August 18, 2023 • 16 mins
This episode is just the tip of the iceberg of the often overlooked issue of missing indigenous people in Oklahoma. Listen as Julia shares the heart-wrenching stories of Kassaundra Denise Williams Patterson, Dawn Michelle Nakedhead, David Allen Crabtree, and Kendra Nicole Battelo.
We peel back the layers of the unique challenges these cases present – from limited media coverage to bureaucratic indifference – while revealing the relentless hope and resilience of the families involved. Listen to the heartbreaking struggle of Kassaundra's mother, the anguish of Dawn's sister, and the tireless determination of David's mother. Experience the chilling mystery that surrounds Kendra's recent disappearance. This isn't just a podcast episode, it's a call for justice, a critique of systemic issues, and a tribute to the indomitable human spirit.
Avery, Amy. “Haskell police re-open 30-year-old missing persons case.” News On 6. Tulsa, Oklahoma. February 14, 2019
Hales, Donna. “The missing are not forgotten.” Muskogee Phoenix. July 24, 2010.
NamUs #MP55234. 2019, February 6. namus.gov.
Eubank, Mckenna. “‘Oklahoma Missing Persons Day’ gives hope to families.” Fox 25. 2019, April 13. okcfox.com.
NamUs #MP41472. 2017, December 23. namus.gov.
Holt, Ashley. “The 18-year-old cold case Locust Grove never knew about is being investigated by the state.” 2 News Oklahoma. May 11, 2018.
O’Donnell, Brenna. “20 Years and Still Searching: The David Crabtree Case.” missingkids.org. 9 April, 2020.
McKendrick, Kelci. “Family, police searching for missing 24-year-old Enid woman.” Enid News. 2022, July 22. enidnews.com.
For images related to the cases, check out the Instagram.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julia (00:00):
yellow.
This is Julia, and murder isbad.
I believe we're all aware ofthe disproportionate media
(00:25):
coverage between white, middleclass or above persons to every
other marginalized group.
I want to cover a variety ofcases, especially under reported
ones.
The catch-22 is, however, thatunder reported cases don't have
as many readily availablereports.
(00:47):
That's kind of how that works.
All that being said, I plan onputting together a few of these
cases into an episode.
This is one such episode.
Today I'm going to tell youabout four missing Indigenous
people out of the state ofOklahoma.
On the morning of May 5th 1988,three sisters woke up at 6 am to
(01:11):
find their mother was gone.
33 year-old Kassaundra DeniseWilliams Patterson had left
silver leaf apartments in Haskell, Oklahoma, sometime between
her daughters going to bed andwaking up.
All her personal belongingswere left behind, including her
purse, which family members saidshe never left without
(01:35):
Kassaundra.
Sister Seqwendolyn Johnson saidregardless of what people think
, she's still a child of God andI just want to know what
happened to her.
About a year later, on Mother'sDay, Nathella Williams,
Kassaundra's mom, received aphone call.
There was no one on the line,but other similar calls came in
(01:56):
to one where someone was sayingmom, mama, are you there?
No information about thesecalls has been reported on.
Nathella continued to put upmissing persons posters for her
daughter for months, years anddecades.
According to sequendolin,Nathella refused to have
(02:16):
Kassaundra declared dead.
Quote she always held out hope.
In 2019, assistant chief KermitThomas saw Nathella putting up
these posters and ask her aboutKassaundra.
After speaking with her, theHaskell police department
reopened the case.
Kermit Thomas is now the chiefof police in 2019, he said I do
(02:41):
have some small bits and piecesof information and I do believe
I can solve this case.
Unfortunately, no furtherdevelopments have happened in
Kassaundra's case.
Nathala, a retired schoolteacher, had started to struggle
with dementia in 2019.
Seqwendolyn said I just praysomething comes out of this
(03:03):
before my mother or I leave thisearth.
We would just like to know whathappened to my sister.
On January 25th of this year,Nathella Williams passed away
just before her 92nd birthday.
Kassaundra would be 66 yearsold today.
She's black and indigenous andenrolled in the Muskogee Creek
(03:26):
Nation.
