2 Tulsa Families Still Hoping For Arrests In Murder Cases

Two families, who share the terrible bond of waiting on a loved one's murder to be solved, are meeting for the first time.

Dena Dean's parents have been waiting 21 years for justice in her case and Susie Woodson's children have been 45 years for answers about the murder of their mother.

Both the Deans and Woodsons had been looking forward to this meeting, since both families were featured in a six part series called “Killer Unknown” that aired on the Investigation Discovery network last year.

The series featured the work being done to solve both cases, by the Tulsa County Cold Case Task force, a group of retired investigators from several different agencies.

"We are their voice,"  Susie's daughter Marcia Woodson Mongold, said.

Diana Dean, Dena's mother agrees, "We are their voice."

Dena was a 16 year old high school student when she went missing from West Tulsa after telling her boyfriend, she was pregnant. Her body was found in a field six days later with a broken jaw.

Susie was a mother of four, on her way home from work when investigators believe she had car trouble. Someone dragged her from her vehicle, raped, and strangled her.

No arrests have been made in either case.

"I do believe it will happen. It's just taking a little longer than I wanted it to," Diana Dean, Dena's mother, said.

Marcia Woodson Mongold, Susie's daughter, says, "It's a car wreck, you can accept that, but, when someone murders someone else, there's no acceptance  for that. That life shouldn't have ended," Mongold, said. 

The details of their stories are unique, but, similar in other ways, how the murders changed their lives forever, the anger, the memories missed. The two families shared stories and talked about their grief. Their emotions, still raw, all these years later.

"You learn to deal with hit, but, it's always there," Mongold said.

Both families said they do have hope an arrest will be made in the cases and if that doesn't happen, they both believe a higher power will serve justice that didn't happen here on earth.