PURCELL, Okla. – A man in custody for the murder of his elderly aunt was on the run Thursday night.
Leroy Graham was missing for a couple of hours before authorities found him miles away from where he escaped in Purcell.
Graham admitted to stabbing his aunt to death back in October 2015 in rural McClain County.
It was a bizarre confession, and Graham was charged with first-degree murder. Authorities say he admitted to stabbing his 66-year-old aunt to death because she said he “ate too much.”
However, the case never made it to trial because Graham was found to be too incompetent to stand trial.
Since then, he has been housed in a facility for mentally impaired adults.
“So they’ve removed him from our jail and placed him in a home,” David Thompkins, with the McClain County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sequoia House is a facility that houses juveniles and adults with mental disabilities.
Thursday evening, a group of residents from the facility took a trip to Purcell.
“They take some of them to town to Walmart, to McDonald’s, to Carl’s Jr.,” Thompkins said.
However, authorities believe Graham had some place else in mind.
“This was his first trip Walmart,” Thompkins said. “But the group he was with was going to Walmart, and he didn’t want to go to Walmart.”
Authorities say Graham took off and was missing for a couple of hours while hiding from police.
“We think he left Walmart trying to make his way to either Carl’s Jr. or Super Savers,” Thompkins said.
He dodged authorities and crouched along the trees.
“Probably walked the tree line where people couldn’t see him,” Thompkins said.
Thompkins says Graham also hid near a creek until dark.
“He was muddy, wet, dirty all over,” Thompkins said.
Graham finally made his way back up to the roadway where a driver spotted him and called police. Officers tracked down Graham and took him into custody.
“Leroy looked at him and just laid down on the ground and put his hands behind his back,” Thompkins said.
NewsChannel 4 tried contacting the Sequoia House about their procedures and supervision of residents, but nobody responded to our call or attempts to visit the facility.
