Person of interest in 4 homicides in Oklahoma held without bail in Volusia County

An Oklahoma man wanted as a person of interest in the shooting deaths and dismemberment of four men in the state was ordered held without bail on Wednesday at the Volusia County Branch Jail.

A warrant out of Oklahoma asked that Joseph Kennedy II, 67, of Okmulgee, be held on $500,000 bail.

The warrant issued for Kennedy's arrest in Okmulgee County District Court is in connection with a 2012 case where the bond was set at $500,000, Okmulgee police said.

Locked up for public safety

Kennedy appeared before Circuit Judge Bryan A. Feigenbaum at the Volusia County Branch Jail court on Wednesday afternoon.

An attorney from the Public Defender's Office asked a judge to consider lowering the bail. Feigenbaum said he denied the request in the interest of public safety given what he had learned about Kennedy.

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"Given the total picture which has come to my attention, I think that at this point in time, for public safety, and for Mr. Kennedy's situation, I think no bond is appropriate," Feigenbaum said.

In a news release on Wednesday, the Okmulgee Police Department said the District Attorney and the Okmulgee County Sheriff's Office will begin the process of extraditing Kennedy II back to Okmulgee County.

Person on interest

The Okmulgee Police Department said Kennedy II is a person of interest in the deaths of four men from Okmulgee whose dismembered bodies were found in a river. The victims' bodies had gunshot wounds, investigators said.

Mindy Bates, administrative specialist with the Okmulgee Police Department, said that Mark Chastain, 32, Billy Chastain, 30, and Mike Sparks, 32, all of Okmulgee were reported missing by Mark Chastain's wife on Oct. 10. A few hours later police received another missing person's report on Alex Stevens, 29, of Okmulgee. His mother reported him missing, Bates said.

All four men were friends and were believed to have left Billy Chastain's home on bicycles around 8 p.m. Sunday, according to a news release from Okmulgee police.

Okmulgee police said they spoke to Kennedy II once but after finding blood on a property adjacent to his salvage yard, police tried to reach Kennedy again, but he had disappeared.

Caught in Daytona Beach Shores

Kennedy II had made his way to the Daytona Beach area.

A Daytona Beach Shores officer's license plate reader picked out the Toyota Tundra he was driving on Tuesday and was alerted that the vehicle was reported stolen in Oklahoma, said Daytona Beach Shores police Chief Michael Fowler.

A traffic stop was made at 8:29 a.m. on Tuesday and Kennedy II, the only occupant of the vehicle, was arrested on a charge of grand theft of a vehicle, Fowler said.

After Kennedy II was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail, Daytona Beach Shores police were notified by Okmulgee police that Kennedy II was a person of interest in a quadruple homicide, Fowler said.

In a press conference on Monday Okmulgee Police Department Chief Joe Prentice said his investigators believe the four men disappeared while they were on their way to commit a criminal activity.

"This belief is based on information supplied by a witness who reports he was invited to go with the men to "hit a lick big enough for all of them," Prentice said in the press conference.

The bodies of the men were discovered in the Deep Fork River on Saturday, police there said.

"I just want to make it clear that Joe Kennedy is not a suspect in these homicides," Bates said on Tuesday. "He is just a person of interest."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Oklahoma homicides: Person of interest held without bail in Volusia County