Police: Sexual relationship at heart of Lawton homicide

A search warrant was issued Friday for a suspect in the fatal shooting of Clayton Stephens.

Stephens was found Sunday on the side of the road at Southwest 38th Street and Coombs Road.

Investigators said the city’s seventh homicide of the year came about from a sexual relationship gone awry.

The Comanche County District Court issued a felony arrest warrant Friday for Tawann Dupree Richardson, a.k.a. Pooh Butt, 23, for counts of first-degree murder — deliberate intent, unlawful removal of a dead body and possession of a firearm after former felony conviction. The murder count is punishable by life in prison, life without parole or death.

Lawton Police began investigating Stephens’ death Sunday morning after his body was found. The Oklahoma Medical Examiner confirmed Stephens died from a gunshot wound to the face, the warrant affidavit states.

Friends of Stephens also contacted LPD to file a missing person’s report about him. He hadn’t been seen since leaving his home the night before.

Through interviews, investigators learned Stephens and Richardson had been in a sexual relationship. Woelfel stated video surveillance from Stephens’ home showed Richardson picked him up in a Chrysler Pacifica early Sunday morning.

According to the affidavit, the Chrysler was found Friday in Vernon, Texas. A search of the vehicle revealed blood  inside and outside the vehicle, the detective stated.

Video surveillance from where Richardson had been staying showed him return Sunday morning and he wasn’t wearing a shirt or jacket he’d been seen in the night before.

Investigators spoke with a friend of Richardson’s who, he said, had intended to beat Stephens up but “it had gone too far and a gunshot had been fired,” the affidavit states.

Stephens’ phone revealed a Facebook messenger history of communications between him and Richardson, Woelfel stated.

Messages established the two had a sexual relationship and that Stephens had threatened to expose that information because Richardson also was having sex with a female who is now pregnant, according to the affidavit. Woelfel stated Richardson had told Stephens not to do that because it would bring out his “crazy side.”

Investigators discovered there had been several messages and phone calls between Stephens and Richardson from the night before with the last contact on Stephens’ phone coming early Sunday morning, the affidavit states.

Richardson has two prior felony convictions: Comanche County, May 2018, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; and Wichita County, Texas, April 2022, aggravated robbery, records indicate.

A $1 million cash warrant bond was issued upon Richardson’s arrest.