McCurtain County man charged with murdering wife a decade ago
BY DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer
Friday, August 10, 2012
A 39-year-old man was arrested Friday and accused of murder in connection with the disappearance of his wife more than 10 years ago, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
Jerry Meek was arrested by OSBI agents at the International Paper Co. in Valliant, where he was working.
He was booked into the McCurtain County Jail on a first-degree murder charge.
Hope Meek was 25 when she was reported missing by Jerry Meek in late February 2002, according to the OSBI.
The bureau said in a Friday press release that it has gathered "ample circumstantial evidence" to show that Hope Meek is deceased and that she died Feb. 21, 2002, after a fight with her husband at their home.
The evidence includes facts such as no activity on Hope Meek's cell phone, no use of her Social Security number and no transactions involving her bank account since her disappearance, OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown said.
"Nothing indicates that she is still alive," Brown said.
The OSBI said Friday's arrest was made possible by the willingness of the McCurtain County District Attorney's Office to prosecute a case without the victim’s body being found and despite the passage of time since Hope Meek disappeared.
The District Attorney's Office had no comment when reached by the Tulsa World on Friday.
