A 67-year-old Haleyville man has been charged with abuse of corpse in the deaths of two Cullman County men who disappeared and were later found dead.

Braxton Thomas, 30, and Rico Tannehill, 28, disappeared earlier this month. Their bodies were discovered inside a vehicle in a wooded area in Winston County days later – on Nov. 9.

Winston County Sheriff Caleb Snoddy today said Marvin Edward Grace is charged with two counts of corpse abuse, evidence tampering, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, and conspiracy to commit a controlled substance crime.

Four other people – three women and a man – are charged with drug crimes in connection with the case.

“This case in its entirety and many details pursuant to this case cannot be disclosed as there is pending legal action and we do not wish this case, for the victims and their families’ sake, to be put into jeopardy,’’ Snoddy said in a Facebook statement.

“However the broad parts of this investigation will be shared now in this update.”

According to Snoddy, this is what happened:

Around midnight on Sunday, Nov. 5, Tannehill, Thomas, and Brittiany Lashae Lewis traveled to Winston County from the Vinemont area of Cullman County.

The three of them went to the Grace’s house in south Haleyville where it is believed that both Thomas and Tannehill consumed narcotics.

“We were also informed that Grace, Lewis, Tannehill and Thomas, with Thomas driving, left from south Haleyville and proceeded to an address on Gosa Farm Road, north of Double Springs, where April Nicole Gosa and her boyfriend, Shawn William Dickinson, live.”

The sheriff said It is also believed that both Tannehill and Thomas consumed narcotics at that residence as well.

From there Lewis, Tannehill and Thomas left the Dickinson/Gosa residence together with Grace driving Thomas’s vehicle, where they reportedly went back to Grace’s home.

“It is believed that Rico Tannehill and Braxton Thomas died later that morning in Thomas’s car in the yard of Grace’s residence of a suspected overdose pending toxicology results,’’ Snoddy said.

“Statements made in the course of the investigation have led us to believe that Thomas and Tannehill were driven to a remote area of County Road 17 by Grace,’’ he said.

“A statement made by Grace was that he parked the car in a location where he hoped that they would be found,” he said.

Others charged are:

– April Nicole Gosa- trafficking fentanyl, and criminal conspiracy to commit a controlled substance crime.

– Brittiany Lashae Lewis- criminal conspiracy to commit a controlled substance crime.

– Shawn William Dickinson-third-degree theft of property and tampering with physical evidence.

– Nichole Cline-Ikerd – unlawful possession of a controlled substance.