25-year-old Valley Center man receives life sentence for killing Wichita teenager in 2023

A 25-year-old Valley Center man was sentenced to life in prison this week for the 2023 killing of a Wichita teenager who was found shot to death in a rolling vehicle in south Wichita.

Rico Jermanine Brown Jr. will not be eligible for parole for the killing of 16-year-old Elrecus Nolan for more than 51 years.

In July, a jury found Brown guilty of first-degree murder.

Another defendant, 22-year-old Dougqualynn Raymond Patterson of Wichita, was charged with first-degree premeditated and planned murder.

Police were called to the shooting near Mount Vernon and Ellis at 10:20 p.m. on July 3, 2023 and found Nolan with a gunshot wound to the upper body and not breathing.

He was sitting in the driver's seat and was the only occupant of a 2002 Ford Taurus. He died at the scene of the accident.

A witness reported hearing several gunshots before seeing a silver 2002 Ford Taurus “rolling slowly westbound on Mount Vernon, striking the curb and then coming to a stop on the sidewalk,” police previously said.

An arrest affidavit lays out some details of the incident. Here's what it says:

The shooting occurred several blocks east of where Nolan was found.

Surveillance video showed a suspect vehicle that police believe was a 2015 or later Ford Fusion. Within hours of the shooting, police were using Flock license plate readers in Wichita to search for a “silver or gray” Ford sedan.

One of the returned vehicles was registered to Patterson, who had an arrest warrant out of Wichita.

Officers located the vehicle and approached Patterson as he was getting into the driver's seat.

Police found a “spent shell casing in the exterior windshield” that matched the shells found at the shooting scene.

Patterson told police he met Nolan and two others at 4 a.m. on the day of the shooting to hang out. He got into the back seat of Nolan's vehicle, whereupon all three other occupants pointed their guns at him and robbed him of $800, his pistol and his watch.

“They also searched his vehicle for other items,” the affidavit states.

Patterson was told to leave and got into his car to drive away when about ten shots were fired at him. He was not hit.

His “vehicle was examined and found to have numerous bullet holes.” Officers who went to the area where Patterson said he was robbed found eight 9mm shell casings.

Patterson told two of his friends, including Brown. The other friend was arrested but not charged.

Brown was “particularly shocked by what had happened and said he would kill Nolan for him.”

The three of them drove around looking for Nolan.

Finally, they happened to be at a Valero gas station when Nolan arrived.

“The three of them were waiting… for Nolan to leave.”

Patterson was sitting in the back seat on the driver's side of a vehicle. Brown was driving. They followed Nolan to his house. Nolan then walked away and they followed him until Nolan came to a stop light.

Patterson said that Brown “leaned out of the car and fired a handgun at Nolan and his vehicle. He estimated there were 10 shots in total. He observed Nolan pass out at the light.”

Then they drove off.

Police found $1,137 in Nolan's pocket and a gun in the center console.

Brown was arrested five days after the shooting. A 9mm handgun was found in the apartment where he was arrested. Patterson was arrested three days after the shooting.

Since then, both have been in the Sedgwick County Jail.