Paige, Tanner and Dave
I don’t think I’ve ever introduced you to the people who are responsible for creating the Cold Case Oklahoma videos. That’s a grave oversight on my part, because this project wouldn’t exist without their talent and professionalism. They’re an integral part of the team. Even better, they’re good people who are easy to work with and who care about Cold Case every bit as much as I do.
Paige Dillard writes all of the scripts for the Cold Case videos. She consults with me but does much of her own research, digging through the archives for past stories, searching the Web and wading through what is sometimes hours of footage to find the best clips to include in the documentary-style videos. Sometimes we go to interviews together and take turns asking questions. Her job is behind-the-scenes and pretty thankless, but she’s a talented asset, and she has to work faster than me: Her deadlines are often much earlier than mine.
If you watch many videos at NewsOK.tv, you’ve probably seen Tanner Herriott on-camera. (My favorite is the one where he basically gets beaten up by a self-defense instructor: http://www.newsok.tv/?titleID=1483902033.) For Cold Case, he works behind the camera as a skilled videographer. He has shot the video for every Cold Case I’ve worked on, and I couldn’t be happier with the job he’s done. Tanner works from Paige’s scripts to cobble the final videos together and add in the visual effects. If you think the videos look good, it’s because of him.
Everyone knows Dave Morris. I don’t think you can watch television in Oklahoma City for more than 30 minutes without seeing him in a NewsOK commercial. Dave’s a much better looking guy than I am, and he’s far more comfortable on camera, so he’s the face of Cold Case Oklahoma — and thank God for it. Dave hosts and narrates the videos. I think he does a great job.
Cold Case meeting
Four times a year, members of various law enforcement agencies gather at the Oklahoma City police training center to talk about cold cases.
The meetings, which are closed to the public, allow investigators to pool information on cases they’re working and seek advice from their colleagues. A case featured at one of the meetings was the Comanche slaying of Mary Pewitt. That case was profiled on the Cold Case OK Web site earlier this year.
I’ve been invited to two of the meetings but only made it to one. The sessions pretty much last all day, but I was there for just an hour or two.
It’s pretty fascinating. Police detectives, OSBI agents, sheriff’s deputies and others all gathered in one classroom talking about the cases that haunt even the most hardened law enforcement professionals, the cases that have crawled under their skin, the cases they just can’t forget. It’s a compelling reminder that cops care.
Their next meeting isn’t for a few months. Hopefully, some of those cases will be closed by then.
Black Muslims
Check out the new Cold Case on a string of unsolved crimes from the 1970s. For decades, police have attributed the crimes to a group of Black Muslims, but they’ve never been able to prove it.
Police are on one side. On the other is Alfred Brooks, the only man convicted in any of the crimes.
Brooks wasn’t a good guy when he was running free in the 1970s. He did some bad things, and by his own admission, if he didn’t kill one woman and wound another, he was at least there when it happened – and didn’t come forward to police. That’ll land anyone in prison, and he’s doing time for murder.
His friends, though, are convinced he wasn’t part of the other crimes in the series. Joe Long and Doobie Potter are kind, sensitive artists; Joe, a mime, has been a volunteer prison chaplain, and Doobie helped convicts write and stage plays. They’ve been around the system, and they trust Brooks enough that they’re willing to let him move in with them if he’s ever released. They told me that Brooks is completely rehabilitated, a rare success story in a prison underworld that often turns bad men worse. And they said that he’s been denied parole repeatedly because of unsubstantiated allegations that he killed other people, even though he was never charged in any of those crimes.
After 34 years, there are still so many questions.
Did Brooks commit the murder for which he was convicted? A jury and the surviving victim said he did.
Did Brooks commit the other crimes? That’s never been proven.
Does he know who committed those crimes? Even if he does and tells us, how can we ever know he’s telling the truth?
Can a convict truly be rehabilitated, and if so, what is the ethical thing to do with that person?
Should a man who once faced a death sentence (Brooks’ sentence was changed in 1977 to consecutive life terms) ever be allowed parole?
This Cold Case was more difficult to write than most, largely because of all of those questions and many more.
Who’s right? Who’s wrong?
Will we ever know for sure?
A major break
I can’t reveal details yet — in fact, it may be some time before I can — but there has been a major break in one of the unsolved homicide cases featured on the Cold Case Oklahoma website.
I don’t think I’m violating any confidences to say that a suspect has been identified, and there seems to be substantial evidence tying this person to the crime.
Sorry to be so vague. I just don’t want to endanger the investigation.
Keep watching. I’ll update as soon as I can.
Unsolved OSBI cases
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is trying to close a number of unsolved cases, including one — the death of Mary Pewitt — that was featured on the Cold Case Oklahoma site.
You can check out the OSBI cases here: www.ok.gov/osbi/Investigative/Unsolved_Cases
Here’s what they posted about the Pewitt slaying:
On June 4, 1988, the body of twenty five year old Mary Elizabeth Pewitt was found inside her residence in Comanche, Oklahoma. A divorced mother of two, Mary worked at a local bar and had closed the establishment around midnight June 3. After driving over to the bar owner’s house where she dropped off the day’s proceeds, she returned home where she was met by a boyfriend. Mary and her boyfriend visited for a short while before he left the residence becoming the last person known to have seen her alive. It was shortly after the boyfriend’s departure that investigators believe someone entered the house and viciously stabbed Mary to death. Mary had recently been involved in a volatile relationship regarding child support. On the night she was murdered, Mary’s children were not at the home because they had spent the night with Mary’s parents. The OSBI did not enter the case until 1997 when the agency asked to assist the Comanche Police Department.
