On a Tuesday morning in September 2018, the life of Michele E. Mayes, a 42-year-old female from Ochelata, Oklahoma, was tragically cut short. Authorities were called to the Prairie View Trailer Park after receiving multiple reports of a man and a woman lying in a front yard. When Washington County deputies arrived, they discovered Mayes deceased at the scene, having sustained gunshot wounds to her upper torso.
The investigation quickly identified the gunman as her estranged boyfriend, John Jeffrey Thomas. It was revealed that Mayes had an active restraining order against Thomas, stemming from a domestic abuse incident just a week prior to the fatal shooting. In that earlier incident, Thomas had reportedly threatened to kill both Mayes and himself.
After shooting Mayes, Thomas was found with what appeared to be two gunshot wounds to his chest and was airlifted to a hospital in Tulsa for treatment. Following his recovery, Thomas was arrested and faced charges of first-degree murder and violation of a protective order. In a negotiated plea deal in August 2019, John Jeffrey Thomas, then 45, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the murder of Michele Mayes. He will have to serve 38 years and three months before becoming eligible for parole.
