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Tag: Oklahoma

  • Oklahoma prepares to execute man for 3-year-old’s killing

    Oklahoma prepares to execute man for 3-year-old’s killing

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    OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma plans to execute a man Thursday for the torture slaying of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son in 1993.

    Richard Stephen Fairchild, who turns 63 on Thursday, is set to receive a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Fairchild, an ex-Marine, was convicted of killing Adam Broomhall after the child wet the bed. Prosecutors say Fairchild held both sides of his body against a scorching furnace, then threw him into a table. The child never regained consciousness and died later that day.

    “The method of Adam’s murder can only be described as torture,” prosecutors from the Oklahoma attorney general’s office wrote to the state’s Pardon and Parole Board, which voted 4-1 last month against recommending clemency for Fairchild.

    Attorneys for Fairchild argue that he was abused as a child, is mentally ill and is remorseful for his actions.

    “As Richard Fairchild’s brain has deteriorated, he has descended into psychosis, a fact well-documented in his prison records,” Emma Rolls, one of Fairchild’s attorneys, said in a statement to the board. “Yet despite having lost touch with reality, Richard remains remorseful for his crime and continues to have an unblemished prison record. There is no principled reason for Oklahoma to execute him.”

    Fairchild’s execution would be the seventh since Oklahoma resumed carrying out the death penalty in October 2021. It would be the 16th execution in the U.S. this year, including one in Texas and one in Arizona on Wednesday, up from last year’s three-decade low of 11. An execution was also scheduled for later Thursday in Alabama.

    Also Thursday, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is expected to rule on a request from death row inmate Richard Glossip for a hearing to determine whether a co-defendant sought to recant his testimony that Glossip hired him to kill motel owner Barry Van Treese. Glossip is also seeking what his attorneys allege is evidence that was withheld by prosecutors, including interviews with witnesses. The court rejected a similar request by Glossip earlier this month.

    The U.S. has seen waning support in recent years for the death penalty across all political parties. About 6 in 10 Americans favor the death penalty, according to the General Social Survey, a major trends survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. While a majority continue to express support for the death penalty, the share has declined steadily since the 1990s, when nearly three-quarters were in favor.

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    More of AP’s coverage of executions can be found at https://apnews.com/hub/executions

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  • Body with gunshot found in search for Tulsa massacre victims

    Body with gunshot found in search for Tulsa massacre victims

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    A second body of a possible victim of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has been found to have a gunshot wound, according to the city.

    “Forensic anthropologist Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield discovered that one of the three sets of remains exhumed last week contained one victim with a gunshot wound,” according to a statement late Friday from city spokesperson Carson Colvin.

    In an effort to eventually confirm the remains are those of massacre victims, investigators are seeking signs of trauma, such as gunshot wounds, based on accounts at the time.

    A portion of the bullet was removed the the head of the remains, according to the statement. The person’s race and whether the remains are those of a massacre victim are not yet known.

    Stubblefield did not immediately return a phone call to The Associated Press on Saturday.

    The remains were in a plain casket and are believed to be that of an adult male, matching information in reports from 1921, and were in the area in Oaklawn Cemetery where 18 massacre victims were reportedly buried.

    The first remains with gunshot wounds were found in June 2021 and are now with Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Forensics where DNA analysis is ongoing.

    The current excavation of the cemetery in the search for victims of the 1921 Race Massacre began Oct. 26 and has uncovered 26 unmarked graves. The work is expected to continue through Nov. 18.

    Four sets of the newly found remains have been exhumed and taken to an on-site lab for analysis.

    A search for the graves of massacre victims began in 2020 and resumed last year with nearly three dozen coffins recovered.

    Fourteen sets of the previously recovered remains were sent to Intermountain Forensics for testing, and two of those have been found to have enough DNA to begin sequencing and start developing a genealogy profile.

    None of the remains have been identified or confirmed as victims of the massacre, one of the worst known examples of white mob violence against Black Americans in U.S. history.

    More than 1,000 homes were burned, hundreds more were looted, and a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed in the racist violence.

    Historians have estimated the death toll at between 75 and 300, with generational wealth being wiped out.

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    Read more coverage of the Tulsa Race Massacre: https://apnews.com/hub/tulsa-race-massacre

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  • Sylvester Stallone tries to rewind the clock in Paramount’s ‘Tulsa King’ | CNN

    Sylvester Stallone tries to rewind the clock in Paramount’s ‘Tulsa King’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Building on the success of “Yellowstone,” Paramount+ and producer Taylor Sheridan have seemingly seized on a streaming strategy built around casting veteran movie stars, an available commodity in an industry known for ageism. Enter “Tulsa King,” a slim vehicle for Sylvester Stallone that’s a little too overtly designed as a mobster fish out of water.

