'Multiple' human remains found in river identified as 4 missing Oklahoma men
10/17/2022 1:16 pm PDT
UPDATE Oct. 19, 2022:
Okmulgee Police announced Joe Kennedy, a person if interest in a quadruple homicide, was arrested in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida. He was reportedly driving a vehicle that had previously been reported stolen to the Okmulgee County Sheriff's Office on Oct. 17.
Volusia County Jail records show he is being held on charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle and fugitive from justice.
Okmulgee Police said the Okmulgee County District Attorney and Sheriff will begin the process of extraditing him back to Oklahoma from Florida.
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OKMULGEE, Okla. (TCD) -- Detectives reportedly discovered "multiple" human remains in a river amid a search for four missing men who have not been seen for about a week.
On Oct. 14, Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice said in a press conference a passerby saw "something that looked suspicious" in a river near Sharp Road and called police. Officers arrived at the scene and discovered the remains, and several law enforcement agencies arrived to assist.
Prentice said there were "body parts protruding from the water.”
Law enforcement officials worked throughout the weekend at the scene and continued investigating the remains as well as a potential connection to the men who were last seen Oct. 9.
Billy Chastain, Mark Chastain, Mike Sparks, and Alex Stevens were all reported missing Monday, Oct. 10, to the Okmulgee Police Department. They are reportedly "close friends" and believed to have left Billy Chastain’s home on bicycles at approximately 8 p.m. The men reportedly had their phones, but all calls went to voicemail.
At a press conference Monday, Oct. 17, Prentice said detectives learned from a witness Billy Chastain, Mark Chastain, Sparks, and Stevens "planned to commit some type of criminal act" when they left the home Sunday evening. The men allegedly invited the witness to "hit a lick big enough for all of them," but Prentice said he did not know what that entailed.
According to Prentice, investigators searched a salvage yard and a scrap yard for remains and found evidence of a "violent event." The salvage yard’s owner, Joe Kennedy, is a person of interest but is reportedly missing.
Prentice said he believes all of the remains have been removed from the river. The men had reportedly been shot and dismembered.
During the briefing, Prentice said the victims’ family members are all "distraught" by the deaths, which he called a "very violent event."
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