Multiple Sets Of Human Remains Found In River During Search For 4 Missing Men

Police discovered multiple sets of human remains partly submerged in a river in Okmulgee city of Oklahoma, days after the disappearance of four friends who went missing during a bike ride.

Okmulgee police chief Joe Prentice said a passer-by alerted the authorities Friday at around 1:49 p.m. about "suspicious items" in the Deep Fork River in the bridge area that goes across Sharp Road, NewsNation reported.

Upon arriving at the scene, cops found "what appears to be multiple human remains in the river," Prentice added.

However, it wasn't clear if the human remains belonged to the four men from Okmulgee, who were last seen on Oct. 9 when they left for a bicycle ride.

The police said the human remains belonged to males, but were awaiting confirmation from the medical examiner on their identities. Meanwhile, authorities notified the families of the missing men about the discovery.

"If it turns out that these four missing men are the remains in the river, then the focus of our investigation will shift from finding them to what happened to them," Prentice said during a press conference. "If it is determined that it is not them, then we'll have a separate investigation."

The police chief also said it wasn't clear how many bodies were submerged in the river water or if any foul play was involved. "Currently, we have more questions than answers."

The four missing friends were identified as Billy Chastain, 30, Alex Stevens, 29, Mark Chastain and Mike Sparks, both aged 32. They were reported missing on Oct. 10 by their family members, the Okmulgee Police Department said in a statement.

The four men reportedly left Billy Chastain's home on Okmulgee's west side at around 8 p.m. on Oct. 9 for a bicycle ride. Only two of them were carrying their mobile phones with them but their calls went straight to voice mail, ABC News said.

The police chief revealed that investigators did not consider searching the area around the river where the human remains were found to locate the missing men according to their telephone data.

"All the information that we had up to this point indicated that our missing men, based on telephone data, had gone east leaving town and then ultimately south on 75," he said. "This is in the opposite direction."

Witnesses saw the men riding bikes to Monroe, Louisiana, Prentice said, adding that their last known location was confirmed based on GPS data from their cell phones.