Oklahoma City Butcher

Serial Killer

The Oklahoma City Butcher

An Unidentified Killer in Oklahoma City

The Oklahoma City Butcher is the name given to an unidentified serial killer believed to have murdered and dismembered three young Indigenous women in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, between 1976 and 1986. The victims were Cathy Lyn Shakelford, Arley Bell Killian, and Marcia Tina Sanders. Each woman was living in vulnerable circumstances when she disappeared, and each was found in or near neglected areas of the city. Investigators eventually concluded that the similarities among the three crimes were too significant to dismiss as coincidence. The killer's identity has never been established. No person has been convicted of any of the three murders, and the investigation remains one of Oklahoma City's most disturbing unsolved serial murder cases. Although the victims' remains were discovered on specific dates, their precise times and dates of death were not conclusively established in publicly available records. The dates below therefore distinguish between confirmed discovery dates and estimated periods of death.

The Murder of Cathy Lyn Shakelford

Cathy Lyn Shakelford was a young member of the Sac and Fox Nation who had reportedly left home as a teenager and was living without stable housing in Oklahoma City. She was approximately 17 years old when she disappeared. Her relatives did not know what had happened to her, and for many years the remains recovered in Oklahoma City were not connected to her name. On April 1, 1976, three oil workers entered an abandoned house at 325 Northeast 6th Street in Oklahoma City. Inside, they discovered the head of a young woman in a popcorn bucket. Police were called to the property, where a search revealed additional remains scattered through different areas of the building. Her arms, legs, and torso had been separated, and investigators found evidence that her face and body had been deliberately mutilated. Because no immediate identification could be made, Shakelford was initially treated as an unidentified homicide victim. Her exact date of death remains unknown. Reports indicated that she had last been seen alive several weeks or months before her remains were found, meaning she may have died well before April 1, 1976. That date is the confirmed date of discovery rather than a medically verified date of death. For approximately 17 years, her identity remained a mystery. In 1993, a relative searching for Cathy contacted authorities. Investigators compared the missing teenager's information with records from the unidentified 1976 victim. DNA testing ultimately confirmed that the remains belonged to Cathy Lyn Shakelford, finally restoring her name to a case that had been known only through the terrible circumstances of the discovery. ...

Confirmed Victims: (3)

Cathy Lyn Shakelford

Oklahoma City Butcher - Wikipedia