Triple murderer suspected in cellmate’s death
MCALESTER — The suspect in inmate Anthony Joseph Palma’s death has been identified as a triple murderer from Oklahoma City.
Cellmate Raymond “Mono” Pillado used an electrical cord to kill Palma Friday night at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, the warden reported.
Palma, 59, was sent to prison 13 months ago after being found guilty at trial of killing an 8-year-old Midwest City girl in 1997. The victim’s body has never been found.
Pillado, 35, was sent to prison in 2010 after admitting to three fatal shootings and other crimes.
He was identified in the warden’s report on the inmate-on-inmate assault. The Oklahoma Corrections Department on Tuesday released a heavily redacted copy.
Around 7:30 p.m. Friday, a corrections officer found Palma covered by a blanket face down on the floor of his cell, according to the report.
When the blanket was removed, the corrections officer noticed “blood all over the floor and inmate Palma appeared to not be breathing,” according to the report.
Palma was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors alleged Palma snatched Kirsten Renee Hatfield from her home after she went to bed May 13, 1997.
Palma was arrested in 2015 after new DNA testing connected him to blood found on the windowsill of the girl’s bedroom and on her underwear in the backyard. He lived two doors down from the victim in 1997 and hadn’t moved.
Pillado was sentenced in 2009 to three consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the fatal shootings.
He also was given a life term for shooting with intent to kill and 20 years for gun offenses.
Police said he was a member of the Southside Loco street gang. He admitted killing two rival gang members and a fellow gang member in separate attacks in 2006.
He was accused of being a hit man in the fatal shooting of the fellow gang member. Police alleged the victim’s brother, Joey Dunkin, authorized the killing from prison. Police reported Joey Dunkin considered his brother a snitch.
Prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to charge Joey Dunkin with murder, too.
Joey Dunkin had been in prison for shooting with intent to kill and other crimes. He was released in 2016 but is going back to prison for drug trafficking and assault, records show.