True Case Chronicles; Chester Comer went on an Oklahoma hitch-hiking killing spree in late 1935
- Dennis McCaslin
- Mar 15
- 3 min read
A hitchhiking spree killer whose brief but brutal criminal career left a trail of bodies and unanswered questions, Comer’s story remains a haunting chapter in the state’s past. As researchers and true crime enthusiasts continue to revisit his case, new details shed light on the man dubbed "Chester the Molester" and his reign of terror in 1935.
Chester Comer was a 27-year-old oil field worker with a troubled life that spiraled into a violent abyss.
Born around 1908, little is known of his early years, but by the mid-1930s, he had already begun a pattern of instability and deception. Married twice by 1935--to Elizabeth Childers in February 1934 and Lucille Stevens in July 1935--both unions ended mysteriously with his young wives vanishing under suspicious circumstances.
These disappearances would later become key pieces in the puzzle of his criminality, though definitive proof of their fates remained elusive during his lifetime.
Comer’s spree began in earnest on November 19, 1935, when he kidnapped Ray Evans, a prominent Shawnee attorney. Evans, last seen alive by a gas station attendant with a hitchhiker matching Comer’s description in his tan Ford sedan, vanished that day.
His nude body was later discovered in a field, marking the first confirmed victim of Comer’s rampage. What followed was a week of terror as Comer crisscrossed Oklahoma, preying on those who offered him rides or crossed his path.
On November 23, Comer was picked up north of Piedmont by L.A. Simpson, a 40-year-old farmer, and his 14-year-old son, Warren. The pair disappeared, their bodies later found ten miles west of Sapulpa on December 23--evidence of Comer’s expanding trail of death.
Around the same time, he encountered Lucille Stevens’ younger sister, 13-year-old Elizabeth Stevens, whom he took hostage after crashing Evans’ car into a ditch near Maysville.
The girl escaped, providing critical testimony that linked Comer to the attorney’s vehicle and fueled the manhunt.
Authorities described Comer as a wiry figure--five feet six inches tall, 135 to 145 pounds, with dark brown wavy hair, dark skin, brown eyes, and a prominent nose. His unassuming appearance belied a dangerous psyche.
Dr. D.W. Griffin, superintendent of Central Oklahoma State Hospital in Norman, later speculated that Comer suffered from a form of adolescent insanity, possibly paranoid schizophrenia, characterized by delusions of persecution and grandeur.
“This is the type that kills just because he cannot stand to have others around,” Griffin remarked in 1935, painting a picture of a man unhinged and unpredictable.
Comer’s reign ended on November 25, 1935, in a dramatic confrontation near Blanchard. Spotted by an oil field worker in Simpson’s car, he was confronted by town marshal Oscar Morgan. In the ensuing gunfight, Morgan shot Comer in the forehead, while Comer wounded Morgan in the shoulder.
Bleeding profusely from multiple gunshot wounds, Comer was rushed to Oklahoma City General Hospital. As he lay dying, lawmen desperately tried to extract the locations of his victims’ bodies
. His mumbled responses—“North of Ada… piles of bodies”--sent hundreds of volunteers and National Guard units scouring the countryside, though many details remained incoherent.
Comer succumbed to his injuries on November 27, 1935, taking the full scope of his crimes to the grave. Five confirmed victims--Ray Evans, L.A. Simpson, Warren Simpson, and the later-identified remains of Elizabeth Childers and Lucille Stevens--were tied to his spree.
Investigators estimated he may have killed as many as eight people, including a pregnant woman found near Kansas City in 1934, later identified as his first wife.
The lack of concrete evidence and his deathbed silence left lingering mysteries: What drove him to such violence? Were there more victims hidden along Oklahoma’s backroads?
