
Police obtained surveillance video taken in the area, which allowed them to determine that Shepherd was shot by someone who was in a Chevrolet Trailblazer, she said.
“Further investigation revealed that Jeremy Volle was the passenger in the Trailblazer and police subsequently obtained evidence that established his responsibility for committing the crime,” Garceran said.
In March, a jury convicted Volle after a five-day trial on one count of first-degree murder in the commission of a felony, second-degree unintentional but reckless homicide and criminal possession of a weapon by a felon.
Who else was convicted in the case?
Volle became the second man convicted of crimes including murder linked to Shepherd’s death. The other was Brandon TD Croskey, 33, Topeka Capital-Journal archives show.
Croskey pleaded guilty in November 2022 in Shawnee County District Court to one count each of second-degree involuntary but reckless homicide and criminal discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle with great bodily harm, court records show .
Croskey was sentenced April 23 to 20 years in prison for the murder conviction and four years and seven months — to be served at the same time — for the criminal discharge of a firearm conviction, court records show.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared in the Topeka Capital-Journal: Sentence means Topeka killer can’t be paroled until he’s 85
