Investigators have identified the human remains found in a rural Lancaster County ditch Tuesday morning and arrested four people — including the victim's daughter and son-in-law — in Omaha for their alleged role in the man's death, according to authorities.
Laborers working in southern Lancaster County found 68-year-old Gary T. Lew's decomposing remains in a ditch just before 10 a.m. Tuesday, east of the Olive Creek Lake State Recreation Area, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office.
The county attorney ordered an autopsy Wednesday that helped authorities identify the Omaha man, who was killed in the Douglas County city "about a month ago," Sheriff's Capt. Tommy Trotter said Friday.
The sheriff's office turned the case over to the Omaha Police Department, which arrested four people Friday for their alleged role in Lew's death, which Trotter said was a homicide.
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Omaha police arrested three men — 37-year-old Jacob Thornley, 39-year-old Justin Thornley and 26-year-old Braden Bongers — on suspicion of second-degree murder in Lew's death, the agency said in a news release Friday morning.
Jacob and Justin Thornley, along with 37-year-old Christina Thornley, were also arrested on suspicion of tampering with evidence and concealing a body, according to the news release.
Christina Thornley is the only one of the four who is not facing a murder charge.
Omaha Police Lt. Nicholas Andrews said Christina and Justin Thornley are Lew's daughter and son-in-law, and Jacob Thornley is Justin Thornley's cousin.
Bongers is an acquaintance of the group, said Andrews, who declined to detail what gave police cause to arrest the four or provide an alleged motive in Lew's murder. The four were not charged in Douglas County court Friday.Â
Andrews said Lew — whose wife died in November — was never reported missing to authorities, and police didn't know he'd been killed until deputies in Lancaster County identified the 68-year-old's remains Wednesday.
Investigators believe Lew was killed at his house at 15315 Douglas Circle, Andrews said.
He said the four Omaha residents in custody are the only suspects police in Lew's death.
Trotter said Lew is thought to have been in the ditch for close to a month before his remains were discovered Tuesday, a half-mile south of Roca Road and Southwest 128th Street.
The four suspects were taken to the Douglas County jail upon their arrest Friday. Bongers, Jacob Thornley and Justin Thornley are being held there without bond over the weekend and are scheduled to appear in court Monday morning, according to the county attorney's office.
Christian Thornley is being held at another facility.