UPDATE: Police Identify Dismembered Body as Missing Husband
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UNION COUNTY, NC — Six days after the gruesome discovery of a dismembered body inside a barrel in Union County, police have arrested a murder suspect.
Crime scene detectives combed through Keith McCarthy’s Monroe home Thursday where they believe he murdered Jaime Hernandez and dismembered his body.
A source says a torso was found in Indian Trail and a skull and bones were found inside a barrel in some woods 20 minutes away from Monroe.
Those who know McCarthy were never suspicious.
“Never, never, never,” said his neighbor Armondo Johnson. “He got off work about eight o’clock, he’ll go to the store over there, get him something to eat and come back home. He didn’t bother nobody.”
It has been days since a passerby discovered the remains.
Questions loomed over residents
“Anything like this is unnerving,” said Spokesperson for the City of Monroe Pete Hovanec.
This week, police say Hernandez’s estranged wife reported him missing. She said she hadn’t seen him since July 6.
An autopsy confirmed the 41-year-old was their victim.
Police knew Hernandez from an arrest for secret peeping last year.
They won’t say what led investigators to McCarthy as the murder suspect.
“Luckily, we have the individual, at least one individual, involved that we believe committed the crime. So, we don’t believe there was a reason for other folks to panic,” said Hovanec.
Agents with the State Bureau of Investigation are trying to find out how the men knew each other and what would motivate McCarthy to kill Hernandez, then go to disturbing lengths to cover it up.
“It’s a shock, a real big shock,” said Johnson. “I hope it wasn’t him to be honest with you.”
