Two arrested in Fairmont Terrace killings

BY JERRY WOFFORD & KENDRICK MARSHALL World Staff Writers
Thursday, February 07, 2013
2/07/13 at 7:04 AM

Get the latest news on the Fairmont Terrace homicides: Read coverage of the apartment complex killings and on other homicides in the area nearby.

Police reports filed Wednesday after two suspects in a quadruple homicide were arrested indicate that robbery might have been the motive for the crime.

Brothers James Stanford Poore, 32, and Cedric Dwayne Poore, 39, are in the Tulsa Jail on complaints that include four first-degree murder counts each, records show.

Police believe that they gunned down four women, binding them and shooting them in their heads, in a Tulsa apartment a month ago.

James Poore was arrested about 9 a.m. Wednesday. Cedric Poore was already in the Tulsa Jail on several traffic warrants.

They both were staying at Fairmont Terrace, the apartment complex where the four women were shot. The complex, near 61st Street and Peoria Avenue, is in an area of high crime and poverty - some of the issues city leaders are addressing in the wake of the deaths.

Misty Nunley, 33; Julie Jackson, 55; and sisters Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Powell Melchor, both 23, were all found shot to death in Powell's apartment about 12:35 p.m. Jan. 7. Powell's son, who was 3 at the time, was found unharmed in the apartment.

Each of the women died from at least one gunshot wound to the head, according to the Medical Examiner's Office.

Police Chief Chuck Jordan announced the arrests at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

Jordan said the suspects lived in the same apartment complex as the victims but that he couldn't release much information about motive or details of the crimes.

"I'm not going to say anything to harm that case," Jordan said. "This is only a small part of the justice system. This is the first part; we have the rest of it to go."

Jordan said investigators could rule out gang motivation, but he would not say whether drugs were involved.

Arrest reports: The men's arrest and booking reports at the Tulsa Jail, however, indicate that drugs and robbery were aspects of the homicides.

According to the reports, witnesses told detectives that the brothers were in an apartment at Fairmont Terrace and said they were going to "pull a 'lick' (robbery) at the victim's apartment."

Cedric Poore was armed with a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol, and both men left the apartment and returned about 20 minutes later, the witnesses told police.

James Poore told the witnesses that he had shot one of the victims - whose name was redacted from the report - because she would have been able to identify him, according to the arrest reports. He said his brother shot the other victims, the reports say.

Police wrote that all four women had their hands tied behind their backs and had been shot in the head.

The witnesses also told police that the brothers pulled "loot" from the robbery out of a bag and that they saw drugs wrapped in plastic, money and jewelry. The brothers divided the money, and Cedric Poore took the jewelry to pawn, the witnesses said, according to the reports.

Police served search warrants at an address in the 2500 block of North Boston Avenue and at an apartment in the 5800 block of South Owasso Avenue on Wednesday, the arrest reports say. They recovered spent .40-caliber shell casings from the backyard of the Boston Avenue location and determined that they were the same make and caliber as casings found at the homicide scene, according to the reports.

Detectives interviewed both men on Wednesday, and James Poore acknowledged being at the apartment complex with his brother and the witnesses before the slayings and confirmed that he knew one of the victims, whom he said used and sold illegal drugs, according to the arrest reports.

James Poore "then invoked his right to remain silent and the interview was terminated," the arrest reports say.

Cedric Poore told detectives that he had not been in the apartment on the day of the homicides, the reports say.

Angela McGinnis, property manager of Fairmont Terrace, told the World that the Poore brothers were not residents of the complex.

"The two arrests that were made - they were guests," McGinnis said. "Our policy is you can only have a guest for 14 days and you have to fill out a guest form. We make copies of IDs and do background checks. That was not done in this case, and we were not aware that they were here."

Fairmont Terrace conducts background checks on all residents and does not allow people with felony records to lease apartments, she said.

The arrests were made on what would have been Nunley's 34th birthday.

"Today was my daughter's birthday, and this really helps," said her mother, Cheryl Nunley. "There is a lot more that we need to know, but we are very confident in the police."

Jackson's mother, Lyne West of Okmulgee, said she was "thankful and relieved" that police were able to apprehend the men who are thought to be responsible for the death of her only daughter.

"I now know that they can't hurt anyone else again," West said. "Justice is now done. I loved her dearly, and I miss her, too."

Charon Powell said she wasn't aware of any connection between her daughters and the suspects.

"I know this (the arrests) doesn't bring my daughters back, but I'm pleased they have been caught," she said.

No tips reported to police provided a big break in the case, Jordan said, adding that the arrests were the result of interviews with many people over the past 30 days.

