Crime and Courts

‘Person of Interest' in Death and Dismemberment of Four Oklahoma Men Found in Florida After Going Missing

Police have not named Joseph Kennedy a suspect in the killings of the four friends -- last seen bicycling Oct. 9 -- but he was arrested in connection to a separate 2012 shooting

KJRH via NBC NewsChannel

A man police have called a "person of interest" in the slayings of four Oklahoma bicyclists was arrested Tuesday more than 1,100 miles away in central Florida, authorities said.

Investigators in Okmulgee told reporters a day earlier that they wanted to question Joseph Kennedy about the slayings of Mark Chastain, 32, Billy Chastain, 30, Mike Sparks, 32, and Alex Stevens, 29.

The friends were last seen riding their bicycles more than a week ago and were later found shot and dismembered in the Deep Fork River, police said Monday. They said Kennedy had disappeared.

The men were believed to have left a house in Okmulgee on bicycles the evening of Oct. 9. The police chief said that the official cause of death was pending but that all four men had gunshot wounds and that their bodies had been dismembered.

Police interviewed a man Friday who owns a scrap yard in the area, but that man -- believed to be Kennedy -- was then reported missing and possibly suicidal, Prentice said.

Kennedy was arrested in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, in a car "that was reported stolen to the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office" on Monday, according to an Okmulgee police statement.

He was also booked in connection to a 2012 shooting in Okmulgee, police said.

The bodies were discovered Friday after a passerby saw something suspicious in the river near a bridge, police said. The bicycles have not yet been found, Prentice said.

The men were all from Okmulgee, which has a population of around 11,000 and is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Tulsa.

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