Lawton man wanted for New Year’s Day homicide

A 59-year-old Lawton man is wanted for the New Year’s Day shooting death of Levelle Newton.

Investigators said it all traces back to him believing his money was stolen.

The Comanche County District Court issued a felony arrest warrant Friday morning for Willie B. Lindley, a.k.a. “Red,” for charges of first-degree murder — deliberate intent and possession of a firearm after former felony convictions, records indicate.

Lawton police were called Monday afternoon to 1618 SW New York for a welfare check and arrived to find Newton dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

A witness said they’d awakened at the home from staying the night and Lindley was there with a gun in his hand looking for his money and threatened everyone at the home that if he didn’t get it, “everybody was going to die,” the warrant affidavit states. He’d recently returned from the store and couldn’t find his wallet.

The witness said Lindley went into Newton’s room and demanded his money and when told he didn’t have it, struck Newton in the head with the gun, Detective Marcus Rucker stated. While lying on the ground after being struck, Newton responded, “I can’t give you something I don’t have,” the witness said. That’s when Lindley shot Newton once before telling others in the home that it was a warning to them before leaving, the affidavit states.

Newton’s death was the city’s first homicide of 2024.

Lindley has four prior felony convictions in Comanche County: March 2003, trafficking in illegal drugs; May 2009, two counts of uttering a forged instrument; and February 2020, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, records indicate.

Lindley’s cash warrant bond is set at $500,000.