Three people are in custody after being charged in connection with the death of Jason Davies, 38,  a St Joseph man whose body was found September 19  in the Missouri River near Leavenworth, Kansas.

Sergeant Steve Smith of the St Joseph police department says their investigation is onging, but has already borne fruit.

Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins on Thursday filed murder charges against two St Joseph men, and charged a local woman with tampering with the crime scene.

Officials say Davies was beaten repeatedly with a baseball bat and a frying pan. According to court documents, that fight occurred in an apartment in the 800 block of North 13th on September 15. The body was then allegedly dumped into the Missouri River.

Leavenworth Police Chief Patrick Kitchens says the body was found by Nebraska wildlife officials.

“There was a small contingent of folks from the Nebraska Fish & Game Department here, on the Missouri River, where they had been doing some sort of fish study,” Chief Kitchens said in an interview. “They were the folks that initially discovered Mr. Davies in the water and called the local authorities to come out.”

Martin Del Rilinger and Robert Jarrell are charged with second-degree murder. Dollie Williams is charged with tampering with physical evidence. Rilinger and Jarrell are being held under $250,000 bond each. A judge set Williams’ bond at $40,000. All three were scheduled for formal arraignment in Buchanan County Court on Tuesday, October 1.

In court documents, St Joseph Police Detective Frank Till says Martin Rilinger is an unemployed, homeless man with no family in St Joseph.

“He has no reason to stay in St Joseph when facing a murder charge,” Till said in an affidavit.

This is Till’s second serious assault case with this defendant as the suspect. In the first case, he says two men were stabbed but neither would testify so he was not charged.

Detective Gregg Lewis filed court documents on Robert Jarrell. According to that affidavit, Jarrell has prior arrests for failure to appear, “and shows signs of severe anger.”

As to Mollie Williams, Detective James Tonn says she has two prior warrant arrests out of California, as well as a “fugitive from out of state arrest” in Florida. Tonn said in court documents that Williams has no ties to the St Joseph area other than the people were were arrested in this case.

Tonn says Williams “voluntarily assisted in the clean up of blood and disposal of the bloody rags and cleaning materials.”