    Stallone’s Dwight Manfredi (who says he was named after Eisenhower, no less) gets released back into the world after 25 years in prison, only to find that those running the mob in his old stomping grounds of New York – some of whom were “kids,” at least to him, when he went away to protect them – don’t want him around.

    “There’s nothing left for you here,” says the new boss (“The Wire’s” Domenick Lombardozzi), noting, “We can’t just rewind the clock.”

    Conceptually, though, that’s exactly what “Tulsa King” does, or at least tries to do, exiling Dwight to the dreary confines of Oklahoma. In short order, he quickly hires a driver (Jay Will) and sets about proving that he can continue earning even in the hinterlands, muscling into a business relationship with the local pot dispensary for starters.

    Dwight isn’t above punching people in the face when they deserve it, which can be helpful in negotiations, determined to demonstrate to the boys back home that if he can make it there, he’ll make it anywhere.

    “Tulsa King” turns out to be a rather odd mix of attributes, relying almost entirely on Stallone’s movie-star charisma as the show alternates between sitcom conventions and R-rated “The Sopranos”-flecked flourishes. When a woman meets him and later tells him she thought he was 55 (he cops to being 20 years older than that), it’s clear that a little ego stroking is also part of the formula.

    While Stallone holds the screen, some of the sitcom touches are weak and too obvious, with Dwight acting like he’s unfamiliar with anything that happened on the outside during the time he was behind bars, shaking his head at cellphones, credit cards and stores that don’t accept cash, his preferred means of transacting deals.

    As noted, streaming in general, and Paramount in particular, have become havens for older stars, with Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren due in the “Yellowstone” prequel “1932” next month. After Stallone’s other recent streaming venture with the movie “Samaritan” on Amazon, the fact that the poster displays his name in big letters above the title makes clear what they’re selling here, and with streamers sparring for attention, it’s not a bad fight plan.

    In that sense, “Tulsa King” suggests maybe you can rewind the clock, just a little, even if you’re gonna fly a little bit lower now.

    “Tulsa King” premieres November 13 on Paramount+.

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  • Thunder Unveil 2022-23 City Edition Uniforms Honoring Oklahomans

    Thunder Unveil 2022-23 City Edition Uniforms Honoring Oklahomans

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    In partnership with Nike and the NBA, all 30 teams around the league today unveiled their 2022-23 Nike NBA City Edition uniforms, which represent the stories, history and heritage that make each franchise unique. These are intended to honor the inherent bond between, court, community and culture.

    “The 2022-23 Nike NBA City Edition uniform collection showcases the unique history and culture behind NBA teams, their cities and their shared bond with NBA fans around the world,” said Christopher Arena, Head of On-Court and Brand Partnerships at the NBA. “These uniforms are the culmination of a collaborative effort between Nike, NBA teams and the league as we continue our commitment to highlight the local icons and narratives intertwined with our teams and cities that have helped define this league.”

    For the Oklahoma City Thunder, this year’s uniforms are all about honoring the people of Oklahoma. The design elements represent a collective experience that is unique to Oklahomans.

    Across the chest, the jersey boldly says “Thunder”, which symbolizes the unifying nature of Thunder Basketball, from the panhandle to the Ouachita National Forest. Since coming to Oklahoma over a decade ago, the Thunder have truly made an impact on the community and economy of the entire state.

    The Oklahoma Standard badge lays inside in the uniform over the heart and is also displayed on the jersey’s bottom right corner.

    Down the side of the jersey and shorts, a bold panel is featured, which celebrates the common ground of Oklahoma’s iron-enriched, red soil. According to the Thunder, this is the perfect symbol of their strength, perseverance, and resilience. Along this panel are seven thin blue stripes that represent all 77 counties across the state of Oklahoma.

    These 77 counties in the state are also symbolized on the belt buckle. Together, the blue stripes and belt buckle are a tribute to all Oklahomans and embody Oklahoma’s statewide bond.

    “The City Edition uniform honors Oklahomans at their core,” said Brian Byrnes, the Thunder’s senior vice president of Sales and Marketing. “Whether an Oklahoman by birth or choice, we are inspired to believe work conquers all. We are a people who are always pushing onward and striving for better. The colors and design of this uniform are a tribute to our foundation, the ground we all walk on and the qualities we all share, including selfless service to our community and fellow citizens.”

    These new uniforms will be worn every Friday night home game this season, as the franchise will host “City Nights”. This will be a unique game night experience for all fans. The first City Night and the debut of these new uniforms will take place this Friday, Nov. 11 in a contest against the Toronto Raptors.

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    Nick Crain, Contributor

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  • 3 bodies recovered after an airboat flips on Oklahoma lake

    3 bodies recovered after an airboat flips on Oklahoma lake

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    GUTHRIE, Okla. — Divers have recovered the bodies of three people missing in an Oklahoma lake since their airboat flipped Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

    The boat overturned on Country Club Lake in Guthrie, about 50 miles north of Oklahoma City, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Patrol divers using sonar searched the murky waters until all three were recovered Tuesday night. No identities have been released.

