Crista Arcella Downey, 46, a White/Caucasian female from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, was shot in a truck outside McAlister’s Deli on Tuesday, June 13, 2017. Police said she and her husband had just left the restaurant and gotten into their vehicle when a gun discharged inside the truck, striking her on the left side. First responders pronounced her dead at the scene, and officers emphasized that no one inside the restaurant was in danger during the incident.
Authorities initially described the shooting as possibly accidental and publicly identified her husband as the person who had the firearm.
As investigators worked the case, details of the moments before the gunfire took shape: the couple had finished their meal, moved to their truck, and the weapon went off as they were getting in. The description of where the shot struck and the contained nature of the event—inside the vehicle—became central to the early narrative, even as detectives continued gathering statements and evidence.
Months later, the investigation led to an arrest. Crista’s husband, 53-year-old Johnie Dean Downey of Pryor, was taken into custody by a Cherokee Nation Marshal near Grove and transported to the Washington County Detention Center, where he was booked on a complaint of first-degree murder in connection with her death. At the time of his arrest, authorities noted his earlier claim that the shooting was an accident, a contention they had weighed against the accumulating case file.
