BATON ROUGE - An arrest warrant filed into court records Monday sheds new light on the roles electronic surveillance and crime scene processing played in investigating the death of Walter "Keith" Rowland, allegedly at the hands of his stepson Ian Seghers.

Rowland, 66, was reported missing March 9 after he missed a weekly visit with his sister. His body has not been found.

The warrant, charging 34-year-old Seghers with first-degree murder, was signed April 4, but was placed into court records Monday.

It says cell phone data demonstrated that Rowland and Seghers were together at Rowland's home on Jean Street at 4:49 p.m. on March 1. Rowland's phone stopped transmitting less than an hour later and has never come back on. Seghers' phone continued to operate.

At the time Rowland went missing, Seghers was living in a camper outside the house on Jean Street, family members said, and the men did not get along well. Seghers' mother, who is also Rowland's wife, is deceased. 

License plate readers captured Seghers driving Rowland's white van after March 1, the warrant said.

Detectives were also able to get access to recorded voicemails from Seghers in the days after Rowland's phone stopped working, the warrant said. The messages were Seghers asking someone to come to Rowland's house to clean up a mess.

"He also mentioned that 'stuff' was sprayed on the walls and was everywhere," the warrant said, and that he had to tear out some of the carpet in the house because of the mess.

"He leaves these messages again and again also stated that he had to remove carpet because of the disgusting mess that was at this residence," the warrant said.

The messages were sent to an "family friend" the warrant does not identify.

St. Tammany sheriff's deputies later reported to Baton Rouge Police that someone who knew Rowland and Seghers saw him in Pearl River driving Rowland's van. Seghers had asked to borrow a shovel so he could bury a dog and then walked into a wooded area.

Rowland's family said he didn't allow anyone else to drive the van, which was used of company business.

After Rowland was reported missing, detectives had two cadaver dogs examine the home separately. Both dogs indicated that human remains had been on the property, the warrant said.

Investigators found evidence that a large amount of blood had been in Rowland's bedroom. The ceiling, a chair and the floor behind that chair all had blood spatter. The carpet under that chair had been removed. Someone treated the chair with a cleaning product that discolored it

Detectives were able to show that blood led from the bedroom, through the living room, to the front door and onto its threshold, the warrant said.

Witnesss reported that the van had been backed up against the front porch, which led detectives to conclude that Rowland's body may have been moved from the house into the van, the warrant said.

"Detectives believe that Seghers committed a homicide on the victim, cleaned the crime scene, removed the body, and disposed it at an unknown location," the warrant said.