Person of interest in 4 Missouri deaths charged with stealing

RIVERSIDE, Mo. -- A man considered a person of interest in the deaths of four people whose charred bodies were found outside a burning northwest Missouri home over the weekend has been charged with stealing a car from the residence, authorities said Monday.

Platte County prosecutor Eric Zahnd said Grayden L. Denham, 24, was taken into custody in Arizona and faces one count of stealing related to the theft of a 2012 Nissan Versa belonging to Russell and Shirley Denham, two occupants of the rural Edgerton, Missouri, home where the victims were found.

The bodies of two women, one man and an infant were found late Friday night outside the residence, where Grayden Denham had lived for years, Zahnd said.

Family members in Missouri have identified the victims as relatives of Grayden Denham, but Zahnd and Platte County Sheriff Mark Owen declined during a news conference to comment on Denham's connection to the victims and wouldn't confirm whether Russell and Shirley Denham, both in their early 80s, were among the dead.

Autopsies confirmed the deaths were homicides. Owen said all four victims had been set on fire. A red, plastic gas container was found a few feet from one of the bodies.

"As you can imagine, this is a horrendous thing to happen to any family, to any community," Zahnd said.

Court records do not show whether Denham has an attorney. Relatives of his reached Monday declined to comment.

Denham was taken into custody Sunday after being found walking naked in northwestern Arizona.

The sheriff's office in Yavapai County, Arizona, said Denham was jailed on suspicion of theft and displaying a fictitious license plate.

Yavapai County sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said the man gave the wrong date of birth when law enforcement initially approached him, and he was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Flagstaff because of concern about his medical condition.

D'Evelyn said a motel manager reported a suspicious parked car that didn't belong to its guests later Sunday morning.

He said the car was unlocked and had a key in the ignition, and it and its license plate had been reported stolen.

The man's Missouri identification, which has his real date of birth, was found in a wallet in a pile of clothes next to the car, D'Evelyn said.

Zahnd said he would seek to have Denham extradited to Missouri, though he could not say how soon that might happen. Owen said two Missouri investigators were in Arizona to retrieve any evidence.

Online court records show Grayden Denham was sentenced Jan. 29 in Missouri's Johnson County to two years of probation and 20 hours of community service on a misdemeanor assault charge to which he pleaded guilty. Zahnd said Denham's driver's license has been revoked because of traffic infractions and child-support issues.