She's between 53 and 56 andweighed between 115 and 160
pounds.
At the time of herdisappearance she had black hair
that was straightened andshoulder length and has brown
eyes.
There is a depression on herleft ankle from a bike accident
when she was 12 years old.
(03:47):
If you have any information,please call the Haskell police
department at 918-482-3933.
The next case comes from FortGibson, Oklahoma.
During the fall of 1991, 16year old Dawn Michelle Nakedhead
(04:09):
made plans to go to a friend'shouse in Muskegee, about nine
miles west of Fort Gibson.
They planned on going to afootball game.
Before turning in for the night, her aunt and guardian, Joyce
Green, saw her earlier in theday.
On October 18th 1991, don wasalso seen making a call from a
(04:30):
phone booth at a conveniencestore in Fort Gibson.
She did not make it to thefootball game or her friend's
house and no one has seen hersince.
Don's sister, Brandi Christie,said she was my best friend.
She was my protector.
Dawn would be forty-eight yearsold today.
(04:50):
She is an indigenous womanbelonging to the Cherokee Nation
.
At the time of herdisappearance she was between
five-ten and five-eleven andweighed between one hundred and
fifteen and one hundred andtwenty-five pounds.
She had dark, wavy hair thatfell past her shoulders with
bangs.
She has brown eyes, a largescar on her left elbow and a
(05:15):
black birthmark with gray hairon the left side of her head
near the nape of her neck.
She may also wear glasses orcontacts.
She was also known to use hermaiden name, kirk.
If you have any informationabout Dawn, please contact the
Fort Gibson Police Department at918-478-2610.
(05:42):
In the year 2000,thirteen-year-old David Allen
Crabtree told his familygoodnight.
He was very close to his threesiblings, james, cynthia and
Christina.
He told them I'm going to bed,I love you.
Then he snuck out of hisbedroom window to meet the three
(06:03):
boys who had been waiting forhim, and he was never heard from
again.
David grew up in Locust Grove,oklahoma.
He was into sports,particularly wrestling, for
which he had won several medals.
He was fun-loving and alwaysmade people laugh.
In the spring of 2000, though,david began rebelling.
He started drinking, acting outin school and sneaking out of
(06:26):
the house.
David's mom, brenda Miller,said David began to act
differently On April 5th.
David had snuck out of thehouse and was stopped in prior
Oklahoma, fifteen miles away, ina car driven by an older boy.
He was cited for breakingcurfew and Brenda went to pick
(06:46):
him up.
Quote David was neverargumentative.
I would go find him and hewould come home.
He was never loud and he wouldnever argue with me.
He would just come home.
His older brother, jamesCrabtree, remembered David
similarly, saying he was neverreally angry more like I can't
believe I got caught, so I hadto come home.
(07:09):
On April 8th 2000, his sister,christina, saw three boys
waiting for David outside hisbedroom window between 7 and 8
pm.
They asked her if she wanted tocome along, but she refused.
James went to check on Davidaround 10 pm, but David was
already gone and his bed had notbeen slept in.
(07:30):
The family searched theimmediate area and all the
places they thought David wouldgo.
Brenda said I went around.
We went and asked.
Nobody had seen him.
Then they went to the police.
There they knew David had ahistory of running away and they
ended up classifying David as arunaway juvenile.
(07:52):
Brenda said they look at him asa treble teen, so they didn't
help me, and I don't know ifpolice departments still
classify people as runaways, buteven if they are runaways, they
are still a missing child.
Just saying.
In 2017, police chief BrianHurry saw David on a Facebook
(08:15):
page the family had made for him.
Hurry explained that whennothing more was reported, the
Locust Grove Police Departmentassumed David had returned home.
And I don't know about you, butI don't want my police assuming
anything.
That's all I'll say.
In 2018, chief Hurrey changedDavid's classification to
(08:41):
missing person.
The Oklahoma State Bureau ofInvestigation, or OSBI, weighed
in.
Special Agent Dale Fine said weknow David did have a history
of running away, but he alwayscame back home or he was always
observed around town with hisfriends Close to the time of his
(09:03):
disappearance.
