Investigation Underway Into Apparent Murder-Suicide In Muskogee County

By Dan Bewley, The News On 6

MUSKOGEE COUNTY, OK -- The sheriff's office is still trying to identify the victims of what appears to be a murder-suicide in rural Muskogee County.

Investigators received the call shortly before noon Wednesday. Two people were shot to death outside of a Ford Explorer on East 40th Street in Muskogee County.

The scene is as rural as can get, right next to a cornfield with a pasture on the other side and not a single home visible.

"It is rare, probably shocking, especially to the witness that found them," said Deputy Sheriff Joe Hughart, Muskogee County Sheriff's Office.

The sheriff's office says the victims are a man, believed to be in his fifties, and a woman who is from Fort Gibson. Investigators don't how the man and woman knew each other.

A witness told investigators he drove by and saw the two standing outside the truck arguing. He tried to see if he could help the woman told him they had stopped to go to the restroom.

Fifteen minutes later the man drove back by and found the two dead. The sheriff's office says it appears as though the man shot the woman before shooting himself.

Investigators are now trying to unravel several questions. But at the top of their list, they say, is what were they doing in this area, along a country road, far away from any homes.

"I'm assuming they came out here to talk," Deputy Sheriff Hughart said. "But we have no idea where they were going, where they were coming from."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Muskogee County Sheriff's Office at 918-687-1275.