Rash of killings in Le Flore Co.

Local News

June 11, 2009

The Associated Press Associated Press Thu Jun 11, 2009, 11:28 AM CDT

POTEAU (AP) — Le Flore County investigators have had to deal with six homicide cases this year, a baffling number considering the county has about 50,000 residents.

“Le Flore County is a pretty nice, quiet place to live,” District Attorney Jeff Smith said. “This is highly unusual to have this many deaths. On average, we’ve had one or two homicides a year — maybe.”

Authorities handled six homicide cases in Le Flore County in all of 2002, Smith said. The county already has matched that total, getting No. 6 on June 1 when a Cameron man was fatally shot.

Heath Lomon, 37, was killed across the street from his home during an altercation with a neighbor’s hired workers. Investigators know who the shooter is, but no arrests have been made.

Smith will determine whether Lomon was shot in self-defense.

“I don’t know if this is tied to our struggling economy or stress or what,” Sheriff Bruce Curnutt said of the killings. “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.”

In that killing, Mikal Morphis of Poteau was stabbed during an altercation at a New Year’s Eve party at his house. Morphis, 20, died shortly after midnight.

Robbin C. Beauchamp, 30, has been charged with first-degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The Poteau resident has been held for trial.

Another case is that of Allen Len Metzker, 28, of Shady Point, who was found Jan. 28 in a ditch. Authorities determined Metzker was shot multiple times.

A July 17 preliminary hearing has been set for Jeffrey Dewayne Carpenter, 38, and Jermy Sara Elizabeth Laxton, 23, who are charged with first-degree murder in the case.

On May 8, a paraglider flying over the Poteau Mountain spotted 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.

Howe infant Aiden Furney died May 11 from blunt force trauma to the head, authorities said. Aaron Ray Wesley Hinson, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder and Aiden’s mother, Kayla Furney, 20, faces a charge of enabling child abuse.

On May 17, a fishermen found the body of 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.

No arrests have been made.

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