FBI Investigating Fort Gibson Homicide After Husband Admits To Killing Wife In Self-Defense

Fort Gibson has had its first homicide since 2021.

Police say a man admitted he strangled his wife but said it was after she attacked him with a machete.

Police say the couple's 10-year-old twins were home at the time and ran to a neighbor to get help. Police say they've never had previous domestic calls involving this couple, which makes this even more surprising.

Jeff Hazelwood lives across from the couple and says he was sleeping when the commotion woke him up.

He thought it was a medical accident first.

"I was very shocked by the flashing lights, we have the fire department, and the police department woke up everybody. Scared me a little bit," said neighbor Jeff Hazelwood.

Jeff says he would never have expected this from this couple.

"They're quiet, they stay to themselves and everything they mind their own business. If you see him, just say hi to him and go back to business, daily business," said Hazelwood.

Fort Gibson Police Chief Rob Frazier says this homicide is unlike any other he's seen.

"I've done a lot of homicide cases, and I've done a lot of violent crime cases when I worked in Muskogee, but this one is pretty much the top," said Fort Gibson Police Chief Rob Frazier.

He says when officers arrived, it was chaotic, and the man had cuts all over him.

"I've never had anyone use a weapon of that choice. That's the first time I've heard of that," Frazier said.

Officers immediately started CPR on the woman, but it was too late.

"We can hear someone yelling in there so we make an entry. And at that time, we noticed that there's one female that seems to be unresponsive, that one male that's been cut up kind of pretty bad," Frazier said.

Police say the man told them it was self-defense.

"This was, this is pretty gruesome. And it's a story that's, you know, you don't hear every day. So yeah, it's a shock to the community," Frazier said.

Fort Gibson police say the kids are now with family members. Police say because the man and woman are tribal, the FBI is now handling the case.

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates.