KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 39-year-old Grandview, Missouri man pleaded guilty this week in federal court for his role in a $4.1 million drug-trafficking scheme that is linked to two killings, which distributed about 520 kilograms of methamphetamine in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas.

Markus Michael A. Patterson admitted that between Jan. 1, 2017 and Sept. 1, 2018, he participated with others in a scheme to distribute meth and launder drug proceeds and to possessing a firearm in connection to a drug-trafficking crime and to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Patterson was arrested in August 2018 at a hotel in Phelps County, Missouri. Officers found approximately one pound of methamphetamine, $8,742 in cash, and drug paraphernalia in Patterson’s hotel room and car, according to court documents.

The cash seized by officers was the proceeds of drug sales, which Patterson was supposed to return to his source in Kansas City.

According to the Department of Justice, the drug-trafficking organization with which Patterson was associated was responsible for two murders.

In August 2018, James Hampton was seized by members of the same drug trafficking scheme that supplied Patterson with the Phelps County methamphetamine.

Patterson was in St. Louis, with this group when Hampton was seized. Hampton was seized because conspirators thought he could help find the drugs and money stolen by co-conspirator David Richards.

When they realized Hampton could not or would not help, he was restrained and beaten. Hampton was then transported from St. Louis to Kansas City, in the trunk of his car, court documents say. Brittanie Broyles, who was with Hampton and witnessed him being beaten and restrained, was also taken to Kansas City.

In August 2018 Hampton’s car and body were discovered burning in Bates City, Missouri. Broyles’s body was recovered by the Super Flea in the Northeast area of Kansas City. She had been killed by two gunshots to her head.

Witnesses and video identified Patterson following another suspect, Gerald Ginnings, 42, of Kansas City, in a co-conspirator’s car as Ginnings drove Hampton’s car to Bates City.

Ginnings pleaded guilty on Friday, Oct. 21, to the same charges as Patterson.