In the early morning hours of January 30, 2019, the life of Bart Samuel Jameson, a 40-year-old man of Choctaw heritage, was tragically cut short in Mcalester, Oklahoma. Jameson, a well-known and beloved local resident, was fatally shot at the home of his friend, Patrick Dunlap. Another friend, Truman Kenieutubbe, was also present at the scene. Jameson had graduated from Crowder High School in 1996, served in the U.S. Air Force, and worked in the oil field for most of his life.
He was known for his love of riding motorcycles and spending time with his friends and family.
Brenda Burdue Savage, a woman from Texas, was taken into custody at the scene and subsequently accused of his murder. Initial reports from the two other men present, Dunlap and Kenieutubbe, claimed that Savage had shot Jameson without any reason or warning. Both men were noted to be highly intoxicated at the time, and it was later determined that Jameson also had a blood alcohol content more than twice the legal limit. Savage was in her fifties at the time and had no prior criminal record beyond minor traffic violations.
The investigation into Jameson's death was led by the McAlester Police Department. Savage was charged with first-degree murder, and the case proceeded through the legal system, eventually involving trials in both the State District Court in Pittsburg County and the United States Federal District Court of Eastern Oklahoma. Her defense team raised questions about the initial account of the events, pointing to inconsistencies in the physical evidence, such as the location of the shell casing from the nine-millimeter handgun used in the shooting. Despite the initial claims against her, the legal proceedings revealed a more complex and contested narrative of what transpired on that fatal morning.
