Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation   A. DeWade Langley   Director   Jessica Brown Public Information Director

5/1/06                 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           

Thackerville Homicide Suspects Apprehended in North Carolina

Two men with first-degree murder arrest warrants filed against them were apprehended in Salisbury, North Carolina Sunday, April 30^th.

Eighteen-year-old Timothy Byford was arrested after authorities stopped him in the victim’s stolen vehicle – a 2003 GMC Yukon – Sunday afternoon.  That SUV was stolen from the crime scene in Thackerville Monday (4/24/06).

Byford’s accomplice, 18-year-old Shawn Leggett, was arrested on the murder warrant Sunday evening also in Salisbury, North Carolina. 

OSBI believes the pair shot and killed 49-year-old Rufus Thomas Lowery (spelling coming from Texas driver’s license) of Grand Prairie, Texas, inside a rest stop bathroom and stole his vehicle.  The suspects had stolen a vehicle from North Carolina and set it on fire a mile north of the murder scene.

OSBI agents are driving to North Carolina to interview the suspects. The pair was also wanted in North Carolina on several warrants related to the vehicle they stole in that part of the country.