Missing Oklahoma men found murdered, ‘person of interest’ arrested

The Okmulgee Police Department did not say why Kennedy was seen as a person of interest, nor why the label of "suspect" was avoided, however, it was revealed that "evidence of a violent event" was discovered near a property he owned in the Oklahoma town.

According to Fox News, the murdered and dismembered bodies of the four victims were recovered from the Deep Fork River on October 14, close to Kennedy's scrap yard on 20th Street. Kennedy's blue Chrysler was later discovered abandoned in the nearby town of Morris.

Kennedy is being held without bond in the Volusia County Jail while authorities conduct their investigation.

"We continue to investigate, and that involves numerous things," Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice said. "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."

He explained that the department had received information suggesting that the four men were "planning to commit some kind of criminal act," but did not have any specific details.

"Most missing persons cases involve one person, so this is rare. Very rare," Prentice said, adding that in his thirty-six years of law enforcement, he's "never heard of four adult males going missing at the same time."

The four men, 32-year-old Mark Chastain, his brother Billy Chastain, 30, and their friends, 32-year-old Mike Sparks and Alex Stevens, 29, went missing on October 9 after leaving for a bike ride together.

As FOX News reports, their families are mourning the loss.

"It just feels like he's still in my garage, if that makes sense," Mark's wife Jessica said. "It doesn't feel like he's gone."