CANTON, Okla. – A hitchhiker is suspected of shooting and killing a woman near Canton after she and another man gave him a ride from Oklahoma City.
According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, a man and a woman were driving from Oklahoma City to Canton when they picked up a hitchhiker.
Two miles east of Canton, officials say the hitchhiker shot the woman before getting out of the vehicle.
The male driver headed to the Canton Police Department for help.
Sadly, 18-year-old Caylee Massey died from her injuries.
The population in Canton, Oklahoma, is just over 600. It’s a quiet, family town in Blaine County where a murder is rare, to say the least.
“We don’t see this kind of thing happen here,” Angie Broderick said.
That’s why Broderick was shocked to see crime scene tape outside her store on Main Street Wednesday morning.
“I went to turn the corner, and it was blocked off. I knew right there something was wrong, so yeah, it was real creepy,” Broderick said.
OSBI investigators say a man driving a red Ford pickup truck drove to the Canton Police Department with an alarming story.
He told them a hitchhiker they picked up in Oklahoma City shot Massey then jumped out of the truck and took off.
“Right now, we believe this happened approximately two to three miles east of town, and the person driving came in town seeking help,” Major Todd Doyals said.
Police rushed to find the woman, but she was already dead.
That was just before 5 a.m. Wednesday. Authorities have been looking for the suspect ever since.
They want to talk to a man seen on surveillance video wearing an OSU Cowboys t-shirt at a convenience store in Watonga.
He was seen there with the couple sometime overnight.
Authorities have since identified him as Christopher Blake Scruggs, who is also wanted for questioning related to a violent attack in Logan County.
We know OSBI interviewed the driver Wednesday, trying to get some answers in the horrifying case.
It’s a case that makes people who live and work in Canton uneasy and hoping police find the suspect soon.
“This kind of stuff doesn’t happen. Break-ins rarely happen, anything really happens here, you don’t lock your doors around here,” Broderick said.
Anyone with information on the crime should call the OSBI tipline at 1-800-522-8017.