There were unconfirmedsightings of David in Tallahouc,
kenwood and Pryor, Oklahoma.
Brenda said during an interviewin 2018, david, my heart hurts
for you every day.
Please contact us and let usknow you're okay.
We love you so much.
David would be 37 years oldtoday.
(09:25):
He's white and indigenous,belonging to the Cherokee Nation
.
He has brown eyes and a couplescars, one on the top of his
forehead and one on his righteyebrow.
At the time of hisdisappearance, he had black hair
in the start of a mustache.
If you have any informationabout David, you can call the
(09:45):
Oklahoma State Bureau ofInvestigation at 1-800-522-8017
or email at TIPS@osbi.
ok.
gov.
This last case is the wholereason I chose to start in
(10:08):
Oklahoma.
Generally speaking, I try notto cover cases that have started
in the past couple years orwhere most of the information is
coming from unconfirmed orunchecked sources, but this case
does both.
On July 25, 2022, kendra NicoleBatello was last seen between
(10:30):
11.30 and midnight in Enid,oklahoma.
She was last known to be withher boyfriend and the woman they
rented their house from.
There was some communicationthrough July 7th, some stuff
about sending money for a motelroom, but then nothing.
Kendra was reported missing onJuly 12th, though there is some
(10:53):
talk about when her mom calledthe Enid Police Department and
when they actually filed it.
A woman in Pawnee, oklahoma,did report that Kendra had
knocked on her door and askedfor a glass of water.
On July 20th, her cousin, ednaReyes, said An interesting part
(11:34):
of Kendra's disappearance is theresponse from the Enid Police
Department.
States have different lawsaround submitting missing
persons to NamUs or the NationalMissing and Unidentified Person
System, which would technicallybe NMaUPS, but NamUs sounds
better.
In 2019, oklahoma passedFrancine's Law named for
(11:59):
Francine Frost, a person whowent missing in 1983 but whose
body wasn't found until 2014.
It states that law enforcementis required to send all
available information to NamUswithin 30 days of being reported
missing.
(12:19):
Kendra's case was not submitteduntil August 22nd, that's 41
days after she was reportedmissing.
I don't know why it took solong or if there were any
penalties.
But that's just one grievancefamily and friends seem to have
(12:42):
with the way Enid police havehandled Kendra's disappearance.
Kendra had a tumultuous andabusive relationship with her
boyfriend.
Both had accused the other ofvarious offenses and in June of
2022, kendra's boyfriend wascharged with assault and battery
by strangulation, but becauseKendra was absent from the
(13:05):
hearings, these charges wereeventually dropped Again.
I don't know how Kendra, goingmissing right before court
appearances against her abusiveboyfriend, looks to police, but
outwardly her boyfriend has notbeen named a suspect or person
of interest, and while I wouldlove to be someone who
(13:27):
wholeheartedly believes peoplecan change and not hold
someone's past against them,kendra's boyfriend's past does
not ease anyone's suspicions.
As an 18-year-old, he wasarrested for shooting another
teenager with the intent to kill, but charges were dropped when
the teenager refused tocooperate with authorities.
(13:47):
He was also charged withassault and battery with a
dangerous weapon against hisgirlfriend in 2015.
I don't know the details, but Iknow he ended up marrying this
girlfriend in December of 2017,but was separated by 2019, which
I can only assume was shortlybefore he started dating Kendra,
(14:09):
because he was taken to courtfor domestic assault and battery
by April of 2020.
You don't want to be able totrack a relationship through
court filings.
That's all I'm saying.
A year later, when more chargesare brought up, kendra goes
missing.
(14:29):
Her grandmother, lillian Reyes,said she has a pretty smile when
she smiles.
I miss her, and her cousin,edna, described Kendra as clever
, smart and a beautiful womanwith a contagious smile.
Kendra will turn 26 on August24.
(14:50):
At the time of herdisappearance, she was between
5'7 and 5'8 and weighed between115 and 130 pounds.
