Found Deceased OK - Mark Chastain, Billy Chastain, Mike Sparks, Alex Stevens, Okmulgee, 9 Oct 2022

[Tracey4AU]

If I had to guess, I would say these guys had to be killed beforehand and then dumped off the bridge. That’s all that makes sense to me.

The how, why and by whom? I have no idea. This is so beyond bizarre.

 

[MassGuy]

Why wouldn't they identify them from DNA?

Are all their families present/living..?

They will I'm sure, but that's not necessarily a quick process.

 

[Erutan]

I was wondering if they all had too much to drink and all jumped off the bridge for a drunken dare, but looking at the photo of the bridge and river, it seems way too high to even do that when drunk!

Plus if they DID jump, surely they didn't jump with their bicycles too! The bikes would've been left up on the bridge.
MOO.

It might provide clues to find out where those bikes ended up ?
If nowhere near the river, were they taken alive or deceased to that location ?

I'd imagine LE are scouring phone records if they've found their phones by now .

Sorry I'm way behind, and will go back and re-read to see if any phones were found .
I also want to know more about the other two who were with them ?
M00.

 

[charminglane]

I wonder if their wallets are not with them.

 

[Stunned]

No tattoos?

 

[Erutan]

“All four are close friends and are believed to have left Billy Chastain’s home on the west side of Okmulgee” on Sunday, October 9, around 8 p.m., police said in their initial release.

“All were reportedly on bicycles,” the police statement reads, without elaborating about why they’d gathered or where they might have intended to go.

At least two men were believed to have cell phones with them. Police were able to trace the path of at least one phone to the east of town and then south, but the phone eventually was turned off or lost power, police said.

Data indicates the phones went to two salvage yards – one about 5 miles from the river, and the other about 10 to 12 miles from the river, Prentice told CNN on Saturday. Police haven’t said whether the phones have been recovered.

Because the phone data wasn’t near the river, “we never considered this (river) as a search area,” he told reporters Friday.

Prentice cautioned that the phones’ paths didn’t necessarily have to be the path that the men traveled.

No bicycles have been found, Prentice said Saturday.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/15/us/oklahoma-river-missing-bikers-search/index.html

bolding mine.
Yes, I don't think they rode that far at night, along possibly rural roads that (imo) had no street lights ?
No bikes found ... so they arrived at that river likely via a car.
M00.

 

[annpats]

They will I'm sure, but that's not necessarily a quick process.

Right. I was just wondering why it's taking LE a few days to identify them, but I suppose due process has to be followed and they need to be 100% sure. No point rushing it and being wrong.

 

[Erutan]

So, its going to take awhile to identify them. Interesting. They could not have been dead that long....even if they were in the water and had bloated, you'd think they could identify them pretty easily. Makes me wonder if they were chopped up? I guess some animals could have got to them first, but I dunno. That doesn't seem likely with them still in the water vs. on the waters edge.

Anyone know what type of local animals/critters/water things that would be interested in decomposed bodies?

Graphic :





I'd googled decomp and warm water/bodies a while back.
Different case on 48 hours with a teen girl who was killed, it took several days to id her.
I kept thinking why didn't they know who this person was, immediately ?

Pretty quick as in a few days, for a deceased person to lose their appearance, and sometimes with skin decomp. --even tats can be obscured !
Don't really care to look again, so will not post pics -- but it can require a dna sample given by a relative.
M00.

 

[RickshawFan]

Any locals know how thick the mud is in the river the remains were found in?

There was a guy in TX that jumped into a river and got stuck in the mud and drowned a while back: How a Texas man was killed by quicksand on the San Antonio River last year

If they all four jumped in at the same time legs first and got stuck in the mud up to their waste with their head below the surface of the water, they’d be in a heap of trouble.

If two jumped in and became distressed, the other two may have jumped in to try and save them.

I know it sounds crazy that four grown men could all drown right next together, but it reminds me of the family in California that died of heat exhaustion while on a hike -- their bodies were found within yards of each other. Accidental drowning is the likely CoD given the circumstances and what we know so far, IMO.

EBM: if their cell phones really are missing and went in a different direction, that would throw a kink in accidental drowning theory.

That brown water is not exactly inviting for a funsy, spur-of-the-moment, feet-first, dip.

 

[charminglane]

No tattoos?

Someone posted upthread their FB links. I did see tattoos.

 

[Friday Fan]

A few posts back someone mentioned catalytic convertors. Bikes are a quiet means of getting around. Plus it's evening. So, this seems like it could be possible.

I guess they ran into the wrong person(s).

Are there any "big time" (organized crime, rings, turf) stuff with catalytic convertors and/or scrap metal? I can see someone getting enraged over their catalytic converter. However, killing four men is crazy. However, I wonder if there was a turf war or something?

 

[sunshineray]

LE searched there with owners permission. It's stated in one of the videos or the pressor. I'll try to find it.

Does the same person own both salvage yards?

 

[Gae]

That brown water is not exactly inviting for a funsy, spur-of-the-moment, feet-first, dip.

It looks kind of brown in some of those images, but IRL, it often looks very red. No offense to my fellow Okies from the central part of the state, but the Deep Fork starts over in Oklahoma City where it picks up their red dirt and brings it to the eastern part of the state where the soil isn't red. It's usually a very murky red color and not inviting in the least.

 

[idrinkandknowthings]

even if they were in the water and had bloated, you'd think they could identify them pretty easily. Makes me wonder if they were chopped up?

Human remains can become partially skeletonized within a few days, especially in a hot and damp environment with lots of insect and animal activity; however, I think immediate identification of remains by LE is rare in death investigations. They almost always rely on an ME to do the identification. That means the ME has to receive the remains, clear their current cases, examine the remains, wait for lab results, write their report, then send the report to LE. That just takes time. Doesn’t mean anyone was chopped up.

 

[sunshineray]

bolding mine.
Yes, I don't think they rode that far at night, along possibly rural roads that (imo) had no street lights ?
No bikes found ... so they arrived at that river likely via a car.
M00.

or truck.

 

[SuziQ]

The river location doesn't look like a place you could easily access. It appears, the bodies were dumped from a vehicle stopped on the bridge, JMO.

Do we know how far the salvage yard is from the bridge?

 

[Knox]

bolding mine.
Yes, I don't think they rode that far at night, along possibly rural roads that (imo) had no street lights ?
No bikes found ... so they arrived at that river likely via a car.
M00.

No doubt in my mind.

 

[Catmommy]

It is common around here for bikes to be used by thieves because they are quieter than cars and can go places people in cars can't follow. Men on bikes around closed businesses after dark sounds mighty suspicious to me. I'm guessing, and only guessing, someone got tired of being a victim of theft and made victims of who they decided were the thieves. The bodies were dumped. The bikes were not - maybe due to the fear of fingerprint evidence being recovered. This is a solvable crime and I think it will be solved.

 

[Knox]

Do we know how far the salvage yard is from the bridge?

21625 S 200 Rd to 21000 S 236 Rd

www.google.com

I'm not a great mapper, but here are the locations of the scrap yards, gas station & bridge.

-Starting at Scrap Loc 1 (21625 South 200 Road).
-Bridge
-Gas Station (Murphy USA)
-Scrap Yard Loc 2

 

[Ghostwheel]

bolding mine.
Security cameras showed them riding their bikes, under street -- or yard -- lights ?

I don't suppose you, or anyone else maybe, might have a link to that information with the time? The times don't add up from what I have read, and I just wanted to get it lined up in my mind. TIA.