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Payson couple arrested in homicide investigation

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A Payson couple was arrested in January on multiple charges connected to a Payson Police Department homicide investigation.

According to a police department press release, detectives investigating an endangered missing person report came to believe the subject was deceased and two people were fraudulently using his bank accounts. On January 20 and 21 search warrants were served at a Payson residence and a Tonto Basin storage facility, and produced case-related evidence. A body believed to be the missing person’s was also recovered.

On the 21st, Payson residents Dwight and Elaine George were arrested for manslaughter, vulnerable adult abuse, abandonment and concealment of a dead body, fraudulent schemes and artifices, forgery and false reporting to law enforcement.

Police believe the homicide was targeted against the victim, whose name was not released as the case awaited positive identification of the body by the medical examiner and notification of family members.

In the course of the investigation, a third suspect was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against law enforcement; this charge was unrelated to the homicide investigation. The suspect, Kenneth Ford, reportedly interfered with the service of a search warrant and attacked an officer with what the press release described as a “cutting instrument.”