So I stumbled upon the Dust King Tower and over the course of a couple of days, murdered them all. Kited the King and a boss out to my nearby camp and killed him there. Looted and left the body there. Rinse and repeat until I was able to storm it.

This happened over three real life days. When I loaded the save game the bodies of the King and others were gone even though not a lot of game time had passed. Now I am in a town and see there is a 30K bounty on him. He did not have the bounty tag on him when he was alive.

Can I claim the bounty somewhere anyway (I still have all his gear) or am I screwed out of a chunk of cash now? What is the deal with the bodies that they disappear between save loads?