Police have identified the remains of two men found Tuesday afternoon inside a vehicle at a salvage yard in Russellville.
The state Crime Laboratory on Wednesday identified the bodies as Aaron Brock, 22, and Beau DeWitt, 22, both of Dardanelle. Both men went missing Friday, according to the Arkansas State Police.
The deaths are being investigated as homicides, state police said.
Pope County sheriff's deputies responded around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday to U-Pull-It Auto Parts at 3001 S. Mobile Ave. in southeast Russellville where they found a vehicle containing the remains of Brock and DeWitt. The vehicle was removed from the salvage yard and shipped to the state Crime Laboratory for removal and examination of the remains.
State police spokesman Bill Sadler said the law enforcement agencies are in the early stages of their investigation. He said authorities plan to interview the witnesses who found the remains as well as people who knew Brock and DeWitt.
Dardanelle Police Chief Montie Sims said Brock's mother contacted his department Saturday after her son went missing Friday night from their home in Dardanelle.
"It wasn't until we started follow-up on leads that it became [aware] to us that the other individual, the DeWitt boy, was with Brock," Sims said.
Sims said police were told later that Brock and DeWitt had been dropped off outside the salvage yard around midnight Friday.
A spokesman for the Pope County sheriff's office said additional information regarding the investigation was not immediately available.
A salesman at U-Pull-It declined to comment Wednesday. The owner of salvage yard is listed as Randy Barefield on the Arkansas Secretary of State's website. Calls to Barefield went unreturned.
A man who identified himself Wednesday as Brock's uncle said the family had spoken with state police but declined comment.
Information for this article was contributed by Knowles Adkisson of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 09/22/2016