Man facing Kent murder charge reportedly dismembered body

A man charged with second-degree murder for a 2021 killing in Kent of 36-year-old Austin Leming reportedly dismembered Leming’s body to get rid of him. The remains of Leming have yet to be found.

Brian Christopher Mares, 46, whose last known address is listed as Kent, faces a second-degree murder charge in the Dec. 8, 2021 incident that allegedly involved a verbal dispute in a Kent apartment in the 1600 block of West Smith Street, according to charging papers filed Nov. 19 by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Kent Police arrested Mares for investigation of murder Nov. 17 at a Des Moines address after a four-year investigation that started with the disappearance of Leming. A judge set bail at $5 million, the amount requested by prosecutors. He remains in the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle.

Mares pleaded not guilty Nov. 24 in Courtroom GA of the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, according to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. He is scheduled for a pretrial hearing Dec. 15.

“Investigators spoke with multiple witnesses who observed evidence consistent with the defendant’s statements that, after he killed the victim, he dismembered his body in order to get rid of him,” wrote Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jason Brookhyser in charging documents. “This incident took place nearly four years ago, and it is has taken investigators this long to build this case and confirm this evidence precisely because of the extraordinary and terrifying lengths the defendant went to in his efforts to destroy evidence that he murdered the victim.”

Kent Police initially arrested Mares Dec. 23, 2021, on a state Department of Corrections felony warrant in his Kent apartment where the killing reportedly occurred on Dec. 8, 2021. Mares was booked Dec. 23, 2021 into the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) jail in Des Moines, but released Jan. 7, 2022, according to jail records.

Detectives interviewed Mares after his arrest in 2021 and he confirmed he lived at the apartment and was addicted to fentanyl, according to charging papers. Investigators noticed Mares had gunshot wounds to his arm and the side of his torso. Mares confirmed he had been shot and that he did not go to the doctor.

Mares reportedly refused to talk about the injuries or identify who shot him and eventually requested to have an attorney present.

When Mares was booked into SCORE, a nurse conducted an intake medical evaluation and removed a bullet from his back, according to charging papers. Jail staff confiscated 130 blue fentanyl pills and 41.2 grams of Xanax bars from Mares, which he had concealed.

During a search of Mares’ apartment by forensic scientists, blood spatter was found and recovered in every room of the two-bedroom, one-bath unit. Testing by the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab concluded that blood samples from a spare bedroom, living room and dining room all matched a DNA reference sampling belonging to Leming.

During the search, police found a spent .380 caliber pistol cartridge casing and a single spent .223 caliber rifle casing in the spare bedroom, along with a wooden baseball bat. All the flooring in both bedrooms, the hallway, the dining room and a portion of the living room were missing, exposing the concrete subfloor.

A witness, the business partner of Leming, notified Kent Police on Dec. 22, 2021 about the possible murder of Leming, according to charging documents. Family and friends had last heard from Leming on Dec. 8 and his mother reported him missing Dec. 12 to Puyallup Police.

The business partner told Kent Police his suspicion began on Dec. 15, 2021 after Mares, the boyfriend of his daughter, called and asked him for help. Mares claimed he had been shot and wanted help removing a bullet from his body.

The business partner went to the Kent apartment. Mares didn’t say who shot him but said it was with a “.38 pistol.” The witness noticed most of the apartment’s vinyl flooring had been torn up, and he could see commercially packaged chicken and beef thawing in a pool of suspected blood on the exposed subfloor. He also saw an AK-47-type assault rifle in Mares’ bedroom.

Mares reportedly mentioned he needed bleach and referred to the thawing meat on the floor saying, “all this blood is going to be mixed together, and they won’t know whose is whose.”

Mares told the man he had given his daughter 5,000 fentanyl pills and a pound of methamphetamine that he had taken from the person who shot him, according to charging papers.

Detectives acquired cellphone records of Mares and Leming that showed Leming had traveled to Kent from Puyallup Dec. 8, 2021, and was in the area of Mares’ apartment. Cellphone records also showed Leming had communicated with two other people prior to his disappearance.

Those witnesses told police that Leming was driving a black Volkswagen Jetta and that he was in possession of several thousand blue fentanyl pills, a large quantity of meth, Xanax bars and thousands of dollars in cash, according to charging documents. A witness also said Leming had a compact .380 pistol and a blue Rolex watch that originally belonged to the girlfriend of Mares.

Another witness reportedly overheard Mares saying he had cut up a body and that cutting up the body made his anger go away. Yet another witness who visited the Kent apartment said Mares bragged about taking pills and meth from a robber. A witness also told police they observed Mares cleaning what was suspected to be blood and meat tissue from a yellow electric saw in the kitchen sink.

Kent Police eventually recovered a .380 pistol that a witness took from Mares and testing later determined that DNA found on the grip of the gun matched Leming’s DNA.

The girlfriend of Mares told investigators that she had messaged Leming Dec. 8, 2021, to come to Mares’ apartment to sell her pills and that just she and Mares were in the unit, according to charging papers. The girlfriend fled the apartment after she said Leming and Mares got into a verbal conflict and she heard a gunshot and heard Leming say to Mares, “why are you coming at me like this?” She said Mares then yelled at her to get out of the apartment.

As of October 2025, Kent Police, with the assistance of King County Search and Rescue and other state and federal law enforcement agencies, has conducted multiple searches and followed up on numerous tips over nearly four years but have not been able to locate any remains of Leming.

Leming’s pattern of regularly communicating with his young son ended on Dec. 8, 2021, and no one has heard from him since. In addition, the Rolex watch last seen in Leming’s possession, his .380 pistol and the rental VW Jetta vehicle he had been driving all remained at Mares’ apartment on Dec. 8, 2021, which was the same location his cellphone was last located and ceased operating and where his blood was splattered throughout multiple rooms.

According to court documents, the criminal history of Mares includes two convictions for felony violation of a no contact order, four convictions for misdemeanor violation of a no contact order, two convictions for third-degree assault and a conviction for tampering with a witness – domestic violence.