Local, State briefs
BY Staff Reports
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
2/12/13 at 3:14 AM
Man's body found on river sandbar near 71st Street
The body of an unidentified man thought to be in his 30s was discovered on an Arkansas River sandbar Monday afternoon, officials said.
Emergency responders were called to the north side of the 71st Street Bridge about 4:15 p.m. after three pedestrians spotted the body, police said.
How the body ended up on the sandbar was not immediately known, police said, but the location was close to the edge of the bridge. Officials estimate that the body had been there about 12 hours.
The state Medical Examiner's Office in Tulsa will determine the man's cause and manner of death.
- KENDRICK MARSHALL, World Staff Writer
Remains found near river last month have been ID'd
Human remains found near the Arkansas River last month were those of a Tulsa man who had been missing since 2010, the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office reported.
The man was identified by the state Medical Examiner's Office in Tulsa as Thomas Martin, according to the Sheriff's Office.
His cause of death is pending, but the case is being investigated by the Sheriff's Office as a homicide, a press release states.
Martin was 71 when he was reported missing in June 2010.
His body was found by hikers in a wooded area near the 4900 block of West 12th Street on Jan. 27.
Deputies said last month that there was a hole in the skull.
Anyone with information about Martin or his disappearance and death is asked to call the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office's Criminal Investigative Division at 918-596-8661.
Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS or online at tulsaworld.com/crimestoppers
- Jerry Wofford, World Staff Writer
One arrest made, others sought in suspicious fire
Tulsa police have arrested a Bixby man whose home was destroyed in an apparent meth-lab fire in December. Authorities are still seeking two other residents of the home.
Paul Joseph Kappel, 27, was charged with first-degree arson and manufacturing a controlled drug after a Dec. 5 blaze in the 17400 block of South 89th East Avenue. He was arrested Sunday evening.
Authorities are still looking for Melinda Emma Broyles, 28, and Joshua Allen Kappel, 38, who also face arson and drug-manufacturing charges.
Broyles was named the Tulsa Police Department's Most Wanted fugitive Feb. 4.
She told police she caused the fire while trying to refill a lighter with lighter fluid.
Authorities found several items associated with methamphetamine production in and around the home after the fire, court records state.
Broyles is white, 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. She has brown hair and blue eyes.
Joshua Kappel is white, 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs 190 pounds. He has blond hair and blue eyes.
Anyone with information regarding their whereabouts is asked to contact Crime Stoppers.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Injured man arrested after alleged arson confession
Tulsa Fire Marshal's Office investigators arrested a man Monday on an accusation that he set fire to a duplex Sunday afternoon.
Mark Paul Prestage, 40, was booked into the Tulsa Jail on a complaint of first-degree arson.
Prestage is accused of setting fire to a duplex in the 100 block of North Delaware Place just after 4 p.m. Sunday, according to his arrest report.
When firefighters arrived at the duplex, they found Prestage outside the residence bleeding from the neck, the report says.
While being treated by emergency responders, Prestage stated: "I did it. I set the fire," before he was taken to a hospital, the report alleges.
Investigators found a red gas can in the living room and an "ignitable liquid in several locations inside the duplex," the report says.
Prestage is in the Tulsa Jail with bail set at $20,000.
- Kendrick Marshall, World Staff Writer
McAlester woman killed in Pittsburg County collision
A McAlester woman was killed Monday when she apparently ran a stop sign and her car was struck by oncoming traffic on U.S. 69, troopers said.
Sara Basquez, 24, was driving east on Frink Chambers Road when she failed to yield at the U.S. 69 intersection near the McAlester Regional Airport and was struck by a southbound 2011 Cadillac, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Basquez was not wearing a seat belt and was partially ejected from her 2005 Ford Focus, the report states.
Her passenger, 5-year-old Mahiya Howard, was treated at a McAlester hospital and released.
The driver of the Cadillac, Kelli Spears, 54, of Hartshorne, was taken by personal vehicle to a McAlester hospital, where she also was treated and released.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