    The patrol says they expect to recover the boat Wednesday.

    Strong winds may have played a role in the accident, officials said.

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  • Sylvester Stallone on

    Sylvester Stallone on

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    Sylvester Stallone on “Tulsa King” – CBS News


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    In the new Paramount+ series “Tulsa King,” Sylvester Stallone stars as an aging New York mafioso fresh out of prison who finds himself setting up a new criminal organization on the plains of Oklahoma. Stallone talked with correspondent Lee Cowan about his first foray into television; the enduring power of “Rocky”; and how he’s matured into a new style of acting.

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  • Deadly tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma, flatten buildings

    Deadly tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma, flatten buildings

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    IDABEL, Okla. (AP) — Residents in southeastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas began assessing weather damage Saturday, working to recover and thankful to have survived after a storm stretching from Dallas to northwest Arkansas spawned tornadoes and produced flash flooding, killing at least two people, injuring others and leaving homes and buildings in ruins.

    Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt went to the town of Idabel to see the damage. He said on social media that all the homes had been searched and a 90-year-old man was killed. Keli Cain, spokesperson for the state’s Department of Emergency Management, said the man’s body was found at his home in the Pickens area of McCurtain County, about 36 miles (58 kilometers) north of Idabel.

    Morris County, Texas, Judge Doug Reeder said in a social media post that one person died as a result of a tornado in the far northeastern Texas County, offering no other details.

    Reeder and other county officials did not immediately return phone calls for additional comment.

    The Oklahoma Highway Patrol also reported a 6-year-old girl drowned and a 43-year-old man was missing after their vehicle was swept by water off a bridge near Stilwell, about 135 miles (217 kilometers) north of Idabel. The drowning has not been officially attributed to the storm and will be investigated by the medical examiner, Cain said.

    Saturday afternoon Stitt declared a state of emergency for McCurtain County, where Idabel is located, and neighboring Bryan, Choctaw and LeFlore counties.

    The declaration is a step in qualifying for federal assistance and funding and clears the way for state agencies to make disaster-recovery related purchases without limits on bidding requirements.

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said damage assessments and recovery efforts are under way in northeast Texas and encouraged residents to report damage to the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

    “I have deployed all available resources to help respond and recover,” Abbott said in a statement. ”I thank all of our hardworking state and local emergency management personnel for their swift response.”

    National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Darby in Tulsa said the far-reaching storm produced heavy rain in the Stilwell area at the time, around 4 inches (10.16 centimeters).

    Idabel, a rural town of about 7,000 at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains, saw extensive damage, Cain said. “There are well over 100 homes and businesses damaged from minor damage to totally destroyed,” Cain said.

    Trinity Baptist Church in Idabel was preparing to complete a new building when the storm ripped apart their sanctuary and flattened the shell of the new structure next door, according to Pastor Don Myer.

    The 250-member congregation was to vote after the Sunday service on whether to move ahead with he final work to complete the building, Myer told The Associated Press.

    “But we didn’t get to that. Every vote counts and we had one vote trump us all,” Myer, 67, said. “We were right on the verge of that. That’s how close we were.”

    Myer said the congregation is going to pray on what happened, see how much their insurance covers and work to rebuild. On Saturday morning, a few members of the church took an American flag that had been blown over in the storm and stood it upright amid the wreckage of the original church building.

    Shelbie Villalpando, 27, of Powderly, Texas, said she was eating dinner with her family Friday when tornado sirens prompted them to congregate first in their rented home’s hallways, then with her children, aged 5, 10 and 14, in the bathtub.

    “Within two minutes of getting them in the bathtub, we had to lay over the kids because everything started going crazy,” Villalpando said.

    “I’ve never been so terrified,” she said. “I could hear glass breaking and things shattering around, but whenever I got out of the bathroom, my heart and my stomach sank because I have kids and it could have been much worse. … What if our bathroom had caved in just like everything else? We wouldn’t be here.”

    Terimaine Davis and his son were huddled in the bathtub until just before the tornado barreled through Friday, reducing their home in Powderly to a roofless, sagging heap.

    “We left like five minutes before the tornado actually hit,” Davis, 33, told The Associated Press. “Me and my son were in the house in the tub and that was about the only thing left standing.”

    In their driveway Saturday morning, a child’s car seat leaned against a dented, grey Chevrolet sedan with several windows blown out. Around back, his wife, Lori Davis, handed Terimaine a basket of toiletries from inside the wreckage of their house.

    The couple and the three kids who live with them did not have renter’s insurance, Lori Davis said, and none of their furniture survived. “We’re going to have to start from scratch,” she said.

    They hope to stay with family until they can find a place to live.

    “The next few days look like rough times,” Terimaine Davis said.