She's a black, hispanic andindigenous woman belonging to
the Muskegee Creek Nation.
She had black buzz-cut hair,but was known to wear long wigs
(15:10):
of all colors.
She has brown eyes and dimples.
If you have any information,please contact the Enid Police
Department At 580-242-7000.
If you or somebody you knowneeds help for domestic violence
(15:33):
or intimate partner violence,there are several ways to
contact the National DomesticViolence Hotline.
You can text START to 887-88.
You can go to thehotlineorg tostart a chat or, if you're
afraid your internet history isbeing monitored, you can call at
(15:55):
800-799-SAFE.
That's 800-799-7233.
Thank you for listening.
For pictures related to thesecases, you can check out Murder
Is Bad on Instagram at Murder IsBad podcast.
(16:17):
If you enjoyed this podcast.
Please subscribe wherever youlisten and, if you're feeling
generous, please rate and writea review.
Take care of each other andremember murder is bad.
yellow.
This is Julia, and murder isbad.
I believe we're all aware ofthe disproportionate media
(00:25):
coverage between white, middleclass or above persons to every
other marginalized group.
I want to cover a variety ofcases, especially under reported
ones.
The catch-22 is, however, thatunder reported cases don't have
as many readily availablereports.
(00:47):
That's kind of how that works.
All that being said, I plan onputting together a few of these
cases into an episode.
This is one such episode.
Today I'm going to tell youabout four missing Indigenous
people out of the state ofOklahoma.
On the morning of May 5th 1988,three sisters woke up at 6 am to
(01:11):
find their mother was gone.
33 year-old Kassaundra DeniseWilliams Patterson had left
silver leaf apartments in Haskell, Oklahoma, sometime between
her daughters going to bed andwaking up.
All her personal belongingswere left behind, including her
purse, which family members saidshe never left without
(01:35):
Kassaundra.
Sister Seqwendolyn Johnson saidregardless of what people think
, she's still a child of God andI just want to know what
happened to her.
About a year later, on Mother'sDay, Nathella Williams,
Kassaundra's mom, received aphone call.
There was no one on the line,but other similar calls came in
(01:56):
to one where someone was sayingmom, mama, are you there?
No information about thesecalls has been reported on.
Nathella continued to put upmissing persons posters for her
daughter for months, years anddecades.
According to sequendolin,Nathella refused to have
(02:16):
Kassaundra declared dead.
Quote she always held out hope.
In 2019, assistant chief KermitThomas saw Nathella putting up
these posters and ask her aboutKassaundra.
After speaking with her, theHaskell police department
reopened the case.
Kermit Thomas is now the chiefof police in 2019, he said I do
(02:41):
have some small bits and piecesof information and I do believe
I can solve this case.
Unfortunately, no furtherdevelopments have happened in
Kassaundra's case.
Nathala, a retired schoolteacher, had started to struggle
with dementia in 2019.
Seqwendolyn said I just praysomething comes out of this
(03:03):
before my mother or I leave thisearth.
We would just like to know whathappened to my sister.
On January 25th of this year,Nathella Williams passed away
just before her 92nd birthday.
Kassaundra would be 66 yearsold today.
She's black and indigenous andenrolled in the Muskogee Creek
(03:26):
Nation.
She's between 53 and 56 andweighed between 115 and 160
pounds.
At the time of herdisappearance she had black hair
that was straightened andshoulder length and has brown
eyes.
There is a depression on herleft ankle from a bike accident
when she was 12 years old.
(03:47):
If you have any information,please call the Haskell police
department at 918-482-3933.
The next case comes from FortGibson, Oklahoma.
During the fall of 1991, 16year old Dawn Michelle Nakedhead
(04:09):
made plans to go to a friend'shouse in Muskegee, about nine
miles west of Fort Gibson.
They planned on going to afootball game.
Before turning in for the night, her aunt and guardian, Joyce
Green, saw her earlier in theday.
On October 18th 1991, don wasalso seen making a call from a
(04:30):
phone booth at a conveniencestore in Fort Gibson.
She did not make it to thefootball game or her friend's
house and no one has seen hersince.
