David Dewayne Collins, 35, of Pocola was arrested Thursday in Fort Smith, Ark., for the shooting death of a Muldrow man whose body was found in what remained of a burned-out home on Lee’s Chapel Road, southeast of Muldrow.

Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart said the body of Shannon Bryan Southern, 20, was found burned and shot multiple times after firefighters doused the fire which destroyed the home.

Lockhart said the investigation indicates that Southern owed Collins $40, and went to Southern’s home in the early morning hours of Sept. 22. The investigation indicates that Collins shot Southern several times, then poured a flammable liquid, possibly gasoline, around the body and set the house on fire. The sheriff said investigators are still waiting on the fire marshal’s report to determine the exact identity of the flammable liquid.

Collins, Lockhart said, is being held without bond in the Sebastian County Jail in Fort Smith, Ark., awaiting extradition to Oklahoma and Sequoyah County. A sheriff’s spokesman said later Friday morning that it is expected that Collins will be extradited to Sequoyah County Friday.

“We are working with the district attorney (in Sebastian County) to get Collins extradited as soon as possible,” Lockhart said Friday morning.

On Sept. 22, after the fire destroyed Southern’s home, which belonged to his grandfather, Kenneth Lewis, firefighters found Southern’s body next to a couch. The fire was reported by a newspaper deliverer at about 6 a.m. and the Muldrow Police Department dispatched the Muldrow, Liberty and Roland Fire Departments at 6:05 a.m. The firefighters reported the home was fully engulfed when they arrived. After firefighters found the body, it was sent to the state medical examiner’s office. Upon learning from the medical examiner the next day that Southern had been shot, Lockhart began an immediate investigation at the scene, and had officers and investigators sifting through the remains of the home looking for clues to Southern’s death.

Leads to arrest

Lockhart said that he assigned three investigators to look into Southern’s death after the Oklahoma medical examiner determined Southern did not die of smoke inhalation or in the fire, but was shot. Lockhart, who worked homicides when he was an officer with the Fort Smith, Ark., police, said his team was assisted by Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) agents and the fire marshal.

Lockhart said the investigators interviewed several of Southern’s friends who connected him to Collins, and investigators obtained cell phone records of calls between Collins and Southern, and cell phone messages in which Collins allegedly threatened Southern.

Collins, Lockhart said, “has been in the area about three years. He is originally from North Carolina and was living in Pocola. He has been working in the area and in Roland as a welder, which is how he met Southern.”

Southern was also a welder, and it believed the two may have met on the job.

Once Southern’s friends alerted the investigators to Collins, Lockhart said he worked with the Fort Smith police to set up a surveillance Wednesday at the home of an acquaintance of Collins in south Fort Smith.

“We had a warrant issued for first-degree murder, and set up the surveillance,” Lockhart explained. “He showed up Thursday at the house in Fort Smith, owned by an associate, and we arrested him.”

Lockhart said in addition to the first-degree murder charge, he anticipates Collins will also be charged with arson and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Collins has a felony record in North Carolina and other areas, Lockhart said the investigation revealed. Lockhart said more information will be revealed when formal charges are filed against Collins.

He added that investigators interviewed Collins after his arrest Thursday afternoon.

“He was interviewed and it went really well,” Lockhart said.

The sheriff said this is the first homicide he and his staff have worked since Lockhart took office in January.

“I worked homicide in Fort Smith, and I want the people to know we are going to do everything we can to keep them safe,” Lockhart said.

He also praised the agencies assisting in the investigation, including the OSBI, the Oklahoma Fire Marshal and Fort Smith police.