70-year-old duck hunter accused of murdering two men is found dead

Vowell’s body was found minutes away from the lake where the two bodies were recovered last week

Investigators were searching the area surrounding Reelfoot Lake after the murders came to light last week (Screengrab/Video)

A 70-year-old man accused of killing two duck hunters in Tennessee has been found dead near the same spot where their bodies were recovered.

David Vowell, 70, a local businessman, was found dead in Reelfoot Lake around 3pm local time on Saturday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. A cause of death wasn’t immediately announced, and the police said they will run an autopsy on his body.

Vowell was wanted by five different agencies and was considered armed and dangerous, as a suspect in the murder of two men who were found dead on Monday last week.

Chance Black, 26, and Zachery Grooms, 25, were at Reelfoot Lake in northwest Tennessee when they met Vowell and an argument erupted, according to an ABC news report quoting the district attorney Tommy Thomas.

The two men, both from Tennessee, died of bullet wounds at the scene. It is unclear whether Vowell knew them or not, according to Mr Thomas.

Earlier, speaking to the local station Thunderbolt Radio, Mr Thomas called the incident “bizarre” and unlike something he has ever seen. “Routinely, if you have a homicide, then there’s a motive. Here we don’t have one.”

The investigative teams searched through the area, including the swamplands surrounding the 15,000 acres lake, posting videos of the adverse conditions they were facing.

The mysterious murders in the led to several theories online. The area, a few kilometres away from the Mississippi River, is famous for boating and fishing.

All three of the men were known in the community, according to local media reports. Black and Grooms graduated Weakley County’s Greenfield High School a year apart, The Messenger reported. Black is the son of Chief Deputy Mark Black, a longtime officer in the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department.