LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) – Authorities in two states are checking possible links between a burned body found in a suburban Kansas City backyard and a missing persons case in northeastern Kansas.

The tenant of a rental home in Lee’s Summit, Missouri found the body of a middle-aged, heavyset white male Monday in the backyard.

Police had not identified the man by Wednesday, and still weren’t sure if he died in the fire or was set ablaze after being killed.

Detectives are looking into possible connections with a report filed Sunday of a person missing from Leawood, Kansas about 15 miles away.

Police were not releasing that person’s name on Wednesday, but they’re asking the public’s help in locating the individual’s vehicle. It’s a black, 2005 Jeep Cherokee with Kansas license plate
726-CSI.