Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent testifies about crime scene

An Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent testified about a crime scene on Wednesday in the trial of a Lawton man accused of killing his romantic rival in November 2020.

Larry Keith Standridge II, 42, is on trial in Comanche County District Judge Grant Sheperd’s court for a count of second-degree murder stemming from the Nov. 23, 2020, shooting death of James David Cloud, 31, of Chattanooga. He faces between 10 years to life in prison.

According to Cloud’s autopsy report by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s office, he was killed from a single gunshot wound to the left side of the neck. The bullet passed downward through his neck and out his right shoulder. Gunpowder stippling to the skin offered evidence the shot came from close contact.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Agent Lindsey Adamson provided insight into crime scene photos she took from Cloud’s Chattanooga home at 604 Monroe.

In the photos, a shirtless Cloud was seen lying on the floor in the nook area between the living room and the area of a back door. Evidence showed he’d been dragged from near the door, where he was hidden from view by a couch.

Adamson testified an exit wound was shown in Cloud’s upper left shoulder. The agent said a bullet was not recovered at the scene and it was hoped to be discovered during autopsy. However, no slug has been found.

Adamson also photographed a search of Standridge’s mobile home at Sherwood Village, 601 NE Flower Mound Road, and his white Jeep. Witnesses testified they saw the Jeep leaving Cloud’s home the night of Nov. 23, 2020. A bag filled with empty bottles of cleaning products were discovered in the back floorboard of the Jeep.

At the home, an empty gun box for a Ruger handgun and an empty magazine were found. Adamson testified no weapon connected to the killing was discovered. It would be seven months later when a worker at the mobile home park discovered a bag containing a handgun and clothes inside a plastic bag behind the skirting underneath the mobile home.

Defense counsel Larry Monard asked Adamson why agents didn’t look under there during the search warrant execution. The agent replied that it didn’t appear the skirting had been tampered with at that time.

What’s missing in the state’s case against his client is physical evidence, according to Monard’s argument. He also questioned the reliability of the three eyewitnesses who told investigators they’d seen a suspect looking like Standridge driving through the Chattanooga neighborhood in a white SUV.

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 his former fiancée Mariah Sotelo over the three-day period of Nov. 10-12, 2020.

On Tuesday, Sotelo testified that she, Cloud and her then-fiancé Kevin Adams had a police escort take them to Standridge’s home the day of the killing to collect her belongings. She testified Standridge had threatened to kill Cloud before, as well as other people with whom she’d been romantically involved.

Sotelo testified Standridge knew where Cloud lived after making 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.

Standridge was tried and convicted by a jury in October 2022 of kidnapping and raping Sotelo over three days in November; however, that information is being withheld from the jury until and if there is a guilty verdict in the murder case.

While cross-examining Comanche County Sheriff’s Department Chief Investigator Chad Kenyon, Monard questioned if anyone else had told him Standridge had threatened Cloud besides Sotelo. The detective admitted no one else directly implicated Standridge through first-hand knowledge.

Monard asked Kenyon to recall a conversation recorded between Standridge and Cloud regarding the defendant’s reason he claimed he loaned Sotelo a handgun, though he “didn’t trust her.”

“He still loved her … but he doesn’t want to be with her,” he said.

Monard asked Kenyon if the samples of DNA from the items recovered under Standridge’s home returned to either Standridge or Cloud, Kenyon confirmed they did not.

“But two unknown people were?” Monard asked.

Kenyon replied, “Correct.”

The detective said the DNA has not been tested against anyone else.

The trial will resume today.