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Human remains found in the Deep Fork River are those of four missing Okmulgee men, according to the Okmulgee police chief, who said the group reportedly was planning criminal activity.
Chief Joe Prentice confirmed in a news conference Monday that the dismembered bodies of Mark Chastain, 32, Billy Chastain, 30, Mike Sparks, 32, and Alex Stevens, 29, were recovered Friday and that each man had gunshot wounds. The case is now a homicide investigation, he said.
“We believe the men planned to commit some type of criminal act,” Prentice said, adding that the four left from an Okmulgee residence on West Sixth Street.
According to Prentice, investigators were told the four had invited a witness to “hit a lick” that reportedly would have provided enough loot to be split among the group. The term refers to a targeted theft or robbery.
Police reportedly discovered evidence of a violent event while searching a salvage yard on 20th Street, along with surrounding properties. The salvage yard owner, Joe Kennedy, is considered a person of interest in the investigation, Prentice said. Kennedy is missing, he added, and investigators have reason to think he could harm himself.
Kennedy’s vehicle was found abandoned in Morris, and “investigators are looking into how it came to be there,” Prentice said in a news release later Monday afternoon.
Investigators continued to work Monday at a closed crime scene near the Sharp Road bridge over the Deep Fork River southwest of Okmulgee.
Prentice said the families of the four men were “very distraught” upon hearing the additional information released Monday and that investigators will continue to look into leads.
Anyone with information about what happened is asked to contact the Okmulgee Police Department by calling 918-756-3511 or emailing [email protected], Prentice said.
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“There is an exchange of gunfire between the subject and law enforcement before the subject is hit,” an OSBI news release states.
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