On Valentine's Day in 2022, 30-year-old Kayla Julia Cherice Yates, a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, was found deceased in a car in Oklahoma City. A welfare check just after 10 a.m. led police to the vehicle parked off Northwest 10th Street near Portland Avenue, where they discovered the bodies of Yates and 40-year-old Raymond Lindsey 'Koda' Paddyaker Sr. Both had been shot in what was ruled a double homicide.
Yates, who was just days away from her 31st birthday, had sustained a gunshot wound to the head.
A graduate of Geary High School, Yates was a mother of five who had worked as a nursing assistant. She was remembered by her brother as a 'fun loving person with a great personality' who 'always had a big smile on her face.' The family expressed their hope that the person responsible would be brought to justice to bring closure to the tragedy. The investigation into the deaths of Yates and Paddyaker continued for months without an arrest, leaving their families searching for answers.
Nine months after the killings, a breakthrough in the case came when an eyewitness came forward. This led investigators to identify 51-year-old David Shatzwell, also known as Honka, as the suspect. According to the witness, Shatzwell fired several shots into the driver's side window of the car carrying Yates and Paddyaker. Investigators were able to tie Shatzwell to the scene using surveillance video from nearby businesses. At the time he was identified as the suspect, Shatzwell was already in the custody of the Department of Corrections on a firearms conviction.
In a development that brought a close to the legal proceedings, David Shatzwell accepted a plea deal, reducing the first-degree murder charges to two counts of manslaughter. He was formally sentenced to 10 years in prison. During the emotional sentencing, where family members gave victim impact statements, a tearful Shatzwell apologized to both families. He received credit for time already served and was then transferred to the Department of Corrections to serve his sentence.
