In the quiet landscape of Mulhall, Oklahoma, the story of 50-year-old Brent Mack, a Black man, concluded in a tragic and horrifying manner. His disappearance on September 20, 2021, unraveled a sinister plot that led to the conviction of his employer.
Brent Mack was reported missing by his daughter on September 28, 2021, after she had been unable to contact him for several days.
The last person known to have seen him was his boss, 66-year-old Dan Triplett, who ran a septic tank installation business. When questioned, Triplett told Mack's family and investigators that he had fired Mack on September 20th, given him $1,000 in severance pay, and dropped him off in Guthrie. However, his story was inconsistent and changed multiple times during the investigation. Surveillance footage from the area where Triplett claimed to have dropped Mack off showed his truck driving by without stopping.
The investigation took a grim turn when police discovered evidence that Triplett and Mack had been working on a septic tank installation in Mulhall on the day Mack disappeared. Surveillance video from the work site showed both men arriving in Triplett's vehicle, but only Triplett was seen leaving. The footage captured Mack entering the hole dug for the septic tank, but he was never seen again on camera. On October 21, 2021, investigators excavated the site and discovered Brent Mack's body buried approximately eight feet beneath the septic tank. An autopsy revealed he had been shot in the back.
Dan Triplett was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and desecration of a human corpse. During his trial, Triplett claimed he shot Mack in self-defense, alleging that Mack had pulled a gun on him during an argument in the septic tank hole after being told it was his last day of work. However, the jury rejected his claim, and in April 2023, after deliberating for less than two hours, they found him guilty of first-degree murder. Daniel Triplett was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Brent Mack, and an additional seven years for the desecration of his body. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals later upheld his life sentence.
