Charged dropped in grisly Okla., slaying

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Oklahoma prosecutors have dropped murder charges against two men suspected of torturing and dismembering a woman in 2011, court documents show.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater didn't say why he dismissed first-degree murder charges against Jimmy Lee Massey Jr., 34 and Luis E. Ruiz, 38, The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman said Monday. They were charged in July for allegedly killing Carina Saunders, 19, whose body was found hacked up and stuffed in a duffle bag dumped behind a grocery store in Mustang in October 2011.

Court documents prior to the dismissal indicated Massey had confided in two inmates while jailed on an unrelated drug charge that Ruiz planned and carried out the torture killing. Massey told his fellow inmate Ruiz tied up Saunders and cut off her left foot with a saw, the documents said. He tried to cut off her right foot but the saw broke.

Massey allegedly admitted to the jailhouse informants he kidnapped a woman and forced her to watch Ruiz kill Saunders.

Ruiz is expected to be released from custody Monday. Massey remains behind bars due to ongoing proceedings in the drug case, The Oklahoman said.