Kirk Plepla, a 53-year-old man, was found dead during the early morning hours of August 23, 2026, at a residence in Poteau, Oklahoma. At approximately 12:42 a.m., officers with the Poteau Police Department were sent to a home in the 200 block of South Earl Street to conduct a welfare check. What began as an effort to check on someone's well-being quickly became a homicide investigation when officers entered the residence and discovered Plepla deceased.
Authorities determined that he had suffered an apparent gunshot wound.
Because of the suspicious circumstances, the Poteau Police Department requested assistance from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Poteau detectives and OSBI special agents worked together at the residence, processing the scene and examining the available evidence. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also assisted in the investigation. Authorities have not publicly released a detailed account of what occurred inside the home before the shooting, and an official medical examiner's report providing additional details about the cause and manner of death had not been made public in the immediate aftermath.
Investigators said the evidence and information gathered during the initial investigation led them to Kirk Plepla's wife, Mollie Plepla, as the person they believe was responsible for the shooting. OSBI publicly stated that investigators determined Mollie shot and killed her husband. She was subsequently taken into custody and booked into the LeFlore County Jail on a complaint of first-degree murder.
The couple had a documented relationship in LeFlore County before the killing. Court-related reporting shows that Kirk Olan Plepla and Mollie Marie Haywood obtained a marriage license in the county in 2023. More significantly, LeFlore County records reported by local media show that a protective order involving Kirk Olan Plepla and Mollie Marie Plepla was granted during the week of June 8 through June 12, 2026, only a little more than two months before the fatal shooting. Publicly available reporting does not provide enough information to establish the allegations contained in that protective-order proceeding, who was accused of what conduct, or whether the dispute was directly connected to the later homicide. Investigators have not publicly identified the protective order as a motive for the shooting.
Authorities also had not disclosed what they believe prompted the fatal confrontation, whether a particular argument or incident preceded the gunfire, or who requested the welfare check that brought officers to the South Earl Street residence. No detailed timeline of the hours immediately before Plepla was found has been publicly released. Investigators have likewise not announced whether a firearm was recovered, what forensic testing was being conducted, or whether anyone else was present at the residence when the shooting occurred.
Mollie Plepla's arrest represented the first major development in the criminal investigation. She was being held in connection with a first-degree murder complaint, but an arrest complaint is an accusation and does not by itself constitute a conviction. As of the most recent publicly available reporting following the killing, the investigation remained active, and authorities had not announced a trial, conviction, or final disposition of the case. Reports also indicated that prosecutors had not yet publicly detailed a formal charging decision beyond the murder complaint on which she was booked.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation continued working with Poteau police and the medical examiner to reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the shooting. For Kirk Plepla's family and those who knew him, the welfare check on South Earl Street ended with the discovery of a violent death and the arrest of his wife, while significant questions about the events leading to the gunshot, the possible motive, and the evidence prosecutors may ultimately present remained unanswered as the case moved into the criminal justice system.
