A body found yesterday in a shallow grave on the outskirts of north Belfast is believed to be that of missing loyalist and close Johnny Adair associate, Mr Alan McCullough.
Mr McCullough (21) went missing last Wednesday week ago after he returned to Belfast from England, believing that UDA leaders had granted him a reprieve after his siding with Adair in the internal loyalist feud.
His mother, Barbara, had urged him to remain in England but he took the word of senior UDA figures who assured him of his safety, according to reliable sources.
Last night the BBC received a call from the UDA claiming that it had killed McCullough after linking him with the murder of John Gregg, one of the UDA's most senior figures and the so-called brigadier of the organisation in south-east Antrim.
Gregg was killed at Belfast docks in February after returning from a Rangers game in Glasgow by Adair's "C-company", of which Mr McCullough was a senior member
Several arrests were made but so far nobody has been charged with Gregg's murder.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable, Mr Hugh Orde, said the location of the body "makes it entirely possible that it is Mr McCullough, but we can't confirm that until we are sure".
He said the killing was a priority investigation and that right from his abduction police, treated the case as a murder inquiry.
"We are following a number of lines of inquiry, arrests have been made, property has been seized, forensic examinations carried out. There is a lot of work to do yet," Mr Orde said.
Mr McCullough's body was found on ground near the Aughnabrack Road outside Mallusk, Co Antrim, yesterday morning. Police would not say whether the discovery followed on a tip-off.
The area is in the command area of murdered John Gregg, giving weight to reports that he was handed over by UDA elements in the Shankill to Gregg's local associates.
The PSNI contacted the McCullough family yesterday, although police said they could not yet confirm that the body was that of their son.
Ulster Unionist councillor Mr Chris McGimpsey, who also visited the McCulloughs, said the family believed their worst fears were now confirmed.
His apparent murder marks another chapter in the often treacherous and twisted story of the loyalist underworld.
His UDA father, William "Bucky" McCullough, was murdered in 1981.
"Lt Col McCullough" was shot dead by the INLA, but is believed to have been set up by another UDA leader, Jim Craig, who in turn was murdered by his own organisation in 1988. Craig was blamed for setting up UDA leader John McMichael, father of former Ulster Democratic Party leader Mr Gary McMichael.
The events leading to Mr McCullough's death are similarly murky. After the killing of Gregg in February, Mr McCullough fled to Britain with Adair's wife, Gina, John White and about 20 other loyalists who sided with Adair in the feud.
Adair was already back in prison at that stage, lifted by police in January during the height of the murderous dispute between the lower Shankill "C-company" of the UDA and the UDA leadership. Nonetheless, the UDA was convinced that Adair orchestrated Gregg's murder.
Mr McCullough could not tolerate his life in England and made several overtures to the UDA to be allowed to return.
It was reported that as part of a deal he switched sides and gave the UDA information about where Adair's associates were living.
This led to a drive-by shooting on a house in Brighton where Gina Adair was staying.