Okla. man pleads guilty to killing wife and dumping body in drainage ditch

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY, Okla. (TCN) — A 33-year-old man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his wife and leaving her body in a drainage ditch near her home.

The Pottawatomie County Sheriff announced Jan. 31 that Frank Byers pleaded guilty to murder over a year after he claimed his wife, Makayle Meave, went missing. As a result of his plea, a judge sentenced him to life in prison.

Meave was reportedly last seen in the early evening of Sept. 15, 2023, at her home in Macomb. The sheriff’s office said she “left voluntarily” with a tall, bearded man in a white Chevy pickup truck. According to KFOR-TV, the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office received a call on Sept. 20, 2023, about a body wrapped in carpet in a drainage culvert near Oklahoma Highway 59B and Hamilton Road. The remains were positively identified as Meave’s on Sept. 22, 2023.

KFOR reports the medical examiner found Meave sustained two gunshot wounds to the head.

Investigators reportedly searched Byers’ property and found a receipt that showed he purchased bleach, ammonia, and a mop the same day Meave disappeared. Detectives also discovered Byers’ boots had “a blood-like substance on them” that matched Meave’s DNA. Officials believe Byers killed his wife to “establish a relationship” with a different woman.

Deputies arrested Byers Oct. 24, 2023, on charges of first-degree murder, unauthorized removal of a dead body, and desecration of a human corpse.

MORE: