Raleigh, N.C. — Raleigh police said Friday that investigators have taken five teenage boys into custody in connection with the death of man whose body was found in a trash can along a trail in the Capital Area Greenway last weekend.

Regynald Jose Brown, 37, was found around 3 p.m. Saturday along the Walnut Creek Trail in a wooded area just west of Hammond Road.

A police spokesman said the five teens are being treated as juveniles.

Four of the five teens – a 13-year-old and three 15-year-olds – are being held under secure custody orders granted in conjunction with juvenile petitions charging them with Brown's murder.

A fourth 15-year-old is being held under a secure custody order granted in conjunction with a juvenile petition issued for providing assistance after the homicide occurred.

Brown, police said, was reported missing on Nov. 20 and had not been seen or heard from since early November.

His ex-girlfriend, Jacqueline Adams, said Wednesday that he often used the greenway as a cut-through to where he was going.

When she didn't hear from Brown for several weeks, she reported him missing. Several friends had been out looking for him on Saturday when they found his body.

"I knew in my gut something was not right," Adams said.

Brown was the father of three children – ages 15, 13 and 5 – and friends said he was working in landscaping but was a "jack of all trades" who also worked as an electrician, auto mechanic and carpenter.

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