DREXEL, Mo. — A Missouri man who police say confessed to killing, dismembering, and burning the bodies of seven men in his bedroom fireplace was charged yesterday with one count of murder.

Michael Lee Shaver Jr., 33, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action related to a killing in fall 2001.

Mr. Shaver, who police say spontaneously confessed after he was arrested following a failed carjacking, told investigators that he had shot and killed seven people at his residence during drug transactions so he could take their money and drugs, a Cass County Sheriff’s captain, Chuck Stocking, said.

Mr. Shaver claimed that after he killed the men — all between the ages of 20 and 40 and from the Kansas City area — he dismembered the bodies, burned the parts in a fireplace in his bedroom, then used a hammer to crush large bones and skulls, Captain Stocking said. Mr. Shaver said he then spread the bone fragments around his back yard.

Investigators found bone fragments from two people Saturday on the plot of land northeast of Drexel in western Missouri and were scouring the property for additional victims. Authorities said they aren’t ruling out the possibility that he is exaggerating about the killings.

“He can say that he killed 50, but we have to prove that he actually did,” Captain Stocking said.

Mr. Shaver was arrested Friday after he lost control of his vehicle and wrecked, Captain Stocking said. Mr. Shaver and his passenger, Nathan Wasmer, 27, tried to carjack a witness, but fled after they were not able to get into the woman’s vehicle, Captain Stocking said.