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Four people were charged on Tuesday in connection with the killing of a Black man in rural Iowa whose body was found burning in a ditch last week, The Des Moines Register reported.
Michael Ronnell Williams was found dead in a ditch in Grinnell on September 16.
Steven Vogel, 31, who authorities said was an acquaintance of Williams, was charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said on Tuesday.
Julia Cox, 55, Roy Lee Garner, 57, and Cody Johnson, 29, were charged with abuse of a corpse and accessory after the fact. Cox and Garner face an additional charge of destruction of evidence.
Though all four suspects are white and Williams was Black, the police said at a press conference on Tuesday that there was no evidence to suggest that Williams' killing was motivated by race, according to The Register.
Authorities did not say what prompted Williams' killing.
Vogel's arrest affidavit said a witness told the police that Vogel had strangled Williams four days before his body was found.
Source: Business Insider
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