The families of four Oklahoma men who went out on a bicycle ride and wound up in pieces underwater are suing the person of interest in the case – who was arrested days later in Florida – and his wife.
Joseph Kennedy, 67, allegedly skipped town and stole an employee’s car from his scrapyard before police took him into custody in Daytona Beach on Oct. 18.
Okmulgee police say Mark Chastain, 32, Billy Chastain, 30, Mike Sparks, 32, and Alex Stevens, 29, set out on Oct. 9 and were later shot to death, dismembered and dumped in the Deep Fork River, where a passerby spotted their remains in shallow water.
Police said they visited Kennedy’s scrapyard and "evidence of a violent event was discovered on an adjoining property." And according to Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice, a witness claimed the men had gathered that night to "hit a lick big enough for all of them," or commit a criminal act, before they went missing.
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"There’s been some discussion that these guys were there to steal something off of his scrapyard…that is just some preliminary information that police put out there in a press conference," Robert Seacat, the attorney representing the families, told Fox News Digital Thursday. "But these guys didn’t show up in a truck or a panel van, they were riding around on bicycles. What in the world were they going to steal on bicycles?"
In the days that followed the quadruple slaying, Sandra Kennedy filed for divorce from her husband seeking 100% of the couple’s dozens of real estate holdings, court records show.
The civil lawsuit was filed on behalf of the families of the Chastains, who were brothers, and Sparks. They are seeking an unspecified amount of damages in excess of $75,000 for each man.
The judge has granted the plaintiffs’ motion for an injunction barring the Kennedys from transferring, selling or destroying assets as the case plays out.
Seacat told Fox News Digital Thursday that the reason he filed a civil lawsuit before police completed the criminal investigation was out of concern for the assets.
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"A divorce was filed on the date Mr. Kennedy was arrested, and his wife pled that they own quite a few properties…and she wanted the court to award her all of them," he said. "They could be colluding together to get the property in her name to make him judgment proof."
READ THE DIVORCE FILING:
Whether or not that’s the case, the court is at least temporarily protecting assets that compensate the plaintiffs.
Sandra Kennedy's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not clear whether her husband had retained counsel.
Kennedy, in 2012, shot a suspected burglar in the back at the same scrapyard, according to court records.
The man in that shooting, Robert Skinner, survived and told FOX 23 News earlier this week that he was not on Kennedy’s property when he was shot.
"I think there’s a whole lot of information that police know that they haven’t released yet," Seacat said Thursday. "What we know is that he’s done this before."
The Chastains, Sparks and Stevens "were obviously on or near his property," Seacat said. But the evidence of violence, he noted, was next door.
"Then he goes missing within a couple days, and it turns out he stole a vehicle from an employee at his scrapyard, so he was arrested in a stolen vehicle in Daytona Florida," he said. "If he was within the rights of what he did, he would’ve called police. I don’t think that were going to find that there was a 911 call or any attempt to call law enforcement."
Seacat said he plans to file an amended complaint in Okmulgee County District Court Friday due to an error in the original petition.
Fox News’ Paul Best contributed to this report.
