In a river near a small town in the US state of Oklahoma, police found the dismembered bodies of four men who had been missing for around a week.

They all had gunshot wounds, Okmulgee Township Police Chief Joe Prentice told reporters Monday night. Investigations so far have suggested that the four men, aged between 29 and 32, were planning a crime. When they disappeared, they were on bicycles. The exact background and the official cause of death are still unclear.

"I've investigated more than 80 homicides in my career. I've worked on multiple-victim homicides. I've dealt with dismemberment. But this case is the most deadly, and it's very violent," Prentice added Press conference. The body parts in the river Deep Fork were discovered by a passer-by. A witness also told the police that he had been invited by the men to take part in a coup that was lucrative for everyone. Neither the murder weapon nor the men's bicycles have been found so far.

During the search, the investigators found traces of an act of violence on a property near a scrap yard. However, the police did not give any details. The owner of the junkyard is a person of interest in the case, but has not yet been classified as a suspect. The man initially cooperated with the investigators, but has now disappeared and is considered suicidal. Only his abandoned car was found in a neighboring town behind a shop. Okmulgee has around 11,000 residents and is located about 60 kilometers south of Tulsa.

report CNN