By Donna Hales
The State Medical Examiners Office positively identified Tuesday the dead body found floating in the Arkansas River July 7 as Matt R. Neesmith, 26.
Neesmith moved often and may have been living in the Tulsa area, said Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jeff Smith.
Neesmith’s death is being investigated as a homicide, although no cause of death has been identified, Smith said.
A medical examiner told Smith there were no signs of trauma to the body and no broken bones, he said. Medical examiners estimated the time of death as a week or two before the body was found, Smith said.
A billfold with Neesmith’s identification in it was on the body. Six tattoos on the body matched tattoos on Neesmith, according to Oklahoma Department of Correction records, said Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson.
But Neesmith wasn’t positively identified until Tuesday morning, officials said.
The body was found in a large amount of river debris in what is commonly known as Webbers Falls Lake near Brewer’s Bend, Pearson said.
Smith said relatives told authorities Monday night that none of the family had seen Neesmith for more than three weeks, which was not unusual.
Neesmith’s mother, Monica Dimick of Eufaula said Tuesday she did not want information published as to the day, time or place of Neesmith’s services at this time.
She said her son was in a witness protection program and declined additional comment.
Smith said he had talked with law enforcement in Oklahoma about Neesmith while investigating his death and had no information that was the case.
