True Crime Chronicles: Elopement investigation in 1934 led two officers to their death in McCurtain County
- Dennis McCaslin
- 18 hours ago
- 2 min read
On August 8, 1934, in the Oak Hill community north of Idabel, Oklahoma, Deputy Sheriff Emery Jasper Whitten and Constable William Daniel B. Wilmoth responded to a report of a missing 16-year-old girl named Sadie Leonard.
She had left church services three days earlier with a man known as Paul Jones and had not returned home. Local farmer J.M. Leonard contacted authorities after learning that Paul Jones and another man, Barney Jones, along with Barney's wife and children, were staying at the home of Mrs. Lecy Rogers
Deputy Sheriff Emery Jasper Whitten (age 41), and Constable Wilmoth (age 55) arrived at the Rogers farmhouse.
A young boy in the yard told them the women were washing clothes at a nearby spring.
Sheriff Stewart went to question them there. Whitten and Wilmoth entered the house to speak with Barney Jones.
Jones grew nervous during questioning and claimed no knowledge of the girl's whereabouts.
Whitten informed him he would need to come to town for further questions. Jones then drew a revolver and shot Whitten in the abdomen at close range.
Wilmoth reached for his own weapon but Jones fired again, striking Wilmoth in the leg, side, and neck. J ones forced the young boy to guide him through the woods as he fled. Whitten and Wilmoth were rushed to a hospital in Paris, Texas, where both died from their wounds later that day.
.Investigators soon learned that Barney Jones was actually Julius Bohannon, a fugitive who had robbed a bank in Texas with accomplice Lee Custer (the real identity of Paul Jones). Sadie Leonard had eloped with Custer, unaware of the robbery.
Custer was arrested shortly after. Bohannon evaded capture until June 1935. He pleaded guilty, receiving a life sentence for Whitten's murder and 99 years for manslaughter in Wilmoth's death
Bohannon later escaped prison multiple times and was involved in another killing but received a pardon in 1958 and died in 1983.
Whitten left behind his wife Martha and three children. Wilmoth left his wife Martha Jane and four children
Deputy Sheriff Emery Jasper Whitten is buried in Holly Creek Cemetery, Broken Bow, McCurtain County, Oklahoma.
Constable William Daniel B. Wilmoth is buried in Pollard Cemetery, Haworth, McCurtain County, Oklahoma.
Both officers are commemorated on the Officer Down Memorial Page and the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial.
