Grand jury charges Joplin, Carthage, Webb City residents with assault, kidnapping, conspiracy to cover up murder

(From the U. S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma)

Acting United States Attorney Clint Johnson today announced the results of the June 2021 Federal Grand Jury B.

The following individuals have been charged with violations of United States law in indictments returned by the Grand Jury. 

The return of an indictment is a method of informing a defendant of alleged violations of federal law, which must be proven in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt to overcome a defendant’s presumption of innocence.

Chloe Louise Stith; David William Morris; Breanna Lynn Sloan; Morgan Lee Bowman; Sarah Michelle Humbard; Megan Louise Detherage; Ariel Sue Paige Divine. 

Tampering with a Witness, Victim, and Informant Conspiracy (Count 1);

Tampering with a Witness, Victim, and Informant by Threatening Physical Force (Counts 2-6); 

Tampering with a Witness, Victim, and Informant by Use of Physical Force (Counts 7-10); 

Tampering with Documents and Proceedings by Corruptly Altering, Destroying, Mutilating, and Concealing a Record, Document, and Other Object (Count 11) (second superseding). 

The defendants all reside in Missouri. 

Stith, 21, of Carthage; Morris, 33; Sloan, 22, of Joplin; Bowman, 25; Humbard, 24, of Joplin; Detherage, 27, of Joplin; and Divine, 29, of Webb City, are charged with conspiring with one another and others to tamper with witnesses/informants by threatening the use force and actually using force (assault and kidnapping) to prevent those individuals from communicating with law enforcement officials about the murder of Jolene Campbell Walker, a citizen of the Osage Nation. 

Ms. Walker was initially reported missing, and on July 15, 2020, her remains were discovered in Mayes County within the Muscogee Nation Reservation. 

Several defendants also allegedly altered and destroyed evidence with the intent to impair its integrity and availability for use in an official proceeding. The defendants carried out their conspiracy from July 5, 2020 through the date of the superseding indictment, June 23, 2021. 

The indictment goes on to charge defendants with specific offenses each carried out as part of the conspiracy. The FBI, Muscogee Creek Nation Lighthorse Police Department are the investigative agencies.