Two people have been arrested in the slaying of 22-year-old Dustin R. Hammons, whose body was found near Creek and Bud Bennet roads in Starks on Aug. 2, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said Tuesday.

Ashlyn Brown, 22, and Boyd Hagood, 45, were arrested in Pasadena, Texas, and were charged with second-degree murder, Mancuso said at a news conference. He said the killing, which he described as brutal, was drug related.

“Hagood had no prior record and has been in no trouble at all until he fell into the drug world,” he said. “He had a good plant job, a home, a good life, and then he fell into the world of meth. Brown is only 22 and didn’t have much of a prior record.”

He said officials were able to locate a vehicle that was being driven by Boyd as it traveled from the Houston area to Louisiana.

Neither Brown nor Hagood appeared to have any familiarity with Calcasieu Parish other than bringing Hammons here to kill him and dump his body, Mancuso said.

It was luck that the body was discovered when it was because the parish work crew that found it only mows the area twice a year, officials have said.

Hagood remains jailed in Harris County, Texas, on $2.5 million bond; Brown remains jailed there on $1.5 million bond.

Ashlyn Brown

Boyd Hagood