On Friday, October 14, 2022 the bodies of four men were discovered by a local resident of the small town Okmulgee, Oklahoma. In the report it was stated there was something suspicious floating in Deep Fork River. It wasn’t until Monday, October 17th, that the bodies were identified as Mark Chastine(32), his brother Billy Chastain(30), Mike Sparks(32), and Alex Stevens(29).

In an interview conducted by ABC 7, Jessica Chastain, wife of Mark Chastain, states “It just feels like he’s still in my garage, if that makes sense. Or he’s still out here. Or… Something. He’s just here. It doesn’t feel like he’s gone”.

She also went on to talk about the tremendous burden it has placed on her to explain to her two children that their dad isn’t coming home. “We told them that daddy had to go help Pop Pop Billy fix a car. Jesus needed him and he called him to go fix the car”.

The other men are also being missed in extreme ways by loved ones. Billy Chastain was described as “Funny. He was loving, he was spontaneous. He was perfect.” Says Billy’s grandmother. She also added “Everything revolved around his kids.” He was the father to four children between the ages of 2 and 12. 

According to Teresa Stevens, Alex Stevens’ late widow, told NBC News that they met in 2013 then got married in 2014. However they later separated but never legally, they remained friends. She stated he struggled with depression the majority of the time he was in her life but “there was never a day he couldn’t put a smile on your face.”

As of the date this article is published attempts to reach Mike Sparks’ family have been unsuccessful. 

It is still unclear exactly where the four men were heading the day they went missing. It is said there is an eyewitness account stating they overheard the men saying they were going to “hit a lick big enough for all of us”, this statement has not been able to be backed up with hard evidence of the men trying to commit any form of a fraudulent crime. Jessica Chastain stated “My kids dad didn’t talk like that. It doesn’t make any sense”. 

Chief of Police Joe Prentice states he is “in the dark like everyone else”. However he told interviewers there is no reason to doubt the eyewitness account as of now.

In regards to a person of interest, Joseph Kennedy(67) a resident of Okmulgee, was arrested in Daytona Beach, Florida for a traffic stop. When police ran the tags on the truck Kennedy was driving it came back stolen. It was at that point he was detained and transported to Volusia County Branch Jail where he was being held without bond. 

He owns a local scrap yard near where the four victims were discovered, blood adjacent to the property was found according to investigators. Law enforcement then tried reaching out to him but failed.

Kennedy told police that “he was suicidal, with plans to jump off a hotel balcony,” the affidavit said.

Previously in May of 2013, Joseph Kennedy was charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon, along with obstructing an officer. He was accused of shooting a man with a .380 caliber pistol at said scrap yard.

Police have not directly said why they’re focused on Joseph other than one of the victims phones were pinged back to his scrap yard hours before being found deceased, according to News Nation.