OK Kathryn Cochran - May 27, 1989 Stroud, OK

[waunakeegan]

Almost 30 years ago, on May 27, 1989, the body of Kathryn Cochran was found along a county road six miles north of Stroud, Oklahoma, on State Highway 99 and 1.5 miles west. The body was nude from the waist down and died apparently from the result of strangulation. I couldn’t find any statements from the police confirming Kathryn had been been sexually assaulted, but it seems very likely considering how she was found.

Kathryn Cochran | Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation


They had a convicted rapist by the name of Johnny David Washington as a person of interest back in the day. Shortly after Kathryn’s murder Johnny kidnapped and attempted to rape and strangle two 19-20 year old girls but they escaped and he was later caught and charged with their kinappings and attempted rapes.
`Loner' sought in kidnap, slayings probe

Tulsa Area Kidnap Suspect Faces Questioning in Slayings

Homicidal Monsters Lurk | Oklahoma Magazine

It also appears that at the time they were looking at him for Kathryn’s murder, he was also considered a suspect in two separate murders of other girls that were killed and their bodies dumped in a similar fashion to Kathryn. He was never charged for any of their murders, however. I’ll have to look up and see if anyone else was ever charged in the murder of the other two girls and post what I find shortly.

 

[waunakeegan]

Kathryn went by the nickname “Cuddly Bear” on the CB radio.
“Investigators think a Tulsan may have information that will solve the slaying of the Oklahoma City businesswoman who drove a pink car and constantly talked on her citizen's band radio.
Kathryn L. Cochran, 36, was found strangled on a rural Lincoln County road north of Stroud May 27, Undersheriff Jack Cook said Friday.

The woman was last seen in Tulsa several hours before her death, Cook said. Cochran was territorial manager of a floral service. She was in Tulsa on business May 26, the day she disappeared. Investigators believe motorists who talked to Cochran over the citizen's band radio may be able to give them important clues.

‘She talked all the time on the CB,’ Cook said. Cochran identified herself as ‘Cuddly Doll’ on the radio.”
CB'ers May Have Clues To Slaying of Woman

I also found out that her and her husband, Gilbert I Demieville Jr, were married in Clark, Nevada on March 22nd, 1989, just 2 short months before Kathryn was murdered.

 

[waunakeegan]

“Cochran appeared to be strangled with an object, but Cook would not elaborate.” This is the first article I’ve read that mentions Kathryn being strangled with an object. The nature of the object is obviously a detail the police are still keeping to themselves but perhaps this may suggest a ligature strangulation?

Car found of slain OC woman

This is also the first article that I’ve seen mention Kathryn being survived by two teen aged daughters. Knowing that, one must assume that she was likely married before, although I’ve been unable to come up with anything besides her marriage to Gilbert using Ancestry.com. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t married before, though. This information opens up another good potential person of interest beyond her husband at the time: the father of her children.

I have been armchair investigating the hell out of an Oklahoma serial killer by the name of Frank Duane Welch that was active in this area around this time (he lived in Tuttle, OKC, and near Tulsa, OK. He also sporadically would move back to his hometown of Bonham, TX for a short period at various times too.) and I have been looking at Kathryn as a potential victim of his. For the two separate 1987 murders in Norman and Tuttle Oklahoma Frank Welch was convicted of in 1998 he used ligature strangulation as the method he used to kill and rape the women in their own homes.
He was also convicted of attempted kidnapping and attempted murder when he tried to abduct a young woman in her mid twenties by using a knife to force her back into her car in a Tulsa Walmart parking lot at 6:30am. The woman, who worked at the Walmart, screamed and struggled with Frank and he cut her throat and hand before she was able to get away for help. She did survive and Frank was caught.

At this point I’m not ready to even consider Frank Welch as any sort of viable suspect in Kathryn’s murder, though. I think OSBI needs to take another look at Kathryn’s husband #1 and #2 and see if they can re-examine evidence to find any DNA they may not have been able to use or detect at the time.

 

[PastTense]

"The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is hoping new information will come to light in a 30-year-old cold case."
Oklahoma woman’s murder remains unsolved 30 years later

 

[Sneaker33]

Bump

 

[Shade13]

I've seen speculation that the name "Cuddly Bear" may indicate she was maybe using the CB to have some casual flings. I guess my question is, how often was that going on over CB in the 80's that didnt involve prostitution? From everything I've read, she wasn't involved in that or drugs. So it is odd she stayed on the radio that often, and with a suggestion handle like that.