"They were working it straight for almost 72 hours," Jordan said. "They have since broken it up into shifts. They've been working it almost 24 hours a day since it happened.

"A lot of investigation is about interviews and getting to the truth ... My officers have just done an outstanding job."

Felony records: The Poore brothers are convicted felons, having both served prison terms for robbery with a firearm in unrelated crimes.

Cedric Poore received a 35-year prison term in 1995 in Tulsa County for his part in the armed robbery of a strip club in the 8200 block of East Admiral Place, according to Tulsa World archives.

Police said two masked bandits with semiautomatic pistols forced employees to the floor and bound them with duct tape before stealing $1,000. A woman who worked at the club drove the get-away vehicle and received probation for her part in the crime, reports indicate.

Cedric Poore, who goes by an alias of "Insane Poore," was released from prison on March 14, 2011. He was convicted before Oklahoma had a law requiring that a defendant serve at least 85 percent of an armed robbery sentence in custody before becoming eligible for release.

He was scheduled to be on probation until 2017.

In 1992, Cedric Poore was sentenced to two concurrent four-year probation terms in Illinois for auto theft and drug distribution convictions, records show. He served part of those probationary terms in Oklahoma.

More recently, Cedric Poore was charged in May with obstructing an officer on April 26, 2012.

In the arrest report, police said he threatened a woman and her nephew at an east Tulsa residence, at one point saying, "Just wait, my people will be here to take care of all of you all."

He pleaded guilty to the obstructing charge on Oct. 8 and received a one-year suspended sentence.

James Poore received a 12-year prison term in 2000 for armed robbery in Tulsa County. He was released from prison Dec. 16, 2011, according to a Department of Corrections spokesman. Records show that he was scheduled to be on probation until 2016.

Other cases: The Fairmont Terrace killings were four of 12 homicides reported in Tulsa last month. January tied with November 2009 for the most homicides in one month in Tulsa.

Such a high number led to hundreds of hours of overtime for detectives in the Homicide Unit.

Jordan said the arrests in the case are an indication of the hard work his detectives and officers do.

"We weren't going to give up until this was solved, and I'm going to say right now, we also aren't going to give up until Peggy Gaytan and our other unsolved homicides are solved," Jordan said, referring to the Dec. 22, 2011, shooting death of Gaytan as she worked at a convenience store at 36th Street and Harvard Avenue.

"Those are not on the back burner. We're still going after that," he said.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett praised the Police Department for its work to make timely arrests in what he described as "this hideous quadruple murder."

"We can now get to the essence of this issue, and that is much bigger than crime; it's about poverty," Bartlett said Wednesday.

"We're moving forward on our mission to establish a method to hold out-of-state apartment owners accountable for safe, secure and peaceful places to live. We continue to look down every possible avenue on how we can improve our city."

World Staff Writers Ziva Branstetter, Curtis Killman, Jarrel Wade and Mary Bishop contributed to this story.

James Stanford Poore

Age: 32

Arrested: Wednesday morning

Background: Received a 12-year prison term in 2000 in Tulsa County for armed robbery with a firearm. Was released from prison Dec. 16, 2011, and was scheduled to be on probation until 2016.

Cedric Dwayne Poore

Age: 39

Arrested: Jan. 14 on unrelated complaint and was already in the Tulsa Jail on Wednesday

Background: Received a 35-year prison term in 1995 in Tulsa County for armed robbery and was released from prison March 14, 2011. He was scheduled to be on probation until 2017. He received a one-year suspended sentence in October on a charge of obstructing an officer.

Original Print Headline: Police arrest two

Jerry Wofford 918-581-8310 Kendrick Marshall 918-581-8386
jerry.wofford@tulsaworld.com kendrick.marshall@tulsaworld.com

Associated Images:

Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan (right) speaks as Deputy Chief Dennis Larsen listens during a press conference Wednesday to announce the arrest of murder suspects James Poore, 32, and his brother, Cedric Poore, 39, in the Jan. 7 killings of four women at the Fairmont Terrace apartments. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World

Pedestrians wait to enter Tulsa's Fairmont Terrace apartment complex on Wednesday. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World

Traffic moves past the front gate at Tulsa's Fairmont Terrace apartment complex on Wednesday. Police have arrested two men in connection with a quadruple homicide at the complex on Jan. 7. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World

Clockwise from top left, Misty Nunley, 33; Julie Jackson, 55; Rebeika Powell, 23; and Kayetie Powell Melchor, 23, were found shot to death in an apartment at Fairmont Terrace at about 12:35 p.m. on Jan. 7.