    Judge Brandon Bell, the highest elected official in Lamar County where Powderly is located, declared a disaster in that area. Bell’s declaration said at least two dozen people were injured across the county.

    Powderly is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Idabel and about 120 miles (193 kilometers) northeast of Dallas and both are near the Texas-Oklahoma border.

    The National Weather Service in Fort Worth confirmed three tornadoes – in Lamar, Henderson and Hopkins counties – Friday night as a line of storms dropped rain and sporadic hail on the Dallas-Fort Worth area and continued to push eastward.

    The weather service’s office in Shreveport, Louisiana, said it was assessing the damage in Oklahoma.

    Weather service meteorologist Bianca Garcia in Fort Worth said while peak severe weather season typically is in the spring, tornados occasionally develop in October, November, December and even January.

    “It’s not very common,” Garcia said, “but it does happen across our region.”

    _____

    Miller reported from Oklahoma City. Adam Kealoha Causey in Dallas contributed to this report.

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  • Deadly tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma, flatten buildings

    Deadly tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma, flatten buildings

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    Residents in northeastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma began assessing weather damage Saturday, working to recover and thankful to have survived after tornadoes tore through the region, killing at least two people, injuring others and leaving homes and buildings in ruins.

    Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt went to the town of Idabel to see the damage. He said on social media that all the homes had been searched and a 90-year-old man was killed. Keli Cain, spokesperson for the state’s Department of Emergency Management, said the man’s body was found at his home in the Pickens area of McCurtain County, about 36 miles north of Idabel.

    The Oklahoma Highway Patrol also reported a 6-year-old girl drowned and a 43-year-old man was missing after their vehicle was swept by water off a bridge near Stilwell, about 135 miles north of Idabel. The drowning has not been officially attributed to the storm and will be investigated by the medical examiner, Cain said.

    The small town of Idabel saw a church, medical center and a school torn apart.

    “There’s a lot of damage” in the town of about 7,000, Cain said. “There are well over 100 homes and businesses damaged from minor damage to totally destroyed.”

    Saturday afternoon Stitt declared a state of emergency for McCurtain County, where Idabel is located, and neighboring Bryan, Choctaw and LeFlore counties.

    The declaration is a step in qualifying for federal assistance and funding and clears the way for state agencies to make disaster-recovery related purchases without limits on bidding requirements.

    The National Weather Service said tornadoes also were reported in Texas and Arkansas.

    Morris County, Texas, Judge Doug Reeder said in a social media post that one person died as a result of a tornado in the far northeastern Texas County, offering no other details.

    Reeder and other county officials did not immediately return phone calls for additional comment.

    One community hit hard was Powderly, about 45 miles west of Idabel and about 120 miles northeast of Dallas. Both Powderly and Idabel are near the Texas-Oklahoma border.

    Shelbie Villalpando, 27, of Powderly, said she was eating dinner with her family Friday when tornado sirens prompted them to congregate first in their rented home’s hallways, then with her children, aged 5, 10 and 14, in the bathtub.

    “Within two minutes of getting them in the bathtub, we had to lay over the kids because everything started going crazy,” Villalpando said.

    “I’ve never been so terrified,” she said. “I could hear glass breaking and things shattering around, but whenever I got out of the bathroom, my heart and my stomach sank because I have kids and it could have been much worse. … What if our bathroom had caved in just like everything else? We wouldn’t be here.”

    Terimaine Davis and his son were huddled in the bathtub until just before the tornado barreled through Friday, reducing their home in Powderly to a roofless, sagging heap.

    “We left like five minutes before the tornado actually hit,” Davis, 33, told The Associated Press. “Me and my son were in the house in the tub and that was about the only thing left standing.”

    In their driveway Saturday morning, a child’s car seat leaned against a dented, grey Chevrolet sedan with several windows blown out. Around back, his wife, Lori Davis, handed Terimaine a basket of toiletries from inside the wreckage of their house.

    The couple and the three kids who live with them did not have renter’s insurance, Lori Davis said, and none of their furniture survived. “We’re going to have to start from scratch,” she said.

    They hope to stay with family until they can find a place to live.

    “The next few days look like rough times,” Terimaine Davis said.

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said damage assessments and recovery efforts are under way in northeast Texas and encouraged residents to report damage to the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

    “I have deployed all available resources to help respond and recover,” Abbott said in a statement. “I thank all of our hardworking state and local emergency management personnel for their swift response.”

    Weather service meteorologist Bianca Garcia in Fort Worth said while peak severe weather season typically is in the spring, tornados occasionally develop in October, November, December and even January.

    “It’s not very common,” Garcia said, “but it does happen across our region.”

