Nathan Kuhn and Chance Paap were drinking at Paap's house early Saturday morning when, police say, Paap got his .45-caliber handgun from a safe.

Both men handled the revolver before, police believe, Paap put his finger through the trigger guard and started to spin the gun, said Lincoln Police Officer Katie Flood.

It fired, hitting Kuhn, 28.

More details emerged Wednesday about the events that led to police finding Kuhn's body in Paap's closet and Paap, 23, being jailed on suspicion of manslaughter.

A one-page probable cause affidavit says Paap "panicked and fled the residence" after Kuhn was shot. Police have yet to say where he was between the shooting and his return to the house early Tuesday, other than that they believe he left the state.

A neighbor who saw Paap about 1 a.m. Tuesday described an innocuous encounter. Police believe Paap was disposing of evidence related to the shooting death at the time.

According to the report, Paap hid Kuhn's body on Tuesday and removed some of the bloodstained items. He wore gloves, placed items in garbage bags and dumped them in a trash can outside his house, the report states.

Then he went to his father's Lincoln home. Hours later, he would voluntarily speak to police.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Lincoln Police Detective Sgt. Dave Munn tried to find Paap after Kuhn's mother reported her son missing on Monday.

Through Kuhn's cell phone records, Munn had determined he called Paap several times. Munn was unsuccessful in finding Paap on Monday.

Judy Wilcox, office manager at Lincoln Cold Storage, said the office called Kuhn's mother when he failed to show up for work Saturday afternoon.

"That was very unusual for him not to be here and not answer (his) phone or anything," Wilcox said.

On Tuesday, Munn got a call from Paap's father, according to the report, "and eventually contacted and interviewed Chance (Paap)."

After that, investigators found Kuhn's body in a closet at Paap's home at 1431 S. 28th St.

Flood said a friend had dropped Kuhn off at his home in the University Place neighborhood late Friday and Kuhn played video games before leaving for Paap's place on his bicycle after midnight.

Police believe Paap met him partway, put the bike in his 1991 Mercury and drove him the rest of the way.

Police are looking for Kuhn's orange and white Schwinn mountain bike, Flood said. Police say Paap dropped the bike off next to a bush on an unknown trail.

Anyone who finds the bike should not touch it and should call police.

Kuhn was paroled Sept. 30 from Community Corrections-Lincoln, where he was serving a sentence for a fourth-offense DUI, third-degree assault of a police officer and misdemeanor assault.

He had last checked his MySpace page a week before his disappearance. He wrote in a description of himself he had a 4-year-old daughter, grew up in Malcolm and Lincoln and loved the outdoors.

According to the page, he went to school in Malcolm and at Lincoln East.

Kuhn received a high school diploma from Southeast Community College-Lincoln in March.

He started working in production at Lincoln Cold Storage, 1700 S. Folsom St., about six months ago, Wilcox said.

When he started, Kuhn was on work release, she said. Recently, the company had started to train him to be a supervisor, Wilcox said.

"He was just an all-around good guy."

The phone number for Village Inn at 28th and O streets was listed on Paap's jail records as his work phone number. Management at the restaurant declined to comment Wednesday, as did members of both Paap's and Kuhn's families.

Paap is set to make his initial appearance in Lancaster County Court on Thursday.

Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com and Cory Matteson at 473-7438 or cmatteson@journalstar.com.