In the small community of Newalla, Oklahoma, a devastating tragedy unfolded on a cold November day in 1929, forever marking the date of November 11th with sorrow. One-year-old Flora Bee Henley, a young female child, became an innocent victim in a shocking act of violence that also claimed the lives of her mother and older sister.
The events of that day revealed a scene of immense heartbreak. Flora, her six-year-old sister Wanda June, and their mother, Mrs. T.M.
Henley, were discovered deceased, all having suffered from shotgun wounds. Investigations into the horrific incident determined that the person responsible for their deaths was the family's patriarch, T.M. Henley.
In a final, desperate act, T.M. Henley had taken the lives of his wife and two young daughters before turning the weapon on himself and committing suicide. The community was left to grapple with the shocking reality of a murder-suicide within one of its families. As the investigation concluded, it was clear that the perpetrator was also a victim of his own violent actions, leaving no one to be arrested or held accountable in the eyes of the law. The Henley family was laid to rest together, a somber end to a deeply tragic story.
