Carthage man arrested in connection with discovery of body in RV | KSNF/KODE

UPDATE

CARTHAGE, Mo. — An investigation into a body found Thursday in Carthage led to the arrest of a suspect Friday morning.

Carthage police investigators said the body found inside an RV in the 600 block of N. Main Street has been identified as Kenia Lopez, 24, of Carthage. She died in an apparent homicide, authorities added.

A man at the scene, Gavino McJunkins-Macias, 23, also of Carthage, was detained for questioning and later arrested for abandonment of a corpse.

Local authorities are working with the Miami County, Kansas, Sheriff's Office as the homicide is believed to have occurred in Miami County, before Lopez's body was discovered in Carthage. Their investigation is still ongoing.

Second-degree murder charges are pending against McJunkins-Macias as he remains incarcerated in the Jasper County Jail.

Body found in a camper van in Carthage

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Carthage police are investigating the discovery of a body in an RV.

Around 11:30 Thursday morning, a man called Carthage police and reported there was a deceased person inside an RV. Officers responded to an area just north of the Butterball plant, on land owned by the city's levee district. When police arrived, they found a body in a camper van.

They do not release information about whether it is male or female. CPD Lt. Eric Miller said he arrested a man for questioning. Miller said there appears to be no threat to the public at this time.

Officers are following up on reports that the RV may have come from Kansas and arrived shortly before the call to police was made.