The owner of a landmark Roanoke City Market business has died, just days after police seized his computer and found child pornography on it, according to court documents and the Roanoke Medical Examiner's Office.

Kent Agnew, 61, whose family has owned and operated Agnew Seed for decades, died of unknown causes sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning, according to Dr. Paul Benson, assistant chief medical examiner. Benson said he is waiting for test results before making a determination on cause of death.

Asked about Agnew's death, Roanoke police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said officers were called at midnight to a building in the 300 block of Market Street to investigate a death. Johnson would not identify the person who died or the address, but said the body was found inside a building.

Agnew Seed is at 301 Market St.

Johnson said the death did not appear to be suspicious and police did not suspect foul play.

According to search warrants filed Monday in Roanoke Circuit Court, detectives went to Agnew Seed on Friday morning and told Kent Agnew they had received information that his computer contained child pornography. Agnew allowed the police to view his computer and take his hard drive. According to the warrants, detectives examined the hard drive and found numerous images of child pornography, many "of an explicit nature."

A search warrant that was executed later that evening showed that police also seized, from the same address, zip drives, thumb drives, a computer disk, five magazines and seven books.

Johnson would not comment on the investigation except to say that no arrest had been made. She would not say who supplied the tip to police or whether the images were downloaded off the Internet or sent via e-mail from another location.

According to the business' Web site, Agnew Seed is the oldest seed house in the state and has been owned by the same extended family since 1897. Kent Agnew's father, Frank, bought the store from in-laws in 1945 and operated it until his death in 1990. Kent Agnew began working there when he was 12, the site says.

A handwritten sign dated Monday was posted on the store's front door, apologizing that the business was closed because of a family emergency.

When reached by phone Monday, relatives who identified themselves as Agnew's son and daughter-in-law said they did not wish to comment on the matter.

Other market vendors, when asked about Agnew, spoke highly of him but did not wish to be identified.

Staff writer Sarah Bruyn Jones contributed to this report.