'I Steal. I Don’t Kill,' Says Man Arrested For Tulsa Homicide

A Tulsa man in the Tulsa County jail in connection with a Tulsa homicide said he is innocent.

Lloyd Clemons said he’s a thief, not a killer. He said when he and his friends got to Howard Thompson’s house, he was already dead.

Sawyer: “How do you know Howard Thompson?”
Clemons: “I don't know him.”

Clemons, 27, said he stopped by the casino while he was out, won some money and then left.

Investigators said Thompson, a man who would be found dead just hours later in the driveway of his family's home, was in the same casino that day.

"I never knew he was in there. I never knew to look for him. I never knew what he had," Clemons said.

Clemons said he went to the Morning Star Apartments after the casino, and, once it got dark, ended up at Thompson's house.

4/10/2018 Related Story: One Arrested In Tulsa's 10th Homicide, 2nd Suspect Still Sought

"We actually went to steal from the house, but I didn't kill nobody," Clemons said. "We was all told that the house was empty."

Clemons said he had already started taking things from the house when his friend realized there was a body in between two cars in the driveway.

"He was dead when we got there," he said. "I'm like, ‘Man, let's go.’ Truck broke down right there."

Investigators said the truck led them to Clemons and his friend Dameon Leathers, two men investigators said killed Thompson while trying to rob him.

4/10/2018 Related Story: Broken Down Truck Leads Tulsa Police To Homicide Suspects - One Arrested, Other On The Run

Clemons said he has been stealing for years but said the people that have watched him grow up know he is not a killer.

"It ain’t worth it. It ain’t worth it, me going to prison all my life just ta, you know what I am saying? Kill you to take something. It ain’t worth it," he said. "Everybody know what I do. I ain’t like I hide what I do. I done been to jail for what I do too many times…I steal. I don't kill."

Police are still looking for Leathers and ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.