LUTHER, Okla. – More than a dozen law officers stood by Friday as hundreds of mourners gathered to pay tribute to a slain couple whose killer remains at large.
The couple’s last rites were steeped in faith, but a cloud of uncertainty hung over the town of 1,220 northeast of Oklahoma City. Michael Dale Vance Jr., 38, who is accused in the deaths, not only remains at large but is reported to have a hit list that includes family members who attended the funeral.
Lavonne Stokes, 58, a longtime friend of the couple, said that she was grateful for the presence of law enforcement at the funeral that drew nearly 500 people to the school district’s auditorium. She broke into tears as she described the kindness of her friends, Ronald Wilkson, 55, and his wife, Kay Wilkson, 54.
“They’ll forever be in everybody’s hearts,” she said. “Our police officers, our families, our people of Oklahoma that stand together, we will always be there for each other,” Stokes said. ” . . . We don’t know what’s going to happen because we don’t know where he is,” Stokes said of Vance.
Friday marked the sixth day of the manhunt for Vance, who is accused of a murderous crime rampage so unusual that Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel, a 50-year law enforcement veteran says he can remember nothing this violent and strange ever happening here.
“This is really a one of a kind, thank goodness, and we’ll be glad whenever he’s in custody,” Whetsel said.
Authorities accuse Vance of shooting two Wellston, Oklahoma, police officers and stealing a bullet-riddled police pickup before driving to a nearby trailer park, carjacking an expectant couple’s vehicle and shooting a woman there.
Next, authorities say, he drove to the Wilkinsons’ home in nearby Luther, and the two were found brutally slain Sunday evening. Vance is the son of Kay Wilkson’s cousin, but family members said the couple hardly knew Vance.
An air of danger hung over the community of 1,220 on Friday. Vance not only remains at large but is reported to have a hit list that includes family members of the slain couple.
Luther High School canceled classes Friday to assure student safety while accommodating an afternoon funeral for the beloved couple. Security will include law enforcement from multiple agencies, as well as undercover officers, Whetsel said.
According to the Oklahoman newspaper, a hit list surfaced during the investigation that indicated Vance planned to kill at least eight more people, including his former boss. Relatives of the Wilksons, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation, confirmed to an Oklahoman reporter that at least two of them were on Vance’s list.
But relatives weren’t about to let that stop them from affording proper burial rites for the Wilkinsons. Gathering for lunch Tuesday at the cafe in downtown Luther where Kay Wilkson worked for decades, they discussed funeral plans but also shared happy memories of their loved ones.
One relative told the Oklahoman that no one in the family is afraid. “As far as being afraid – there is not a single one of us who is scared,” offered another. “We’re all ready.”
Family members, she said, love the Second Amendment, which grants the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Men at the restaurant wore sidearms on one hip and a clip on the other; some affixed hunting knives to Western-wear-style belts.
Local authorities are also providing protection to those on the hit list during the manhunt, the family members said. A Luther Police Department squad car sat outside the restaurant.
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The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for Vance’s arrest on Monday for the crimes, including the homicides of a Luther couple. Whetsel said an FBI and U.S. Marshals command center is helping authorities coordinate the multi-jurisdiction case in a nationwide search for Vance.
Tips have prompted Oklahoma school lockdowns across the state and come from as far away as the Texas Panhandle and Arkansas, Whetsel said, but none have proved actionable.
Whetsel encouraged citizens to keep an eye out and call in tips, but warned not to try to take Vance into custody. Those who believe they’ve seen Vance can call a hotline at 405-246-9205.
“He has no regard whatsoever for human life,” the sheriff warned.
“At some point in time, he’s going to mess up,” Whetsel said. “I think that’s what law enforcement is waiting for. All criminals eventually make a mistake, just a simple mistake, that leads to their capture. We’re hopeful that that will occur sooner than later.”
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Since an initial shootout with law officers Sunday, more details about Vance’s alleged crimes have become clear.
Outside of Wellston, a sleepy town of 788, on Sunday, reports of a man shooting guns in a field near his home brought law enforcement to the rural property, where they encountered Vance, authorities said.
According to Tony Heavner, the property owner, officers checked IDs. That’s when Vance allegedly grabbed a .22-caliber rifle from the back of the pickup and started spraying the area with bullets, according to Heavner. At some point, Heavner said, Vance put down a rifle and picked up an AK-47. One Wellston officer was shot in the foot, and another in each of his calves. Both are recovering from injuries.
Heavner said his family would be dead if not for the presence of local law enforcement.
An officer who returned fire hit Vance in the shoulder, Wellston Police Chief Tim Estes said.
Court documents and a preliminary report from the State Medical Examiner’s Office paints a brutal picture of what happened on the Wilksons’ well-manicured seven-acre property. The Wilksons each died following multiple stab wounds and undisclosed trauma, according to a preliminary report; Ronald Wilkson had been shot with bullets typically used in an AK-47 and was nearly beheaded, according to investigators; Kay Wilkson had a large cut on her shoulder and a gash in her neck, the Oklahoman reported.
Vance appeared to post videos on Facebook during the alleged rampage.
” . . . I’m about to steal another car, like right now, this . . . is going to be intense. Watch this people,” he said in one video.
Vance is seeking revenge against those he blames for child sex abuse accusations against him, authorities told the Oklahoman.
The state highway patrol initially reported Vance had an illness and may try to spread it, without providing further detail. On Thursday night Whetsel said Vance is HIV-positive.
Vance is accused of stealing a Mitsubishi Eclipse with an Oklahoma license plate of 943 LQQ from the Wilksons, whose property sits isolated on a country road in Luther, northeast of Oklahoma City.
The mayhem stretched into the early hours Monday, when Vance is accused of trying to carjack a trucker in Sayre, a small town near the Texas Panhandle, about 150 miles west of the initial crime scenes.
The driver and Vance got into a strenuous fight for the gun, Whetsel said. The driver dislodged and threw one of the AK-47’s magazines before Vance relented and left.
“Otherwise, there may have been many more people injured at that truck stop in Sayre, Oklahoma,” Whetsel said. “The man was shot one time, with a non-life-threatening injury.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Doug Wong
