The Tulsa Police Department ruled the death of a 34-year-old woman a homicide Saturday morning, less than 12 hours after her sons found her body inside her sport utility vehicle at the parking lot of an east Tulsa apartment complex.
Officers received a call from a tenant at the Stonecrest Apartments, 4020 S. 130th East Ave., around 11:20 p.m. Friday after the boys, ages 10 and 14, told the tenant they found the body of their mother, Michelle Spence, in the back of her Mercedes SUV. Homicide Sgt. Dave Walker said in a release that Spence had not called her job or reported to work on Friday, but had called in sick Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The children began walking on 129th East Avenue to look for her Friday night after their father dropped them off, as they realized Spence wasn't at home, Walker said.
"The kids knew that the mother had friends in the apartment complexes at 4100 (S. 129th East Ave.)," he said. "They could not locate their mother inside the complex and eventually looked inside the vehicle."
Spence's body had some bruising, but "no obvious wounds" that would cause death, Walker said in the release. The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office will make a final determination on how she died, he said.
"There are enough unusual circumstances for the homicide unit to conduct a homicide investigation," Walker said. "The victim did not have any purse or identification on her or in her car."
While police have not released information about any possible suspects, they confirmed she did not live at the apartment complex but instead lived in a home between one and two miles away. Barry, a tenant at the apartments who requested his last name not be published, said he called police when the boys told him their mother was dead in her vehicle.
