True Crime Chronicles: Young wife, lover plotted and conspired to kill 54-year-old Ralph Hubbard in 1937 Mayes County
- Dennis McCaslin
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Ralph Hubbard was a 54-year-old farmer living near Pryor in Mayes County Oklahoma in the late 1930s. He had built a life on the land and was married to a much younger woman named Della Hubbard. On the night of December 4, 1937, Ralph's life ended in a brutal attack that would shock the small community.
His body was discovered after he had been beaten unconscious with a long wooden pole or similar object and then drowned. The circumstances pointed to a calculated act rather than a random encounter.
Della Hubbard, the victim's wife, was in her early to mid-twenties at the time. She and a young 18-year-old neighbor named Roy Kinion were soon charged jointly with the murder. I
investigators alleged that the pair had conspired in a love triangle plot. Della and Roy were described in early reports as young conspirators who carried out the attack together, striking Ralph and leaving him to drown.
A button found in the victims hand helped link one of the suspects to the scene. The motive appeared to center on removing Ralph so that Della and Roy could pursue their relationship without interference.
Following the killing, Della Hubbard and Roy Kinion were bound over to district court without bond after a preliminary hearing. The courtroom was filled as testimony detailed the events of that December night. Witnesses described how Ralph's body was found in a creek with signs of blunt force trauma. Medical experts, including pathologists, testified about the cause of death involving both the beating and drowning.
The preliminary hearing featured accounts from family friends and officials who examined the scene and the body.
The case moved quickly through the justice system. Della Hubbard and Roy Kinion were arrested and held in the Mayes County jail. A severance was granted allowing separate trials.
Della was tried first in Mayes County District Court. Evidence presented at trial supported the conspiracy and direct involvement in the beating and drowning. The jury convicted her of murder, and she was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
She appealed the conviction but the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals upheld it in 1941.
Roy Kinion faced similar charges and was convicted receiving a 20-year sentence for his role in the crime.
During the proceedings, Della Hubbard was at one point released on bond pending further court action but ultimately faced conviction. Trial testimony revealed graphic details of the crime.
Witnesses described how Ralph's body was found in a creek with signs of blunt force trauma. Medical experts, including pathologists, testified about the cause of death involving both the beating and drowning.
Della Hubbard took the stand in her defense, and the proceedings included extensive cross-examination of witnesses such as undertakers, county officials, and those who knew the couple. The courtroom heard accounts of the couple's strained marriage and the alleged affair that fueled the plot.
The murder of Ralph Hubbard highlighted the tensions of a love triangle in a rural Oklahoma community during the late Depression era. Victimology showed Ralph as a hardworking family man whose trust in those closest to him may have left him vulnerable.
The case was resolved through thorough local investigation and successful prosecution, resulting in long prison terms for those found guilty. Della Hubbards life sentence marked the end of her freedom for the crime.
She remained incarcerated for decades and eventually died in prison. Details of her later years behind bars remain sparse in public records but her conviction stood as a final accounting for the betrayal that ended Ralph's life.
Roy Kinion served his sentence, and the resolution brought some measure of justice to Ralph's family and the community, though the tragedy lingered as a reminder of betrayal in a quiet corner of the state.
