A Baltimore man pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing his roommate during a dispute over money and then putting the body in a vehicle that police found behind a gas station on Harford Road.

Markis Russell, 25, faces decades in prison at his sentencing, set for Aug. 6. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and using a firearm in a crime of violence against his roommate, 22-year-old Jeffrey Brooks Jr., according to court documents.

Prosecutors agreed to seek a minimum of 35 years but no more than 40 years in prison for Russell, the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office said.

Police began investigating after Brooks’ family reported March 23, 2023, that he was missing and may have had a physical altercation with his roommate, Russell. Both men were reportedly U.S. military reservists.

Brooks’ father told police that he saw Russell leave the apartment in the 3100 block of Mary Ave. with a wet vacuum after Brooks went missing. Brooks’ girlfriend, who had access to the apartment, also told investigators that the carpet was wet, according to charging documents.

Russell told officers over the phone that he and Brooks had a fight over money and that he needed the vacuum to clean up after a dog living in the home before moving out, police wrote.

Investigators also discovered that Russell had rented and returned a U-haul within a few hours the day after Brooks was reported missing, according to charging documents.

When detectives interviewed Russell again, he confessed to shooting Brooks after the two got into an altercation over money that Russell owed to Brooks. Brooks said he would keep the money Russell owed from the deposit they had put down on their apartment, police wrote.

The argument became physical and Russell claimed that he fired his gun after Brooks approached him with a knife “in a manner that he felt Mr. Brooks was going to stab him,” police wrote.

Russell then stowed the body in the rear of Brooks’ vehicle and parked the vehicle behind a gas station on Harford Road, where he left it, according to the charging documents. Investigators recovered Brooks’ body there.

Russell’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.