On August 4, 2016, 73-year-old Floyd Andrew Hathcoat, a male, was killed in his rural home on Tiger Mountain, located in McIntosh County, Oklahoma. A neighbor discovered Mr. Hathcoat's body, and upon investigation, deputies found a second deceased individual, Terry Alan Wetselline, aged 42, inside the residence. The investigation into the double homicide was conducted by the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
The following day, authorities
apprehended a suspect in Cherokee County. The individual taken into custody was Christopher Jason Hathcoat, the son of Floyd Hathcoat. His arrest, which occurred on his 38th birthday, was initially for the burglary of a chapel in Sequoyah State Park. He was subsequently charged with the murders of his father and Wetselline. During the investigation, law enforcement found the truck belonging to one of the victims in Christopher Hathcoat's possession. A search of the vehicle revealed a rifle, ammunition, and a significant amount of cash. At the scene of the crime, investigators recovered spent rifle casings and a single 9mm casing.
In August 2018, Christopher Hathcoat faced a jury trial in McIntosh County. The jury returned a verdict convicting him of the murder of Terry Alan Wetselline but found him not guilty of the murder of his father, Floyd Hathcoat. For the single murder conviction, he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. However, legal challenges arose concerning the state's jurisdiction to prosecute the case. Following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 decision in *McGirt v. Oklahoma*, which affirmed that the crime occurred within the boundaries of a Native American reservation, his state conviction was dismissed.
The case was then taken up by federal prosecutors. In the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, Christopher Hathcoat pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in Indian Country on August 31, 2022. Subsequently, he was sentenced to 26 years in federal prison, with the sentences for each count to be served concurrently.