Don's sister, Brandi Christie,said she was my best friend.
She was my protector.
Dawn would be forty-eight yearsold today.
(04:50):
She is an indigenous womanbelonging to the Cherokee Nation
.
At the time of herdisappearance she was between
five-ten and five-eleven andweighed between one hundred and
fifteen and one hundred andtwenty-five pounds.
She had dark, wavy hair thatfell past her shoulders with
bangs.
She has brown eyes, a largescar on her left elbow and a
(05:15):
black birthmark with gray hairon the left side of her head
near the nape of her neck.
She may also wear glasses orcontacts.
She was also known to use hermaiden name, kirk.
If you have any informationabout Dawn, please contact the
Fort Gibson Police Department at918-478-2610.
(05:42):
In the year 2000,thirteen-year-old David Allen
Crabtree told his familygoodnight.
He was very close to his threesiblings, james, cynthia and
Christina.
He told them I'm going to bed,I love you.
Then he snuck out of hisbedroom window to meet the three
(06:03):
boys who had been waiting forhim, and he was never heard from
again.
David grew up in Locust Grove,oklahoma.
He was into sports,particularly wrestling, for
which he had won several medals.
He was fun-loving and alwaysmade people laugh.
In the spring of 2000, though,david began rebelling.
He started drinking, acting outin school and sneaking out of
(06:26):
the house.
David's mom, brenda Miller,said David began to act
differently On April 5th.
David had snuck out of thehouse and was stopped in prior
Oklahoma, fifteen miles away, ina car driven by an older boy.
He was cited for breakingcurfew and Brenda went to pick
(06:46):
him up.
Quote David was neverargumentative.
I would go find him and hewould come home.
He was never loud and he wouldnever argue with me.
He would just come home.
His older brother, jamesCrabtree, remembered David
similarly, saying he was neverreally angry more like I can't
believe I got caught, so I hadto come home.
(07:09):
On April 8th 2000, his sister,christina, saw three boys
waiting for David outside hisbedroom window between 7 and 8
pm.
They asked her if she wanted tocome along, but she refused.
James went to check on Davidaround 10 pm, but David was
already gone and his bed had notbeen slept in.
(07:30):
The family searched theimmediate area and all the
places they thought David wouldgo.
Brenda said I went around.
We went and asked.
Nobody had seen him.
Then they went to the police.
There they knew David had ahistory of running away and they
ended up classifying David as arunaway juvenile.
(07:52):
Brenda said they look at him asa treble teen, so they didn't
help me, and I don't know ifpolice departments still
classify people as runaways, buteven if they are runaways, they
are still a missing child.
Just saying.
In 2017, police chief BrianHurry saw David on a Facebook
(08:15):
page the family had made for him.
Hurry explained that whennothing more was reported, the
Locust Grove Police Departmentassumed David had returned home.
And I don't know about you, butI don't want my police assuming
anything.
That's all I'll say.
In 2018, chief Hurrey changedDavid's classification to
(08:41):
missing person.
The Oklahoma State Bureau ofInvestigation, or OSBI, weighed
in.
Special Agent Dale Fine said weknow David did have a history
of running away, but he alwayscame back home or he was always
observed around town with hisfriends Close to the time of his
(09:03):
disappearance.
There were unconfirmedsightings of David in Tallahouc,
kenwood and Pryor, Oklahoma.
Brenda said during an interviewin 2018, david, my heart hurts
for you every day.
Please contact us and let usknow you're okay.
We love you so much.
David would be 37 years oldtoday.
(09:25):
He's white and indigenous,belonging to the Cherokee Nation
.
He has brown eyes and a couplescars, one on the top of his
forehead and one on his righteyebrow.
At the time of hisdisappearance, he had black hair
in the start of a mustache.
If you have any informationabout David, you can call the
(09:45):
Oklahoma State Bureau ofInvestigation at 1-800-522-8017
or email at TIPS@osbi.
ok.
gov.
This last case is the wholereason I chose to start in
(10:08):
Oklahoma.
