OKMULGEE, Okla. (AP) — A man described as a “person of interest” in the killing and dismemberment of four men in eastern Oklahoma admitted to a woman that he killed the men and “cut them up,” according to a prosecutor’s affidavit.
Authorities believe 67-year-old Joseph Kennedy shot and killed the four men on Oct. 9 at Kennedy’s scrap yard, according to the affidavit unsealed Thursday and signed by Assistant District Attorney Carman Rainbolt.
Kennedy told a woman in Gore, Oklahoma, that he killed and dismembered the four men because they were stealing from him, according to the affidavit, which was filed by prosecutors who were seeking to increase Kennedy’s bond.
The dismembered bodies of Mark Chastain, 32, Billy Chastain, 30, Mike Sparks, 32, and Alex Stevens, 29, were found Oct. 14 in the Deep Fork River in Okmulgee, a town of around 11,000 people that’s about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Tulsa. The men were believed to have left a house in Okmulgee on bicycles the evening of Oct. 9.
One of Kennedy’s court-appointed attorneys, Gregg Graves, declined to comment Friday.
Kennedy was arrested Oct. 17 in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, while driving a stolen vehicle, according to Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice. He was later extradited to Oklahoma.
Kennedy has not been formally charged, but Okmulgee County Jail records show he is being held on $10 million bond in connection with a 2012 charge of assault and battery with a deadly weapon for which he was still on probation.
A telephone message left Friday for Rainbolt and Okmulgee County District Attorney Carol Iski was not immediately returned.
