Four Suspects Held In Connection With Missing Person

GOBLES (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - There has been a major development in a missing persons case. Four suspects are now in custody in connection with the disappearance of Troy Tyo.

Two suspects were arraigned Monday. Dena Charyne Thompson, Tyo's ex-wife, and her husband, Kristofer James Thompson of Gobles both face open murder charges.

Two other suspects have also been arrested by the Allegan County Sheriff's Department in this case. They are being held in the Allegan County Jail and are expected to be arraigned Tuesday.

The truck belonging to Tyo, was found Saturday with a dead body in the backseat.

Tyo disappeared in Allegan but his truck was found with a body inside near the intersection of 29th Street and 22nd Avenue just southeast of Gobles in Van Buren County.

It was about 5p.m. Saturday evening when two hunters were on a private road. They found a white pickup truck and a dead body in an abandoned gravel pit.

“We were out just looking around and happened upon it,” said Earl Stedman.

He and his son were out scouting locations for deer season. But Earl Stedman says Saturday's find was startling. “I'd been reading about it all week and I said man, that's it, there ain't no doubt about it,” said Stedman.

His discovery rolled out about 8:15 Saturday night. The GMC Sierra with the license plate police have searched for since Monday. It's Troy Tyo's.

“It was driven off the edge and down into the hole of this gravel pit, so it was below eye level,” said Sgt. Mike Simonds of the Allegan county Sheriff's Department.

Detectives found the body of an adult male in the backseats. Below the door are splashes of blood. Investigators say whoever hid the truck also tried to burn it. “Looked like it tried to be torched, but it wasn't successful,” said Sgt. Simonds.

Detectives say because of the snow, they don't know how long the truck was there. But Earl Stedman has an idea. “My dog had a tremendous fit Monday evening, and for no reason, she's not like that,” said Stedman.

An animal's intuition had a sense days before his walk Saturday. But Earl Stedman says it wasn't what he wanted to find.

“Quite shocking cause I was hoping the guy run off, you know, didn't have this kind of situation,” said Stedman.

The Allegan County Sheriff's Department plans to send the body onto Lansing for positive identification that it was indeed Troy Tyo.