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  • Officials say a second person has died in tornadoes that hit Texas and Oklahoma

    Officials say a second person has died in tornadoes that hit Texas and Oklahoma

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    Officials say a second person has died in tornadoes that hit Texas and Oklahoma

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  • 1 dead, dozens hurt as tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma

    1 dead, dozens hurt as tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma

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    POWDERLY, Texas — Tornadoes tore through parts of Texas and Oklahoma on Friday, killing at least one person, injuring two dozens others and leaving dozens of homes and buildings in ruins.

    Tornadoes hit hard in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, in the southeastern corner of the state. Cody McDaniel, the county’s emergency manager, confirmed one death although he didn’t immediately provide details.

    The small town of Idabel saw a church, medical center and a school torn apart.

    “There was total destruction on the south and east sides of Idabel,” Steven Carter, an emergency management coordinator for McCurtain County, told the Texarkana Gazette.

    Carter told the paper people were still trapped late Friday.

    Gov. Kevin Stitt said search-and-rescue teams and generators were being sent to the Idabel area.

    “Praying for Oklahomans impacted by today’s tornadoes,” Stitt tweeted.

    Keli Cain of the Oklahoma Emergency Management Office said at least three other counties were also hit by storms, with flash flooding in some areas.

    The National Weather Service said tornadoes also were reported in Texas and Arkansas and a storm system was heading toward Louisiana.

    In Texas, authorities in Lamar County said at least 50 homes were damaged or destroyed and 10 people were treated at one hospital, including two with critical injuries. No deaths were immediately reported.

    Judge Brandon Bell, the county’s highest elected official, declared a disaster in the area, a step in getting federal assistance and funding. Bell’s declaration said at least two dozen people were injured across the county.

    One community hit hard was Powderly, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Idabel and about 120 miles (193 kilometers) northeast of Dallas. Both Powderly and Idabel are near the Texas-Oklahoma border.

    The Lamar County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Management said the tornado touched down shortly after 4 p.m. and traveled north-northeast through the communities of Hopewell, Caviness, Beaver Creek and Powderly.

    Randi Johnson, chief of the Powderly Volunteer Fire Department, told The Paris News newspaper that she wasn’t aware anyone had been killed but knew of injuries.

    “It’s going to take a long time to get this cleaned up, but the community came together,” Johnson said. “It’s really heartbreaking to see.”

    Churches opened their doors to serve as shelters for those whose homes were impacted.

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  • At least 1 dead, dozens of homes damaged in tornadoes that ravaged Texas and Oklahoma

    At least 1 dead, dozens of homes damaged in tornadoes that ravaged Texas and Oklahoma

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    At least 1 dead, dozens of homes damaged in tornadoes that ravaged Texas and Oklahoma

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  • 21 new graves found in search for Tulsa Massacre victims

    21 new graves found in search for Tulsa Massacre victims

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    The search for remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has turned up 21 additional graves in the city’s Oaklawn Cemetery, officials said.

    Seventeen adult-size graves were located Friday and Saturday, Oklahoma State Archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said Monday. Additionally, the city announced Tuesday that four graves, two adult-size and two child-size, had been found.

    The coffins, then the remains, will be examined to see if they match reports from 1921 that the victims were males buried in plain caskets.

    “This is going to part of our process of discriminating which ones we’re going to proceed with in terms of exhuming those individuals and which ones we’re actually going to leave in place,” Stackelbeck said in a video statement.

    The work, by hand, was still underway, and the types of coffins and gender of the victims have not been determined, according to the city’s statement.

    The remains will be reburied, at least temporarily, at Oaklawn, where a previous reburial was closed to the public, drawing protests from about two dozen people who said they are descendants of massacre victims and should have been allowed to attend.

    A violent white mob targeted Black people during the massacre, in which more than 1,000 homes were burned, hundreds were looted, and a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed. Historians have estimated the death toll at 75 to 300.

    A search for the graves of massacre victims began in 2020 and resumed last year with nearly three dozen coffins recovered.

    Fourteen sets of remains were sent for testing, and two had enough DNA to begin sequencing and start developing a genealogy profile.

    The current search includes reexhuming the other 12 remains in an effort to collect more usable DNA in an effort to eventually identify them.

    The massacre wiped out generational wealth, and victims were never compensated, but a pending lawsuit seeks reparations for the three remaining known survivors. They are now more than 100 years old.

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  • Family in Oklahoma murder-suicide faced financial pressures

    Family in Oklahoma murder-suicide faced financial pressures

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    BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — An Oklahoma couple considered “primary suspects” in last week’s killings of their six children faced growing financial pressures and the husband experienced recurring pain from a workplace head injury, according to family members.

    Eight people were found dead Thursday in a burning home in a Tulsa-area suburb in what authorities are investigating as a murder-suicide. The Broken Arrow Police Department on Sunday identified the two adults as Brian and Brittney Nelson but provided no new information on whether both adults were involved in the killings of the children, who ranged in age from 1 to 13.

    Brian Nelson’s parents, Danny and Marilyn Nelson, told the Tulsa World that their son had asked if they could babysit their grandchildren at 5 p.m. Thursday, the day of the fire.

    “Five came and went. Then it was 6. I texted them — no responses,” Danny Nelson said. “I turned on the 6 o’clock news, and they said there had been a fire near Hickory and Galveston in Broken Arrow. That’s where my son lives.”

    Police have not released the names of the children who died but the Nelsons identified them as grandson Brian II, age 13; granddaughter Brantley, 9; grandsons Vegeta, 7, Ragnar, 5, and Kurgan, 2; and granddaughter Britannica, 1.

    All six children were found dead in a burning back bedroom and the two adults were found in the front of the home. Authorities said causes of death were still pending but they don’t believe anyone died from the fire.

    Brian and Brittney Nelson had filed for bankruptcy in 2020, listing $8,803 in assets versus nearly $138,000 in liabilities, most of which was unpaid student loans, the newspaper reported. Both indicated they were unemployed at the time, the filing said.

    The bankruptcy filing also listed nine guns as assets.

    Years ago, Brian Nelson had suffered a concussion while stocking dairy refrigerators at a large retail chain and had been plagued by severe headaches ever since, his parents said.

    “I want people to know that at one time he had all his brain together,” Marilyn Nelson said. “I just don’t understand why they did what they did. I just don’t understand why he ended up in that situation. I talk to God all the time — and I just don’t understand.”

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  • Deaths of 8 in Oklahoma home investigated as murder-suicide

    Deaths of 8 in Oklahoma home investigated as murder-suicide

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    BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — The deaths of eight family members — including six children found in a burning Oklahoma home — are being investigated as a murder-suicide, authorities said Friday. Police are trying to determine whether both adults were involved in the killings.

    The children, who ranged in age from 1 to 13, were the victims, Broken Arrow Police Chief Brandon Berryhill said during a news conference. He did not provide their identities, ages or explain their relationships to one another except to say they were family members believed to be living in the home.

    Police said both adults who live in the home were considered “primary suspects” because they were found dead in the front of the home while the children were all found in a bedroom, where the fire was contained. A police spokesman declined to say whether authorities believe the two adults were both responsible for the killings or whether it could be just one of them.

    “It’s because investigators are still trying to piece together what happened with eight people dead,” police spokesman Ethan Hutchins said in an email to The Associated Press.

    Hutchins also said police would not be able to identify the dead adults until the medical examiner’s office has completed its work.

    The causes of death are still under investigation, but Broken Arrow Fire Department Chief Jeremy Moore said it doesn’t appear that anyone died because of the fire. Guns were recovered from the home, the police chief said.

    “To arrive on scene yesterday and to see the looks on our first responders’ and firefighters’ faces just absolutely broke my heart,” Moore said Friday.

    Sara Abel, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the agency is assisting local police in tracing guns found in the home but she did not have any details about the type or number of firearms.

    The fire was reported about 4 p.m. Thursday in a quiet residential area of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, 13 miles (20 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa.

    The two adults found dead in the front of the house had injuries that “appeared to be criminal in nature,” Moore said.

    The children were found dead in another area of the home, he said.

    Kris Welch told the Tulsa World that the couple had rented the home from her for the past eight years. She said they seemed like “a regular family” but that she had gotten “some weird vibes from him.”

    “He wore some T-shirts that were kind of dark and strange,” Welch told the newspaper. “And she was quiet. She hardly ever spoke, honestly. I always wondered about that.”

    Neighbor Traci Treseler told the newspaper that the kids always kept to themselves. She had thought only three children lived in the house and was surprised to find out there were six, she said.

    A week ago, a similar tragedy occurred in Wisconsin, where four children and two adults were found in a burning apartment in a suspected murder-suicide.

    In Broken Arrow, Catelin Powers said she was driving with her children nearby when she saw a column of smoke near her house, so she drove past to investigate.

    “When I got closer to the house, I saw smoke pouring out from the very top of the house, which looked like maybe the attic,” she told The Associated Press on Thursday.

    Two men and a woman on her phone were standing in front of the house, Powers said, when another man emerged from the front door dragging an apparently unconscious, unresponsive woman. “Her arms were flopped to her sides,” she said.

    Suspecting the woman was dead, Powers said she drove on so her children would be spared the sight.

    Tragedy has struck before in Broken Arrow, which is Tulsa’s biggest suburb with almost 115,000 residents. In 2015, two teenaged brothers killed their mother, father, two younger brothers and 5-year-old sister at their home — which was about 6 miles (10 kilometers) south of Thursday’s fatal fire.

    The home where the 2015 killings occurred was later demolished and the site was transformed into a community park.

    ———

    Associated Press reporters Jake Bleiberg, Terry Wallace and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.