Just an update
The Black Muslim case is still on its way. It’s proven a little more complicated than most of the Cold Cases, so it’s taken more time than the others. Hopefully, it’ll be worth the wait.
In the meantime … please take this opportunity to review some of our past cases and explore the revamped site. This week, we’ll be posting a story and videos from The Oklahoman’s Ron Jackson.
More is on the way.
Help close the Denise Stice case
If you haven’t had a chance yet, check out Augie Frost’s story in today’s Oklahoman about the unsolved slaying of businesswoman Denise Stice back in November.
Did anyone here know her? Anybody have any theories? We want to hear ‘em.
New clues in Tinker worker’s killing
A prominent small-business leader was beaten and shot in the head before being found nude wearing only a wedding ring and floating face up in an Oklahoma City lake last year, according to a medical examiner’s report obtained Monday.
Denice Stice, 48, was found dead Nov. 27 on the south side of Lake Overholser. Stice worked with small businesses at Tinker Air Force Base.
Stice had been shot one time in the left side of her head and had several cuts and bruises on her face and body indicating she was beaten before death, the report states. She also had a badly fractured tooth.
There was no evidence found by the medical examiner that she was sexually assaulted, according to the report.
Besides the new information about Stice’s injuries and state of her body in the latest report, little has been released by authorities since her body was found just west of the lake’s dam.
Oklahoma City police Capt. Steve McCool would only say that the case is an active investigation, and would not say whether a suspect has been identified.
Police Sgt. Paco Balderrama said in November it appeared her body had been dumped at the lake to conceal evidence about the killing.
The medical examiner’s report said there was a blood trail leading from a parking lot to the area of the lake where she was dumped.
Her body was found by a Texas youth group passing through Oklahoma City about 9 a.m., Balderrama said. It did not appear the body had been there very long.
Police later found Stice’s car in a parking lot of an apartment complex near NW 10 and N Tela Drive, about 3 miles from where she was dumped. Police have not said what they found in the car.
Don Stice reported his wife missing later that afternoon when she did not show up for work at the base. A missing persons report was never filed because police immediately identified her as the woman found at the lake.
Detectives searched the couple’s home, 12316 Crystal Gardens Drive, but would not say what they found inside. A 911 call was never made from the home before the killing.
Denise Stice was the “face of small business” at Tinker Air Force Base, colleagues said after her death. She was the director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at the Air Logistics Center on the base.
She was also a stepmother to Gary and Alex, Don Stice’s two children from a previous marriage.
A break in the foot case?
CNN posted this story on Friday, but I’ve been out of town at a writers conference and just found it today.
One of the feet that has washed up on Canadian shores has been linked by DNA to a missing man. The man, who is described only as depressed, went missing a while back. Now authorities finally know who one of the feet belongs to.
Check it out: www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/07/19/canada.feet.ap/index.html
Verna Stafford, 30 years later
Verna Stafford is the only surviving participant in the Sirloin Stockade and Lorenz family murders.
In 1978, when the killings occurred, she was married to Roger Dale Stafford. Her brother-in-law was Harold Stafford, who died in a motorcycle accident a week after the steakhouse slayings.
Verna Stafford pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for helping the state prosecute Roger. She is currently serving two consecutive life sentences.
In May, she was denied parole.
An investigative report to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board includes details from an interview with her that took place on March 18.
Here’s her account of what happened:
“OFFENDER’S VERSION OF INSTANT OFFENSE:
“Admits guilt in both cases. … In the McClain County case (Lorenz family), subject pretended to be a stranded motorist while Roger and his brother hid. A family stopped and the man tried to help her start the car. Roger asked the man for money and he offered $20, explaining that it was all he could afford, and Roger got angry and shot him. The man’s wife got out of the car, became hysterical when she saw her husband and tried to hit subject. She blocked the blow and Roger shot the woman. They moved the bodies into a ditch, then Roger heard a noise in the back of the victims’ pickup. He shot into the pickup, then brought out the body of a child and took him down the embankment. Roger took the victims’ pickup and subject and her brother-in-law left in the car. Approximately 3 weeks later, she, Roger, and his brother robbed a restaurant (Sirloin Stockade) in Oklahoma City. They took the employees to the office and Roger got the money … and gave it to her. She suggested they put the employees in the meat locker, thinking that this would give them time to get away and keep the employees, but the manager kept saying they would get caught and he would tell on them. This infuriated Roger, and he and his brother began shooting the employees. He told subject that she was going to be part of it, put his gun in her hand and, with his hand over hers, pulled the trigger once. She pled guilty to the murder of the female victim in McClain County and one victim in Oklahoma County.”
Sirloin Stockade murders
They’re not a cold case, but the Sirloin Stockade murders are among the most infamous crimes in Oklahoma history.
I’m not a native Oklahoman. I grew up in the northeast and moved around the world a few times before getting hired by The Oklahoman as a crime writer about nine years ago.
I think I heard about the Sirloin Stockade murders my first week on the job — even though they’d happened more than two decades earlier.
A few Oklahoma crimes seem to remain on everyone’s radar here: the Oklahoma City bombing, the Edmond post office massacre and — of course — the steakhouse murders, which occurred 30 years ago today. (See the story on NewsOK.com.)
What do you remember about the slayings?
