Former fiancée testifies in murder trial in Comanche County

The former fiancée of a man on trial for murder kicked off the opening day of the Comanche County jury docket on Tuesday.

Jury selection continued into the afternoon before opening arguments and witness testimony in Judge Grant Sheperd’s court for the trial of a man accused of killing a man he considered his romantic rival.

Larry Keith Standridge II, 42, is on trial for a count of second-degree murder stemming from the November 2020 shooting death of James David Cloud, 31, of Chattanooga. Cloud was killed by a gunshot wound to the neck, according to the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s autopsy report. Investigators believe it stemmed from jealousy of the man’s relationship with his ex-fiancée, Mariah Sotelo.

At the time of the killing, Standridge had been out of jail on a $30,000 bond for about a week. He was convicted in October 2022 of kidnapping, restraining, terrorizing and sexually abusing Sotelo over the three-day period of Nov. 10-12, 2020.

Assistant District Attorney Madeline Vasquez asked Sotelo about her estranged relationship with Standridge; they had been engaged at one time but at the time of the kidnapping, she’d been living at his home but they were not romantically involved.

Sotelo testified Standridge was 40 and she was 19 when they first got together.

Following the earlier incident, Sotelo said she was staying with her then-boyfriend Kevin Adams. On Nov. 23, 2020, she said, she, Adams and Cloud, whom she called her best friend, went with a police escort to Standridge’s home at 601 NE Flower Mound to retrieve her things. Standridge only allowed Cloud inside the home.

Sotelo testified Standridge was “jealous” of her other intimate relationships, which had included Cloud and Adams.

“I didn’t like being around him, he was controlling,” she said of Standridge. “Larry would not want James around and I would have to cut things off.”

But then, Sotelo said, Standridge would change his mind about Cloud.

“It was always back and forth with Larry on his opinions,” she said.

Sotelo testified Standridge knew where Cloud lived. He’d made her give him the man’s Chattanooga address. She said she knew Standridge, a veteran, had multiple guns and she feared for herself and her friends, especially after the final trip to Standridge’s home.

Standridge had packed her things, Sotelo said. She’d taken them to Adams’ home and left them boxed, she said. Despite inferences by defense counsel Larry Monard that Standridge had given her his handgun, no weapon was recovered by investigators when searching her belongings.

After taking her then 1½-year-old son to his father’s home in Comanche that day, Sotelo said she and Adams returned home where they played World of Warcraft until going to sleep. However, she said she texted Cloud to let him know she’d made it home safely. There was no reply.

The next morning, Sotelo said she hadn’t heard from Cloud. She said that wasn’t normal; they texted good night and good morning. Next, he didn’t answer her phone call. It was another rarity, she said. She called Cloud’s work and when she found out he hadn’t come in or called in, asked that someone do a welfare check.

“I kind of freaked out,” she said. “I was worried.”

Sotelo and Adams then went to Chattanooga where they were greeted by law enforcement and crime scene tape, she said. She told investigators she believed Standridge had killed Cloud.

“He said that he was going to kill him,” she said. “He said that about multiple people I had been romantically involved with.”

Testimony begins again today.

Standridge has been in Oklahoma Department of Corrections custody since his sentence was affirmed in December 2022.