Photo: McCurtain County Sheriffs Office
A McCurtain County, Okla., newspaper released an audio recording where county officials — including the sheriff — are allegedly heard discussing killing journalists, lynching Black people and hiring hitmen.
TheMcCurtain Gazette-News, a print-only newspaper,released portions of the audio recording and a transcription— along with the front-page exposé — over the weekend.
The recording was taken after a March 6 county commissioners' meeting when county officials, including McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, commissioner Mark Jennings, Sheriff’s Investigator Alicia Manning and Trust Administrator Larry Hendrix were talking after the meeting, but did not know they were being recorded.
In the recording, Clardy said authorities wrapped her body in tinfoil to preserve it, then Jennings asked if “she’d come apart?” During the ensuing discussion, her wrapped remains were compared to barbecued food.
Clardy said, “So we get her in the body bag and Kyler goes, ‘You do know what we gotta do now, right?’ [A deputy] goes, ‘No, what?’ He goes, ‘You gotta pre-heat the oven 350 degrees, leave her in there for 15 minutes,’ and she went [vomit sounds, then laughter.]”
“Bless her heart,” Clardy continued. “And then the medical examiner asked her, said, ‘Hey we’re fixing to go eat.’ And he looked her in the face and said, ‘You wanna go with me and go eat barbecue?'” The officials laugh again.
According to theOklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Allen Shaw, 89, and Randy Sander, 65, have been charged with Second Degree Murder and Arson in connection to Stoewe’s death.
It was not immediately clear if either has entered a plea to the charges or retained an attorney.
Later in the recording — which theMcCurtain Gazette-Newssays was legally obtained because the recording was taken at a public meeting — the conversation took another disturbing turn. Jennings, who has beenCounty Commissioner for District 2 since November 2020, started to discuss people wanting to run for sheriff.
“They don’t have a G– d— clue what they’re getting into,” Jennings says. “Not this day and age. I’m gonna tell you something. If it was back in the day, when Alan Marston would take a damn Black guy and whoop their ass and throw him in the cell? I’d run for f—–g sheriff.”
“Yeah. Well, It’s not like that nomore,” Clardy responds.
(Marston was the McCurtain County Sheriff in the 1980s, according toTheOklahoman.)
“I know,” Jennings says. “Take them down to Mud Creek and hang them up with a damn rope. But you can’t do that anymore. They got more rights than we got.”
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According to theMcCurtain Gazette-News, the conversation later turned to Bruce and Chris Willingham, a father-and-son reporter duo from the paper.
“They are insignificant in my life, really,” Manning says. “They bring no [inaudible.]”
Jennings says he knows where two “big deep holes” are if “you ever need them.” Clardy responds, “I’ve got an excavator.”
“Well, these are already pre-dug,” Jennings responds.
Jennings then brings up the idea of hitmen, saying, “I’ve known two or three hitmen, they’re very quiet guys … and would cut no f—–g mercy.”
According toNews 9, the recording was taken after Bruce Willingham — the father of Chris Willingham — left his recorder in the meeting in an attempt to prove officials were conducting business in secret, which would be in violation of the state’s Open Meeting Act, theAssociated Pressreports.
‘Appalled and Frightened’
“I was completely appalled and frightened, quite frankly,” Bruce told News 9 referring to what was said during the recording. After the paper released the audio,protests beganoutside of the Board of County Commissioners office.
Lori Dunn/The Texarkana Gazette via AP
PEOPLE has reviewed the audio, but is unable to independently verify the speakers.
In aMonday evening statement, the sheriff’s office claimed the recording was “illegally obtained.” The office said any findings will be “forwarded to the appropriate authorities for felony charges to be filed on those involved.”
On Tuesday,the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association announcedthat Clardy, Manning and Hendrix were suspended from the association. On Wednesday morning, Jennings resigned from his position as commissioner,News 9reports.
According to theMcCurtain Gazette-News, the story published over the weekend is the first in a planned series.
source: people.com
