The bewildering case of the four murdered men whose dismembered bodies were tossed in an Oklahoma river is the first of its kind Okmulgee’s police chief has ever investigated.
Okmulgee County Police Chief Joe Prentice told Fox News Wednesday it is “very rare” for four adult men to go missing at the same time.
“Most missing persons cases involve one person, so this is rare. Very rare,” Prentice said. “I’ve done 36 years in law enforcement and have never heard of four adult males going missing at the same time.”
Mark Chastain, 32, his brother Billy Chastain, 30, Mike Sparks, 32, and Alex Stevens, 29, went missing Oct. 9 after leaving on a bike ride to reportedly commit a crime, though police aren’t sure what the foursome had planned. Officers found their gunshot-riddled and dismembered bodies “protruding from” Deep Fork River five days later.
Person of interest and convicted felon Joe Kennedy was taken in for questioning Tuesday after police found evidence of a “violent event” that occurred at a scrapyard he owned in the area. One of the victims’ phones last pinged in the salvage yard before going dead, police said.
Police recovered a slew of items from the scene that may or may not be related to the murders in “an abundance of caution,” Prentice said.
“We continue to investigate, and that involves numerous things,” said Prentice. “We continue to … sift through digital evidence, we are still awaiting phone records that we submitted search warrants for, we are interviewing potential witnesses and people that called in additional information, and any new leads that come in, we follow them.”
Jessica Chastain, the grieving wife of Mark, told Fox23 that her toddler and 4-year-old daughter are struggling to understand why their father hasn’t come home.
“Even though they don’t understand, they can feel the sadness … they feel that something is going on,” Chastain said.
The widow feels confident that police will solve the gruesome mystery.
“I mean, they took my kid’s daddy, and my husband. Not only Mark, but they took other people’s families,” she said. “Eventually the truth will come out. Eventually. We need justice for, not only Mark, but all of them.”
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