Generally speaking, I try notto cover cases that have started
in the past couple years orwhere most of the information is
coming from unconfirmed orunchecked sources, but this case
does both.
On July 25, 2022, kendra NicoleBatello was last seen between
(10:30):
11.30 and midnight in Enid,oklahoma.
She was last known to be withher boyfriend and the woman they
rented their house from.
There was some communicationthrough July 7th, some stuff
about sending money for a motelroom, but then nothing.
Kendra was reported missing onJuly 12th, though there is some
(10:53):
talk about when her mom calledthe Enid Police Department and
when they actually filed it.
A woman in Pawnee, oklahoma,did report that Kendra had
knocked on her door and askedfor a glass of water.
On July 20th, her cousin, ednaReyes, said An interesting part
(11:34):
of Kendra's disappearance is theresponse from the Enid Police
Department.
States have different lawsaround submitting missing
persons to NamUs or the NationalMissing and Unidentified Person
System, which would technicallybe NMaUPS, but NamUs sounds
better.
In 2019, oklahoma passedFrancine's Law named for
(11:59):
Francine Frost, a person whowent missing in 1983 but whose
body wasn't found until 2014.
It states that law enforcementis required to send all
available information to NamUswithin 30 days of being reported
missing.
(12:19):
Kendra's case was not submitteduntil August 22nd, that's 41
days after she was reportedmissing.
I don't know why it took solong or if there were any
penalties.
But that's just one grievancefamily and friends seem to have
(12:42):
with the way Enid police havehandled Kendra's disappearance.
Kendra had a tumultuous andabusive relationship with her
boyfriend.
Both had accused the other ofvarious offenses and in June of
2022, kendra's boyfriend wascharged with assault and battery
by strangulation, but becauseKendra was absent from the
(13:05):
hearings, these charges wereeventually dropped Again.
I don't know how Kendra, goingmissing right before court
appearances against her abusiveboyfriend, looks to police, but
outwardly her boyfriend has notbeen named a suspect or person
of interest, and while I wouldlove to be someone who
(13:27):
wholeheartedly believes peoplecan change and not hold
someone's past against them,kendra's boyfriend's past does
not ease anyone's suspicions.
As an 18-year-old, he wasarrested for shooting another
teenager with the intent to kill, but charges were dropped when
the teenager refused tocooperate with authorities.
(13:47):
He was also charged withassault and battery with a
dangerous weapon against hisgirlfriend in 2015.
I don't know the details, but Iknow he ended up marrying this
girlfriend in December of 2017,but was separated by 2019, which
I can only assume was shortlybefore he started dating Kendra,
(14:09):
because he was taken to courtfor domestic assault and battery
by April of 2020.
You don't want to be able totrack a relationship through
court filings.
That's all I'm saying.
A year later, when more chargesare brought up, kendra goes
missing.
(14:29):
Her grandmother, lillian Reyes,said she has a pretty smile when
she smiles.
I miss her, and her cousin,edna, described Kendra as clever
, smart and a beautiful womanwith a contagious smile.
Kendra will turn 26 on August24.
(14:50):
At the time of herdisappearance, she was between
5'7 and 5'8 and weighed between115 and 130 pounds.
She's a black, hispanic andindigenous woman belonging to
the Muskegee Creek Nation.
She had black buzz-cut hair,but was known to wear long wigs
(15:10):
of all colors.
She has brown eyes and dimples.
If you have any information,please contact the Enid Police
Department At 580-242-7000.
If you or somebody you knowneeds help for domestic violence
(15:33):
or intimate partner violence,there are several ways to
contact the National DomesticViolence Hotline.
You can text START to 887-88.
You can go to thehotlineorg tostart a chat or, if you're
afraid your internet history isbeing monitored, you can call at
(15:55):
800-799-SAFE.
That's 800-799-7233.
Thank you for listening.
For pictures related to thesecases, you can check out Murder
Is Bad on Instagram at Murder IsBad podcast.
(16:17):
If you enjoyed this podcast.
Please subscribe wherever youlisten and, if you're feeling
generous, please rate and writea review.
Take care of each other andremember murder is bad.
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