Do you know who murdered Gregory? In the early morning hours of August 9, 2005, the body of twenty-one-year-old Gregory McKinney III was discovered in a wooded area near 1800 E. Tecumseh in Tulsa, Oklahoma. An investigation revealed that the young man had died from a single gunshot wound. His death, however, was not a random act of violence but is believed to be directly connected to his courageous decision to testify in a high-profile murder case.
Months prior to his death, Gregory had become the key witness for the
prosecution in a double homicide case. He had provided a statement to Tulsa police officers implicating Robert Fellows and Phillip Summers in the February 23, 2004, shooting deaths of Ples and Shelly Vann. Based on his testimony during a preliminary hearing on October 27, 2004, both Fellows and Summers were charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Gregory was scheduled to testify against them in the upcoming trial.
Tragically, he was silenced before he could take the stand. His murder on August 9, 2005, left the prosecution without its star witness. Despite the strong suspicion that his death was an act of witness retaliation, no arrests have ever been made in connection with his killing. The case of who killed Gregory McKinney III remains an open and unsolved cold case with the Tulsa Police Department. Investigators continue to ask for anyone with information to come forward.
