Sequoyah County Sheriff Makes Arrest In 1997 Cold Case Murder

The Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office has arrested a Sallisaw man in connection with a 1997 murder. Sheriff Ron Lockhart says Rex Robbins, 38, was arrested Wednesday morning on a first degree murder complaint.

The investigation and the arrest is from the murder of Mitchell Nixon on October 9, 1997 between Sallisaw and Muldrow at Tower Estates.

Lockhart says the state Medical Examiner's Office determined Nixon died as the result of a beating. His body was found dumped on the side of a county road.

Sheriff Lockhart says when he took office in 2009 he started looking at all of the county's murder cold cases. After talking to Robbins several times over the past two years, his office along with assistance from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the DA's office felt Nixon's homicide could be solved.

Robbins is booked into the Sequoyah County jail where he is being held with no bond. Lockhart expects a second arrest in this case.

The sheriff  says he still has 8 or 9 more cold cases his office is working to solve, some going back almost 30 years.