missie

a while back u were praying for a friend that was missing and later found dead. DId u ever find out what happend to him?

BARTOW | A 35-year-old man was indicted Thursday in the death of a former high school classmate whose body was found last month riddled with gunshot and stab wounds.

Mike Hinson, of Mulberry, is also accused of threatening his girlfriend and moving the body of Curtis Chancey, 36, of Lakeland, all to impede the investigation into Chancey's death.

The grand jury indicted Hinson on charges of first-degree murder, tampering with a witness and tampering with physical evidence, indictment papers say.

"No surprises here," said Polk County sheriff's Capt. Jim Elensky. "We expected the grand jury to indict him."

Chancey was first reported missing Jan. 26. He was last seen alive about two weeks earlier while visiting the property of Bulger Nursery at 2771 Cozart Road in Mulberry, just off State Road 37.

Hinson lived with his girlfriend, Catherine Yancey, in a trailer on the property. He worked as a guard and laborer for the nursery's manager, Mike Bulger Jr., a former classmate of Hinson and Chancey.

Both men attended Mulberry High School and had friends in common.

The Sheriff's Office searched the property, most of it covered with water and pitted with old phosphate mines, for three days after Chancey was reported missing, but the search didn't find him.

It wasn't until deputies expanded their search north of the property on Feb. 16 that they found Chancey floating facedown in an old mine with at least 25 gunshot and 13 stab wounds.

The Sheriff's Office announced the discovery in a press conference, and Sheriff Grady Judd named Hinson as the primary suspect.

During the search for Chancey, Hinson was jailed without bond on unrelated charges of armed trespassing and resisting arrest without violence. After one arrest, Hinson told an investigator he had been stressed lately because a friend of his was dead and in a lake, deputies said.

Since Hinson was already being held, the Sheriff's Office continued to investigate and bolster their case instead of re-booking him on a murder charge.

Hinson is accused of threatening his girlfriend, Yancey, so she would withhold information from investigators, court papers say.

A judge ordered on Thursday that Hinson be held at Polk County Jail without bond.

did u know his class mate?

Only in passing! I went to school with Curtis's younger brother. My oldest brother went to school with Curtis