Amanda Thompson, a 32-year-old White/Caucasian woman, was killed late on September 30, 2020, during a violent home invasion at an apartment in southwest Oklahoma City. Police were called shortly after 11 p.m. to the area near Southwest 59th Street and South May Avenue. Investigators said three people forced their way into the apartment by kicking in the door and immediately began firing. Thompson was struck by the gunfire and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Later reporting indicated that she had been shot in the head.
The shooting did not end without resistance. According to later reporting based on the police investigation, another person inside the apartment returned fire as the intruders attacked, striking one of the alleged participants, Joshua Driskell, in the leg. Police initially responded to Driskell's injury as though it were a separate shooting because he was found away from the apartment. He was transported to a hospital in stable condition, but investigators soon connected his wound to the home invasion. Surveillance evidence reportedly showed three people entering the apartment, gunfire occurring inside, and the attackers fleeing in a dark-colored SUV.
Within days, investigators began making arrests. Police identified Driskell and Iris Alicia Viezcas as two of the first suspects taken into custody. Driskell remained hospitalized after being wounded during the incident, with authorities announcing that he would be booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Facility after his release. Viezcas was taken into custody separately. Initial police announcements said both were facing allegations of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary in connection with Thompson's killing.
The investigation eventually widened beyond those first two suspects. Oklahoma County court records show that a felony prosecution, case CF-2020-5292, was filed on October 26, 2020, naming Adonta Vataje Knight, Joshua Driskell, Iris Alicia Viezcas and Brittoni Nicole Conover as defendants. Each was charged with first-degree murder, and each was also charged with conspiracy to commit a felony. Arrest warrants were issued with bond denied, reflecting the seriousness of the allegations. Later news reporting identified Knight and Conover as additional people arrested in connection with the case.
Investigators were still pursuing another suspect months after the killing. In March 2021, Oklahoma City police publicly sought Jennifer A. Parker in connection with Thompson's death. A warrant accused Parker of first-degree murder, felony murder committed during an attempted robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon. Those allegations provided a clearer picture of what investigators believed was behind the attack: the home invasion was being treated not simply as a burglary that escalated, but as part of an alleged planned armed robbery in which Thompson was killed. At that point, authorities described Parker as wanted while Driskell, Viezcas, Knight and Conover had already been identified through the investigation.
The prosecution continued for years. Oklahoma Department of Corrections and Pardon and Parole Board records show that Conover was ultimately convicted on the conspiracy count in case CF-2020-5292 and received a 10-year sentence on March 23, 2023. State parole records later continued to identify that Oklahoma County case and the conspiracy conviction as part of her incarceration record. The publicly accessible records located do not establish that Conover was convicted of the original first-degree murder count, and they do not clearly document final trial verdicts or sentences in Thompson's killing for Driskell, Viezcas, Knight or Parker.
Thompson's death began as a late-night report of shots inside an apartment, but the investigation grew into a multi-defendant murder and conspiracy case involving an alleged forced entry, an exchange of gunfire, a wounded suspect, multiple arrests and allegations that the attack was connected to an attempted armed robbery. What initially appeared to police to include a second, unrelated shooting nearby ultimately helped investigators link one of the alleged intruders back to the apartment where Thompson had been killed.
