A drug dealer with an “extensive criminal history” was arrested and charged with murder on Thursday after the dismembered body of a man was found encased inside a 55-gallon barrel of concrete.
Jackie Lamar Bright, 42, was last released from jail on January 11 weeks before investigators suspected his involvement in the disappearance of Michael Bradley Cox who went missing last December.
Deputies focused on Bright's rural Sanford property and combed the area for days, the Lee County Sheriff's Office said.
“Detectives located a 55-gallon barrel in a heavily wooded area that contained concrete and suspected human remains,” during one of their searches Tuesday.
The barrel was brought to the medical examiner's office where Cox's body was located and identified.
The Sheriff's Office did not specify the relationship between the suspect and the victim or a motive for the gruesome killing.
