ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — Authorities say three people are in custody after allegedly murdering a man in Lacombe before dumping his body in a Florida waterway.
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said detectives with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office found the body of 32-year-old Joshua James on Tuesday, June 14. After identifying James, the sheriff's office reached out to investigators in St. Tammany Parish.
A statement from STPSO said that investigators believe James was beaten to death at a home on Williams Drive in Lacombe and then dumped in a remote part of Florida.
"They picked a random location, and dumped him off in Santa Rosa County, which unfortunately for them, our major crimes unit is very good," Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said.
Johnson said an autopsy on James' body confirmed that his cause of death was homicide.
Deputies later arrested 34-year-old Patrick McCarty, 35-year-old Jason James as well as an unidentified 17-year-old. All three individuals face charges of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice.
Investigators say one of the suspects was a brother to the victim, and the other is a friend of the brother.
Johnson said it is unclear why those individuals chose to drive to Florida to discard of the body.
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