Buffalo Springs Man Gets Charges Upgraded to Capital Murder
59-year-old Mark Anthony Bethel has been in jail since 2015, but as recently as Tuesday, June 15th, 2021, he was indicted for Capital Murder.
KAMC News reports that Bethel was originally charged with murder in connection to the 2015 deaths of Jessica Payton and Shawn Summers.
Back in October of 2015, deputies responded to a vehicle on fire near County Road 6700 and County Road 2800. They found Summer's body inside the burning vehicle. Payton's body wasn't found until a day later in a creek near County Road 7300 and County Road 3600. Her body was weighed down with cinder blocks and was wrapped in a comforter that matched bedding found in Bethel's residence at Buffalo Springs Lake.
It's believed that Bethel was in a relationship with Payton right up until her death. Texts indicated Payton was pregnant, but an autopsy determined that she wasn't.
Bethel was arrested a few days after the bodies were discovered, November 4th, 2015. Mark's cousin, David Bethel, was arrested a week later in Arizona, and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison back in 2019 after pleading guilty to murder.
The new indictment for Mark Bethel says that he "intentionally or knowingly" caused the deaths of both Payton and Summers.
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