Local, Area briefs
By Staff Reports
Thursday, May 10, 2012
5/10/12 at 2:43 AM
Home-invasion death hearing is postponed
A preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for a Tulsa man who is charged with murdering an 85-year-old woman who was attacked in her home.
The hearing for Tyrone Dale David Woodfork was scheduled for Friday but has been reset for June 7, court officials said.
Woodfork, 20, is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Nancy Strait, who died March 15. The murder charge alleges that she was fatally beaten on or about March 14.
Nancy Strait and her husband, Bob Strait, were attacked in their home in the 3300 block of East Virgin Street, police said.
Bob Strait, 90, died May 4. The Medical Examiner's Office will prepare an autopsy report evaluating whether his death is a result of injuries he sustained in the attack.
Such reports are typically completed prior to a preliminary hearing.
Depending upon the medical examiner's findings, Woodfork could be charged with a second count of murder, police have said.
Woodfork was arrested March 15. In addition to the murder of Nancy Strait, he is also charged with first-degree burglary and two counts of robbery with a firearm.
BILL BRAUN World Staff Writer
Belt-spanking suspect is arrested on abuse charges
A woman who is accused of spanking two children excessively with a belt was arrested Wednesday on child abuse charges.
Megan Elizabeth Shipman, 22, told authorities that she spanked a 4-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl in December as punishment for taking $100 from their home, a court affidavit says.
The children missed three days of school after the spankings. One of them showed their teacher a bruise six days after the spankings, and the teacher contacted the Department of Human Services, the document says.
A doctor determined that the bruises were severe enough to constitute abuse, according to the document.
Police described Shipman as a caretaker for the children who was living with them and their mother.
She told authorities that she spanked the children with the belt while their mother was at work after the children returned the money they had taken, the affidavit says.
She was charged April 25 with two counts of child abuse and was booked into the Tulsa Jail about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Her bail was set at $20,000.
- ZACK STOYCOFF, World Staff Writer
Mentally ill Tulsa woman missing since last month
Authorities are searching for a mentally ill woman who has been missing since April 6.
April McCaslin, 48, last saw her family that day, Tulsa police said. She had not been taking medication to treat her illness, the family reported.
McCaslin is a frequent jogger at River Parks, police said.
She is described as white, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 150 pounds.
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS or tulsaworld.com/crimestoppers
- ZACK STOYCOFF, World Staff Writer
Pupils taken to hospital after bus rear-ends truck
Two Anderson Elementary School students were taken to a hospital after their school bus rear-ended a tractor-trailer rig Wednesday morning.
The bus hit the truck after encountering heavy traffic on U.S. 75 just north of Interstate 44 about 10 a.m., Tulsa Public Schools spokesman Tracy Kouns said.
The two students were taken in fair condition to Hillcrest Medical Center, EMSA spokesman Chris Stevens said.
Medics treated three others who refused to be taken to the hospital, he said.
The bus, which had minor damage, was taking 16 students and four adults on a field trip to the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, Kouns said. Another school bus took the uninjured students to the museum, he said.
- ZACK STOYCOFF, World Staff Writer
Barnsdall officer resigns after accidental shootings
BARNSDALL - A police officer whose assault rifle discharged and accidentally shot two other law enforcement officers Monday evening has resigned, Police Chief Matt Clark said Wednesday.
Danny Couffer, a Barnsdall officer since September 2009, resigned Wednesday.
Couffer, of Pawhuska, was putting or had put his AR 15 rifle in the back of Osage County Sheriff's Deputy Carl Thomas's patrol car when two rounds discharged.
One bullet struck Thomas in the leg about four inches below his knee. Lead from the other round struck Reserve Police Officer Daniel Brown in the neck and abdomen.
Neither officer was hospitalized, but both still have lead in them, Chief Deputy Sheriff Charlie Cartwright said. He said doctors hope the shrapnel will work itself out of the wounds.
The Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident and expects to deliver its report to the District Attorney's Office by Monday.
On Tuesday, the City Council will hold a special meeting at 10 a.m. to have a discussion "with police personnel" in executive session. Clark is now the city's only police officer.
- Louise Red Corn, World Correspondent
Leads sought in death of woman near Sapulpa
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday that agents "have nothing to go on" in the death of woman whose body was found in an SUV north of Sapulpa.
Special Agent Ben Rosser said Tuesday that there were no signs of trauma to the victim, whose body was found with two small children in a sport utility vehicle off Frankoma Road north of 81st Street on Tuesday afternoon.
Agents are conducting their investigation based on a possible identification of the woman but are waiting on the Medical Examiner's Office to confirm her name, OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown said. They are also waiting for the medical examiner to determine a cause and manner of death.
The children who were in the vehicle were placed in Department of Human Services custody.
The woman's death is considered suspicious, and the investigation is being worked as a homicide, which is routine when the cause and manner of death are not immediately clear, Brown said.
A motorist called Creek County authorities when she noticed the red Ford SUV on the roadside three times throughout the day, investigators said Monday.
Anyone with possible information about the victim or her death should call Creek County Crime Stoppers at 918-227-6386 or 877-551-CCSO.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Two killed in house fire Wednesday in Boynton
BOYNTON - Two people, believed to be an older woman and her son, died in a house fire Wednesday morning, officials said.
Authorities were alerted to a fire at a residence at Fifth and Eugene streets shortly before 8 a.m., Muskogee County Sheriff's Capt. Brandon Caster said.
Boynton and Wainwright rural fire departments responded along with sheriff's deputies. A state fire marshal also will investigate.
The victims' names were not released pending notification of family members.
- Susan Hylton, World Staff Writer
Associated Images:
Two Anderson
Elementary School
students suffered
minor injuries
when their bus
rear-ended a truck
Wednesday morning.
See story below.
ZACK STOYCOFF/
Tulsa World
Woodfork
Shipman
McCaslin
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