LeFlore County's 6 homicides unusually high
by: RON JACKSON NewsOK.com
Sunday, June 14, 2009
6/14/2009 3:52:40 AM
POTEAU — Six homicide cases have crossed the paths of LeFlore County authorities since Jan. 1, leaving many mystified and disturbed by the rash of killings in a relatively tranquil county of fewer than 50,000 people.
"LeFlore County is a pretty nice, quiet place to live," said District Attorney Jeff Smith. "I've raised four children here so obviously we like it here, but this is highly unusual to have this many deaths. On average, we've had one or two homicides a year — maybe."
Researchers would have to go back to 2002 when LeFlore County officials last handled six homicide cases, Smith said. Yet officials saw that total matched June 1 with the shooting death of a Cameron man during a neighborhood squabble.
"Someone suggested there might be something in the Poteau River water," said LeFlore County Sheriff Bruce Curnutt, trying to find humor amid the sad string of events. "I don't know if this is tied to our struggling economy or stress or what. I just know the homicides are piling up.
"We literally had a homicide investigation the first minute of my administration on New Year's Day."
Here is a look at those cases:
Jan. 1: Mikal Morphis, 20, is stabbed during an altercation at a New Year's Eve party at his house. He dies shortly after midnight, marking the first homicide case for the newly elected Curnutt.
Jan. 28: A rancher finds the body of Allen Len Metzker, 28, of Shady Point in a ditch. Authorities determine Metzker was killed at the scene by multiple gunshots.
May 8: A paraglider flying over Poteau Mountain spots the decomposed body of Jody Rilee Wilson, 23, of Wister. A cause of death is still pending, according to Oklahoma State Medical Examiner spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard.
May 11: Aiden Furney, 3 1/2 months, is brought to the Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center in Poteau by her mother and the mother's live-in boyfriend. Aiden dies the next day from blunt-force trauma to the head, according to Ballard.
May 17: Fishermen find the body of popular bar owner Joe Neff, 61, of Poteau in the water of an old mining strip near Pocola. Neff, who had been missing since May 14, died of a gunshot wound to the head, Ballard said.
June 1: Heath Lomon, 37, of Cameron is shot to death across the street from his home during an altercation with a neighbor's hired workers. <snipped>
ETA: Some of these are solved...Have they determined what happened to Jody Wilson?
There definitely seems to be something wrong going on in such a lowly poplulated area!!!
raying: we find his justice for your dad!!!
