The Oklahoman

FBI arrest man after woman is found dead

- Jana Hayes

A federal criminal complaint has been filed against a man who FBI agents allege killed a Native American woman at the request of his girlfriend and dumped her body at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.

The woman, whose name has not been released by the FBI, is a member of the Comanche Nation and “appeared to have suffered bludgeon wounds to her face and head,” according to the probable cause affidavit filed in the U.S. Western District Court of Oklahoma by FBI Special Agent Jesse Stoda. The woman was found dead in the refuge on May 17, and two days later investigat­ors found blood in her Lawton home indicating a violent struggle.

Her vehicle was missing from the home and later observed driving south of Dallas on May 21. The driver began to flee when law enforcemen­t tried to make a traffic stop, eventually crashing into a lake. The two occupants, Tevin Semien and his girlfriend, tried to run away on foot but were caught and taken into custody.

Semien waived his Miranda rights and, according to the affidavit, admitted to killing the woman. Semien told investigat­ors his girlfriend, who was the woman’s relative, was angry with the woman and asked him to kill her.

The suspect told investigat­ors his girlfriend continued to ask him to kill the woman, so he eventually did. He went to the woman’s home, bludgeoned her “to death with a brick, put her body in the trunk of” her own vehicle and dumped her body in the wildlife refuge, according to the affidavit.

According to a news release from the day her body was found, the woman was in her mid- to late-60s with dark/ gray hair. She was missing her right index finger and half of her right middle finger, about 4’11” tall and weighing about 90 pounds. The FBI is investigat­ing the case because the crime happened on tribal lands.

 ?? THE OKLAHOMAN FILE ?? The view looks over the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. A woman was found dead May 17 in the refuge.
THE OKLAHOMAN FILE The view looks over the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. A woman was found dead May 17 in the refuge.

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