Two more suspects are being sought in connection with the killing of 29-year-old Cort Gatlin, whose body was found dumped in the Bogue Chitto River last week, days after his family had reported him missing.
Anthony J. Dauden, 25 of 8271⁄2 Earl St., and Bridget A. Dillon, 26, 809 Avenue E., were arrested around 8 p.m. Thursday in Walthall County by the McComb police.
McComb police detective Sid Boyte said authorities picked up the pair not long after they found Gatlin’s body and then learned of Dauden and Dillon’s whereabouts.
“We’d been in contact with them prior to the arrest,” Boyte said.
Dillon and Dauden are both charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
They remained in the Pike County jail this morning with no bond set. Both were scheduled to appear for a bond hearing in Pike County Justice Court at 2 p.m. today.
Since Gatlin was reported missing in McComb and found dead in Pike County, both city police and the sheriff’s department are handling the investigation.
Gatlin’s family reported him missing to McComb police on Aug. 30. They had last seen him on Friday, Aug. 26.
Officials found Gatlin’s body on a bank of the Bogue Chitto River just south of Alford’s Bridge in northern Pike County after receiving tips about the case.
Pike County chief sheriff’s investigator Greg Martin said autopsy reports show that Gatlin, also of 809 Avenue E., McComb, had been shot in the head three times, although authorities aren’t sure what caliber weapon was used.
Martin and Boyte confirmed that both departments are looking for two more suspects, and more arrests could be pending. Neither lawman would elaborate on the identities of the other two suspects or what role they may have had in the crime.
“We’ve heard the rumors that are floating around. Some of them may be true, some of them may not be true. We don’t know,” Martin said.
He said rumors that Gatlin was burned have been circulating, but lawmen haven’t been able to confirm that, saying they are still awaiting more information from the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
“We haven’t received the official report yet, but we know for a fact he was shot,” he said.
Gatlin’s family said burned clothing was found near the site where his body was discovered, but neither Martin nor Pike County Coroner Percy Pittman could confirm that.
“I know there have been reports of him being burned, but we have no evidence of that. His body was badly decomposed,” Martin said.
Martin did, however, confirm reports from Gatlin’s family that he had been bound with tape.
“It was some sort of tape but it wasn’t duct tape,” he said.
Pittman said because of the decomposition, it may have appeared to the untrained eye that Gatlin was burned.
“We have to do a skin test to confirm whether he was burned or not,” Pittman said.
Services for Gatlin will be held Friday at Pleasant Grove M.B. Church in Fernwood.