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  • 8 found dead after Oklahoma house fire, police say

    8 found dead after Oklahoma house fire, police say

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    Eight people were found dead following a house fire in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on Thursday, police said. The incident is being investigated as a homicide.

    Just after 5 p.m. local time, the Broken Arrow Police Department tweeted that it was responding to a “structure fire with multiple fatalities,” and later confirmed that eight people were found dead at the home.

    “This is a complex scene, this fire was a large fire, and there’s a lot of moving parts to this investigation,” Broken Arrow police spokesperson Ethan Hutchins told reporters in a Thursday night news briefing.

    A family of eight, two adults and six children, resided at the home, Hutchins disclosed. However, the identities of the eight victims has not been confirmed, he added.

    There was no immediate word on their causes of death. However, based on preliminary reports from officers and detectives on scene, the incident is being investigated as a homicide, Hutchins said.

    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting Broken Arrow police with the investigation.

    “This is a very safe city, and homicides don’t happen here normally. This is the first homicide incident in Broken Arrow this year,” Hutchins said.

    Broken Arrow is located about 13 miles southeast of Tulsa. 

    Sophie Reardon


    sophie-reardon.jpg

    Sophie Reardon is a News Editor at CBS News. Reach her at sophie.reardon@viacomcbs.com

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  • 8 found dead after house fire in Tulsa area; homicide feared

    8 found dead after house fire in Tulsa area; homicide feared

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    BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Eight people were found dead Thursday after a fire was extinguished at a Tulsa-area house, and police said they were investigating the deaths as homicides.

    The fire was reported about 4 p.m. Thursday in a quiet residential area of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, 13 miles (20 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa.

    Broken Arrow police said the fire and the deaths were being investigated as homicides, but they didn’t believe an immediate threat to the public existed.

    Police spokesman Ethan Hutchins said the scene was complex “with a lot of moving parts,” so no other information was being released immediately.

    “Understandably, this is a shock to Broken Arrow. It’s a safe city. Broken Arrow doesn’t have this kind of situation every day,” Hutchins said.

    Broken Arrow is Tulsa’s biggest suburb, with almost 115,000 residents.

    The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was assisting in the investigation, he said.

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  • Three-year-old OU Health heart patient dresses up as his doctor for Halloween

    Three-year-old OU Health heart patient dresses up as his doctor for Halloween

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    Officer fired for drinking on the job, officials say

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  • Exhumations to resume; Bid to ID Tulsa Race Massacre victims

    Exhumations to resume; Bid to ID Tulsa Race Massacre victims

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    Some of the 19 bodies taken from a Tulsa cemetery and later reburied that could include remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre will be exhumed again starting Wednesday, part of a bid to gather more DNA for possible identification.

    The latest exhumation of bodies, some of which were taken last year from Oaklawn Cemetery in the northeastern Oklahoma city will be followed by another excavation for additional remains.

    “There were 14 of the 19 (bodies) that fit the criteria for further DNA analysis,” according to city spokesperson Michelle Brooks. “These are the ones that will be re-exhumed.”

    The 14 sets of remains were sent to Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City, Utah, in an attempt to identify them. Brooks said two sets have enough DNA recovered to begin sequencing.

    It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the 14 will be exhumed a second time, Brooks said.

    The remains will be reburied at Oaklawn, where the previous reburial drew protests from about two dozen people who said they are descendants of massacre victims and should have been allowed to attend the ceremony, which was closed to the public.

    Intermountain Forensics is seeking people who believe they are descendants of massacre victims to provide genetic material to help scientists when they begin trying to identify remains of possible victims.

    The exhumations will be followed by another search for bodies in an area south and west of the areas previously excavated in 2020 and 2021.

    None of the remains recovered thus far are confirmed as victims of the massacre in which more than 1,000 homes were burned, hundreds were looted and a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed.

    Historians who have studied the event estimate the death toll to be between 75 and 300.

    Victims were never compensated, however a pending lawsuit seeks reparations for the three remaining known survivors of the violence.

    The latest search is expected to end by Nov. 18.

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  • Woman accused of smuggling drugs into Oklahoma prisons faces several charges

    Woman accused of smuggling drugs into Oklahoma prisons faces several charges

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    A woman accused of smuggling drugs into Oklahoma prisons now faces several charges.KOCO 5 dug up the court documents that show the woman, Alicia Anderson, admitted she was helping facilitate drugs in the jails and state agents had been on the investigation for 18 months.KOCO 5 first reported the Department of Correction’s bust where they found a storage unit in Oklahoma City full of contraband meant to be smuggled into prisons. This week’s arrest puts a face to the crime.Thirty-two-year-old Anderson faces three charges for bringing contraband into jail and one count of conspiracy. Anderson is in the Hughes County Jail, following an 18-month-long investigation.She is charged with accepting money to drive people to areas near prisons where they would pilot drones with contraband.Court documents show back in June of 2021, Anderson documented a contraband drop at the North Fork Prison in Sayre.In August of this year, an agent with the DOC Office of Inspector General took Anderson into custody for warrants out of Rogers County where she admitted she made approximately four contraband drops a week at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Davis, North Fork and Lawton Correctional Facilities.Anderson said it was approximately $2,000 a week in revenue for her. She also named another man who helped her operate the drone to drop the contraband.The DOC spokesperson said, “Combatting the introduction of contraband into state prisons is a never-ending process, which becomes tougher as criminals become more technologically proficient. But this agency remains committed to investing the resources necessary to protect inmates and staff from the dangers these items present in prisons.”Anderson’s bail is set at $10,000.

