Tulsa Police ID Remains As Missing 18-Year-Old, Believed Murdered

The state medical examiner has confirmed the identity of a skull found several weeks ago as an 18-year-old man, who has been missing since last December.

The skull was found in Gilcrease Hills, then more bones and more evidence, which police hope is enough for them to find the killer.

The only thing his friends and family knew was that 18-year-old Khyre Campbell was missing. He disappeared December 29, 2012, and his family soon set up a Facebook page about the disappearance.

The police had concerns early on that he was murdered and even talked to some possible suspects.

10/4/2013 Related Story: Tulsa Police Find More Remains After Human Skull Discovered

"There are people out there who know what happened and we couldn't really pressure them because we didn't have a body at the time and it's time to go back and revisit what they said and go over what we know," said Sgt. Dave Walker.

It was in September - a full nine months later - when children found Campbell's skull in a wooded area of Gilcrease Hills. Police officers started a search of the area, using their new recruits, hoping to find more evidence, and the rest of the body.

"I would say the individuals that put Mr. Campbell out in that field know doggone good and well what we found out there," Walker said.

Sgt. Walker won't yet say what else they found - or how Campbell was killed - but he said it didn't take a medical examiner to figure out it was homicide.

"When you look at a skull and it's got some trauma to it that obviously animals couldn't do or nature didn't do, we can figure out that - even though we didn't have the official cause of death, at that time - it was going to be a murder," Walker said.

Police say Campbell had been in trouble before, and they know some of the people connected to him, who might be suspects in his murder.

Now that the body has been found and identified, police are both looking for suspects and waiting for more forensic work to get more evidence.

Anyone with tips about who killed him can get a cash reward through Crime Stoppers. Just call 918-596-COPS.