Three accused of ‘gruesome’ dismemberment of 20-year-old victim’s body in Virginia

Three people have formally been charged with kidnapping, killing and then defiling the body of a Virginia man, authorities said.

Around 7:30 p.m. Feb.1, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office was notified about a red mustang that was parked on private property. Around two and a half hours later, deputies were called again about a dismembered body located in a wooded area that was in a “gruesome” state, WRIC reported.

The victim was identified as Dylan Dakota Whetzel, 20.

Brennan E. Thomas, 19, was taken into custody first in connection with Whetzel’s death, followed over a week later by Domonic Samuels and Bronwyn C. Meeks.

On June 21, the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office announced a special grand jury had indicted Thomas, Samuels and Meeks on 27 charges each, including abduction, conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree murder, murder by mob, concealing and physically defiling a dead body.

Meeks, 21, faces an additional four counts ofsoliciting others to act as accessories after the fact to murder.

The three suspects are currently being held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail. 

Deputies had previously arrested a fourth suspect based on eyewitness accounts. He was eventually cleared after a delay caused by “the lack of cooperation of individuals under investigation,” the sheriff’s office said, according to WRIC.