    OKLAHOMA CITY —

    A woman accused of smuggling drugs into Oklahoma prisons now faces several charges.

    KOCO 5 dug up the court documents that show the woman, Alicia Anderson, admitted she was helping facilitate drugs in the jails and state agents had been on the investigation for 18 months.

    KOCO 5 first reported the Department of Correction’s bust where they found a storage unit in Oklahoma City full of contraband meant to be smuggled into prisons. This week’s arrest puts a face to the crime.

    Thirty-two-year-old Anderson faces three charges for bringing contraband into jail and one count of conspiracy. Anderson is in the Hughes County Jail, following an 18-month-long investigation.

    She is charged with accepting money to drive people to areas near prisons where they would pilot drones with contraband.

    Court documents show back in June of 2021, Anderson documented a contraband drop at the North Fork Prison in Sayre.

    In August of this year, an agent with the DOC Office of Inspector General took Anderson into custody for warrants out of Rogers County where she admitted she made approximately four contraband drops a week at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Davis, North Fork and Lawton Correctional Facilities.

    Anderson said it was approximately $2,000 a week in revenue for her. She also named another man who helped her operate the drone to drop the contraband.

    The DOC spokesperson said, “Combatting the introduction of contraband into state prisons is a never-ending process, which becomes tougher as criminals become more technologically proficient. But this agency remains committed to investing the resources necessary to protect inmates and staff from the dangers these items present in prisons.”

    Anderson’s bail is set at $10,000.

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  • Oklahoma to execute man for 2002 killing of infant daughter

    Oklahoma to execute man for 2002 killing of infant daughter

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    McALESTER, Okla. — A 57-year-old Oklahoma man is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Thursday for killing his 9-month-old daughter in 2002, despite claims by his attorneys that he is mentally ill and not competent to be executed.

    Attorneys for Benjamin Cole do not dispute that he killed Brianna Cole by forcibly bending the infant backward, breaking her spine and tearing her aorta, but argue that he is both severely mentally ill and that he has a growing lesion on his brain that has continued to worsen while he has been in prison.

    Cole has refused medical attention and ignored his personal hygiene, hoarding food and living in a darkened cell with little to no communication with staff or fellow prisoners, his attorneys told the state’s Pardon and Parole Board last month during a clemency hearing.

    “His condition has continued to decline over the course of this year,” Cole’s attorney Katrina Conrad-Legler said.

    The panel voted 4-1 to deny clemency, and a district judge earlier this month determined Cole was competent to be executed. A last-minute appeal filed with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to halt his execution was denied on Wednesday.

    Cole has a lesion on his brain, which is separate from his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, that has grown in size in recent years and affects the part of his brain that deals with problem solving, movement and social interaction, Conrad-Legler has said.

    Attorneys for the state and members of the victim’s family told the board that Cole’s symptoms of mental illness are exaggerated and that the brutal nature of his daughter’s killing merit his execution.

    Assistant Attorney General Tessa Henry said Cole killed his daughter because he was infuriated that her crying from her crib interrupted his playing of a video game.

    “He is not severely mentally ill,” said another prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Ashley Willis. “There is nothing in the constitution or jurisprudence that prevents his execution.”

    Prosecutors noted that the infant had numerous injuries consistent with a history of abuse and that Cole had previously served time in prison in California for abusing another child.

    Board members also heard emotional testimony from family members of the slain child’s mother, who urged the board to reject clemency.

    “The first time I got to see Brianna in person was lying in a casket,” said Donna Daniel, the victim’s aunt. “Do you know how horrible it is to see a 9-month-old baby in a casket?

    “This baby deserves justice. Our family deserves justice.”

    Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor said in a statement that he is confident Cole is sufficiently competent to be executed.

    “Although his attorneys claim Cole is mentally ill to the point of catatonia, the fact is that Cole fully cooperated with a mental evaluation in July of this year,” O’Connor said. “The evaluator, who was not hired by Cole or the State, found Cole to be competent to be executed and that ‘Mr. Cole does not currently evidence any substantial, overt signs of mental illness, intellectual impairment, and/or neurocognitive impairment.’”

    Cole’s execution would be the sixth since Oklahoma resumed carrying out the death penalty in October 2021.

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