Film inspires mother to put up billboards

MCALESTER — The Oscar-nominated film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” inspired an Oklahoma woman to create her own signs in the hopes of solving the 2016 killings of her daughter and another woman.

In the film that sparked Kim Merryman’s idea, Mildred Hayes — played by Frances McDormand — purchases signs that question why no arrests have been made in the death of her daughter.

Merryman’s billboard, which includes pictures of her daughter, Emily Morgan, 23, and Totinika Elix, 24, can be seen along U.S. Highway 69 in McAlester, The McAlester News-Capital reported.

“We were murdered less than 7 miles east of here on Aug. 26, 2016,” the sign says, citing the #BeHerVoice hashtag. It also alleges that there’s “a ruthless killer in your community.”

Merryman said her sign isn’t meant to criticize the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. The remains of Morgan and Elix were found inside Morgan’s vehicle in the driveway of a vacant home in Bache, nearly 8 miles (13 kilometers) east of McAlester. No one has been arrested in connection with the deaths.

“We want to see the person or persons who did this brought to justice,” said Tawayna Brown, the mother of Elix. “It’s hard looking at my daughter’s kids, knowing their mother is not here to raise them.”

Merryman said more signs are currently in the planning stages. She hopes they assist in advancing the investigation.

“We have to be their voice, for both of them,” Merryman said.

[PHOTO BY KEVIN HARVISON, NEWS-CAPITAL VIA AP] A large billboard along U.S. Highway 69 in McAlester was put up by the mother of one of two young women who were found murdered in 2016 at a vacant home in Bache. Kim Merryman, who is mother of Emily Morgan, one of the victims, said she was inspired to...