Body unearthed at house
Man buried corpse, possibly of person missing since
Texarkana, Ark., police are investigating a body unearthed Friday morning beneath a storage unit in the backyard of a house on Union Road.
The body may be related to a missing-person case from 2017 and has been sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab in Little Rock for an autopsy, said officer Kristi Bennett, spokeswoman for Texarkana, Ark., Police Department said.
Chad Jernigan, 41, has been arrested on a charge of abuse of a corpse and reckless driving. Additional charges are pending further investigation and results of the autopsy.
Jernigan was driving recklessly when police pulled him over, Bennett said. ’17, police say
Bennett said detectives with TAPD and Texarkana, Texas, Police Department began investigating a lead concerning the remains of a missing person late Thursday. Detectives identified Jernigan as a person of interest in the case.
While police were interviewing Jernigan, he admitted to detectives that he had buried a
body under a storage building in his backyard. After obtaining a search warrant, detectives found a body in a shallow grave covered in concrete and dirt.
Although the identity of the deceased has not been confirmed by DNA or dental records, police believe the body to be that of Richard “Rickey” York, who has been missing since July 4, 2017.
York’s family has been notified of the discovery.
York was reportedly helping Jernigan move furniture from a storage unit to Jernigan’s grandmother’s house on the day he went missing. Security cameras at the storage unit recorded the two men that day. The cameras also showed the men leaving in the same car.
Jernigan reportedly told police in 2017 that he dropped off York at a business in the 400 block of Lake Drive.
York’s family filed a missing person’s report and offered a reward for any information leading to his whereabouts.