Nearly four years after the crime, a person in Rankin County custody led authorities Tuesday to a rural cemetery in south Warren County where a body had been buried in an existing grave.

Another person, also in custody, also told authorities where the body could be found, but Rankin County Sheriff Ronnie Pennington would not release the names or addresses of the homicide victim or the suspects or provide other information. A third suspect remains at large, he said.

&#8220Right now we’re just making sure the family is notified before we release (the victim’s) name,” Pennington said. &#8220We should have this wrapped up by the weekend.”

The victim was said to be a 28-year-old man whose body was buried in the Old Sadler Cemetery within hours after being slain in March 2002.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace, who accompanied Rankin authorities to the site, said the crime is believed to have occurred in Rankin County, meaning authorities there would investigate and prosecute the case.

The small cemetery is in the woods at the southernmost end of Hankinson Road off Jeff Davis Road, near the Warren-Claiborne county line.

The killers had wrapped the body in plastic and dug a shallow hole in front of a tombstone for the burial. Deputies from the two departments dug up and removed the remains.

The suspect who led police to the body had been in custody for about six weeks, Pennington said. He had originally been arrested, as had another suspect in custody, several months before, on unrelated charges.

&#8220I don’t know what possessed him into talking,” Pennington said. &#8220For a long time he maintained he was innocent.”

One of the suspects may have lived in Warren County and had knowledge of the secluded spot, Pace said. Pennington said he was unsure if either of the suspects in custody had a Warren County connection.

Though there are markers reading as recently as 2001, the small cemetery predates the Civil War, Pace said. The gravestone on the grave where the body was buried was too time-worn to be read.

&#8220We’re making every effort with funeral homes in the area to determine whose grave it was and notify the family,” Pace said, noting that the killers had not dug deep enough to disturb the grave’s original remains.

The body removed was first turned over to Warren County Coroner John Thomason and then released to Rankin County Coroner Jimmy Roberts.