- The families of the four men who went missing in Oklahoma are "distraught" after learning the men were murdered, police said.
- The four Okmulgee men were murdered, dismembered and dumped into a local river, cops said on Monday.
The families of four men who went missing from their small Oklahoma city last week are "distraught" and in "shock" after learning the men were murdered, dismembered, and dumped into a local river, police said on Monday.
Mark Chastain, 32; his younger brother Billy Chastain, 30; Mike Sparks, 32; and 29-year-old Alex Stevens — who police have described as "close friends" — were reported missing from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, roughly a week ago after they vanished following a bicycle ride, cops have said.
Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice revealed during a press briefing on Monday that the case is now a murder investigation and that all four men had been shot before their bodies were dismembered and placed into an area river.
Their remains were recovered from the water between Friday night and Monday morning. The exact cause and manner of their deaths are still pending.
Loved ones of the men — three of whom were fathers — "were upset" and "very distraught" after police informed them of the gruesome news, Prentice said.
"This is not fair," Sparks' devastated fiancée, Chrystal Parker, told Insider on Monday. "I just want all of this to go away."
Authorities believe that the men were planning to "commit some type of criminal act" after they left Billy Chastain's house the night of October 9, Prentice said, adding: "We do not know what they planned or where they planned to do it."
"That belief is based upon 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,'" Prentice said.
The men were reported missing last week to the Okmulgee Police Department overnight Monday into Tuesday by their families, who had not heard from them since Sunday, October 9.
Police said that the owner of a local salvage yard — Joe Kennedy — has been identified as a "person of interest" in the case.
Kennedy, who went missing on Saturday night, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday after he was found in a vehicle that was reported stolen to the Okmulgee County Sheriff's Office on Monday, authorities said.
Police have searched Kennedy's salvage yard and its surrounding properties, and Prentice said they discovered "evidence of a violent event at an adjoining property."
Prentice said that Kennedy had spoken with investigators from the Okmulgee Police Department on Friday afternoon and denied knowing any of the four men.
Authorities were in the process of getting Kennedy back to Okmulgee County from Florida, so that police can talk to him in connection to the murders.
Additionally, a warrant was issued for Kennedy's arrest in relation to a shooting he was sentenced for in 2012 in Okmulgee, police said. The bond for that warrant is $500,000.
Last week, Mark Chastain's wife of nine years, Jessica Chastain, told Insider that the men would regularly frequent a local scrap yard, but it was unclear whether it was the same salvage yard as Kennedy's.
The Okmulgee Police Department is asking anyone with information about the murders, the disposable of the bodies, or Kennedy's whereabouts to contact the department.