A person of interest in the killings of four men in Oklahoma has been arrested in Florida,
Joe Kennedy was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly driving a stolen car, the Okmulgee Police Department said in a statement. Mr Kennedy was named a person of interest in the killings of four friends who were found dismembered in a river over the weekend, a week after they went missing.
The victims have been identified as brothers Billy Chastain, 30, and Mark Chastain, 32, and their friends, 29-year-old Alex Stevens and Mike Sparks, 32. They were last seen leaving Billy Chastain’s home on bicycles around 8pm on 9 October.
On Monday, Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice said that the killings had been extremely violent in nature and that Mr Kennedy, the owner of a scrapyard near where the men were found, was wanted for further questioning but was not yet considered a suspect, ABC reported.
Mr Kennedy was arrested in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, and is expected to be extradited to Oklahoma. The Okmulgee Police Department has issued a warrant for his arrest in relation to a 2012 shooting, with a $500,000 bond.
The dismembered bodies of the four men were discovered in the Deep Fork River on Saturday. Each victim suffered gunshot wounds, police said during a press conference on Monday.
Police said there were no indications that Mr Kennedy and the victims had any type of relationship. Authorities also found through interviews that the victims had been allegedly planning to commit an unspecified crime before they vanished.
“That belief is based on information supplied by a witness who reports they were invited to go with the men to ‘hit a lick big enough for all of them,’” chief Prentice said during a press conference on Monday. “We do not know what they planned or where they planned to do it.”
Investigators in the case reviewed video and used GPS tracks to gather evidence in the search for the four men. In the hours after they went missing on 9 October, police received several tips of sightings in the area but were unable to obtain confirmation.
Stevens was reportedly seen at a smoke shop at 4am on 10 October by himself, while another witness said he saw the Chastain brothers in the early morning hours of that date near a YMCA location.
“Nothing remarkable was observed inside the salvage yard but evidence of a violent event was discovered on an adjoining property. “Mr Kennedy is considered a person of interest, but no charges have been filed.”
The bicycles are still missing.
A GoFundMe page has been created to raise funds for the brothers. According to the description, Mark Chastain leaves behind his wife and two children, while Billy Chastain is survived by his partner and their four sons.
The FBI is assisting in the investigation.
