" title=""/>Two people have been taken into custody in connection with skeletal remains found in southeastern DeLand.
Megan Robert, 26, of DeLand, and Xavier Alvarez, 27, of Fairfax County, Virginia, were arrested March 20. The remains were identified as those of David O. Franks, 31.
The decomposing body was found partially submerged in mud and water in a wooded area near Interstate 4 and McKenzie Road in southeast DeLand Feb. 29 by an individual off-roading.
Objects around the body led investigators to treat the death as a homicide, the DeLand Police Department said, although at the time of a press conference March 2, they declined to give any details about those objects.
According to the charging affidavit, the body of Franks was covered in logs and branches that appeared to have been burned, and an autopsy March 2 showed two bullet wounds in his chest.
The charging affidavit also states that during their investigation, detectives took several statements from individuals that identified Robert and Alvarez as having indicated they had killed Franks. The affidavit notes that those individuals mentioned being told by Robert and Alvarez details at the scene that were not included in information given to the media.
According to those statements, cellphone history, and footage recovered from a DeLand Walmart, the charging affidavit reads, Franks was last seen Feb. 24, when he, along with Robert, was picked up by a car registered to Alvarez.
Robert is currently being held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail and is charged with principal to second-degree murder and abuse of a dead body.
Alvarez was charged with second-degree murder, was taken into custody in Fairfax County, and is currently held at the Fairfax County Jail.
