A set of lacking individuals studies has was a murder investigation after dismembered bodies found in an Oklahoma river have been recognized as 4 males who vanished final week, police stated.
The males — Mark Chastain, 32; Billy Chastain, 30; Mike Sparks, 32; and Alex Stevens, 29 — have been reported lacking by family final Monday evening or early Tuesday after leaving Billy Chastain’s Okmulgee, Oklahoma, residence on bicycles round 9 p.m. on Oct. 9, police have stated.
The males seem to have been planning to commit a criminal offense after they set out, Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice stated Monday, citing a preliminary investigation. All had been shot, he stated.
Meantime, an individual police wish to discuss with associated to the case has been lacking as of (*4*) evening and could possibly be suicidal, the chief stated. The individual just isn’t a suspect, and no fees have been filed, he stated.
“I’ve labored over 80 murders in my profession. I’ve labored murders involving a number of victims. I’ve labored dismemberments, however this case entails the best variety of victims, and it is a very violent occasion,” Prentice stated.
Here’s what we all know in regards to the case:
ALL THE MEN FOUND IN THE RIVER HAD BEEN SHOT
A passerby referred to as police Friday after seeing one thing suspicious in a river exterior Okmulgee, a metropolis of about 11,000 folks roughly a 35-mile (56-kilometre) drive south of Tulsa, Prentice beforehand stated.
Police arrived, noticed stays and found a number of bodies.
The bodies have been recognized as the 4 lacking males — all having been shot and dismembered, the chief introduced Monday.
“Although the official trigger and method of dying remains to be pending, every sufferer suffered gunshot wounds,” Prentice stated. “All 4 bodies have been dismembered earlier than being positioned within the river, and that’s what brought on issue in figuring out identities.”
The stays have been recovered over a number of days, and it is not clear what sort of proof investigators will be capable of get better.
“Whenever water is concerned, it makes it way more troublesome to establish proof,” the chief stated.
Police haven’t recovered any bicycles, nor the gun used within the killings.
POLICE BELIEVE THE FOUR FRIENDS WERE PLANNING A CRIME
While it stays unclear precisely what led as much as the boys’s deaths, it seems they have been planning to commit a criminal offense after they left Chastain’s residence, Prentice stated, citing a preliminary investigation.
The perception is predicated on “info equipped by a witness who studies they have been invited to go together with the boys to cite, unquote, ‘Hit a lick large enough for all of them,'” the chief stated Monday in a information convention.
“That is frequent terminology for partaking in some kind of legal behaviour, however we have no idea what they have been planning or the place they deliberate to do it,” Prentice added.
After the boys have been reported lacking, police stated they believed not less than two of the boys had cell telephones with them. Investigators traced the telephones’ path, discovering the gadgets went to 2 salvage yards — one about 5 miles from the river, and the opposite about 10 to 12 miles from the river, Prentice instructed CNN on (*4*).
Police later found “proof of a violent occasion” on property adjoining a kind of areas, the chief stated with out elaborating.
A ‘PERSON OF INTEREST’ IS MISSING
Police have an individual of curiosity within the case, and no fees have been filed, the chief stated Monday.
The individual, who has denied realizing the 4 males, just isn’t a suspect however “an individual of curiosity that we would like to speak to,” Prentice stated.
But the individual has gone lacking as of (*4*) evening and could possibly be suicidal, Prentice stated.
Now that the case is a murder probe, police shall be extra tight-lipped about additional proceedings “to guard the integrity of the investigation,” Prentice stated.