Second person of interest in the disappearance of a Mayes County teen in custody

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Okla. — UPDATE: A second person of interest in the disappearance of a Mayes County teenager is in custody.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office tells FOX23 that Bradley Davis is being held on several charges, including second-degree burglary and failure to appear. Kiah Pritchett was arrested earlier this week. Investigators have not said if the burned body found is that of 18-year-old Braeden Collins. Davis was found at the Days Inn in Tahlequah.

ORIGINAL STORY: A person of interest has now become the primary suspect in connection with the discovery of a burned body in an SUV in the Woodall area of Cherokee County.

Kiah John Pritchett is now in custody not just for previous outstanding warrants, but according to Cherokee County Sheriff Jason Chennault, they are now naming him the primary suspect in connection to a discovery made near an abandoned home on Black Valley Road.

Chennault said the sheriff’s office believes the body found inside the SUV is that of missing Pryor teen Braeden Collins whose family reported him missing last weekend when he did not return home from a party. However, he did say the State Medical Examiner’s Office will officially confirm the identity.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office informed Collins mother of their suspicions that the body was her son. The SUV he was found in was not his own vehicle, and he was in the passenger’s seat.

FOX23 spoke with Collins mother on Thursday. She said she did not want to go on camera until the medical examiner officially confirmed her son had perished. Until then, she said, she was hopeful that her son is still alive out there somewhere.

“I am holding out hope that this body is not him,” Jennifer Bump, Braeden’s mother, verbally told FOX23′s Rick Maranon in person Thursday. “We will not stop looking for him while we wait.”

Chennault said when FOX23 interviewed him on Wednesday, they are having trouble connecting how Pritchett and Collins met, and they have found no connection at this time as to why Pritchett may have killed the teen.

A new person of interest was also named Thursday who is believed to have witnessed the disappearance of Collins and even the burning of the body that was found.

Chennault confirmed to FOX23 that investigators were looking for Bradley Eugene Davis who also goes by the last name Medford.

The medical examiner’s office had not completed its investigation as of Thursday July 8th at 3:00 p.m.

Pritchett was arrested Wednesday on outstanding warrants in connection to previous shootings in Cherokee County, and because he is a tribal citizen, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is handling those cases because of the Supreme Court’s McGirt ruling. Chennault said because of the previous warrants out for his arrest, he assured the public that even as a person of interest, Pritchett would remain in jail and not be a threat to the general public because his other warrants would keep him behind bars as the investigation into the burned body continued in its early stages.

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