ROBERT MEDLEY
newsok.com
Police have started digging for human remains at an Oklahoma City house. The owner of the house is in jail on drugs and weapons charges.
Oklahoma City police searched for buried human remains Monday at a house owned by the suspected leader of a motorcycle gang.
Homicide detectives learned a body may have been buried at the house at 3306 S Quapah Ave. and a search warrant was issued but is sealed, Master Sgt. Gary Knight said.
The homicide unit, bomb squad and an archaeology team began working Monday to try to locate the body, he said.
Knight said police do not have a positive identification on the person who might be buried. The excavation project could take days or even weeks to complete, he said.
The house is owned by Michael A. and Paula L. Gardner, according to Oklahoma County tax assessor records.
The house has been unoccupied recently, according to a mechanic who works just north of the house. The neighborhood is just southwest of the Airline Industrial Park near Newcastle Road.
Harlan Graham, a mechanic who works at a starter and alternator repair shop, said the house has been vacant since Gardner went to jail this year.
Gardner, 47, was arrested Jan. 29, and court records showed 3306 S Quapah Ave. as Gardner's address. He was booked into the Oklahoma County jail on complaints of receiving stolen property, maintaining a drug house, possession of a sawed-off shotgun and using surveillance equipment during the commission of a felony. Agents with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant at his house that day.
Federal charges were filed in April in the U.S. District Court for the Western District in Oklahoma City, accusing Gardner of illegal weapons possession and methamphetamine possession with intent to distribute. The charges allege Gardner is a member of the Rogues Motorcycle Club.
Graham said he lived two doors from Gardner for several years before buying a house and moving nearby.
“I never really associated with him,” Graham said. “He was usually pretty quiet. You didn't see him out much.”
A woman who lives next to the repair shop said she knew Gardner for a number of years. She said she often saw children around his house but she has not seen anyone around it since Gardner was jailed.
Graham said Gardner had motorcycles and worked on cars at his house.
Along with stolen firearms, agents found biker paraphernalia and a large amount of information about the motorcycle club during the January search, authorities said.
Read more: http://newsok.com/okc-police-look-for-remains-at-jailed-mans-house/article/3568484#ixzz1MZdgYZxZ
The homicide unit, bomb squad and an archaeology team began working Monday to try to locate the body, he said.
Knight said police do not have a positive identification on the person who might be buried. The excavation project could take days or even weeks to complete, he said.
The house is owned by Michael A. and Paula L. Gardner, according to Oklahoma County tax assessor records.
The house has been unoccupied recently, according to a mechanic who works just north of the house. The neighborhood is just southwest of the Airline Industrial Park near Newcastle Road.
Harlan Graham, a mechanic who works at a starter and alternator repair shop, said the house has been vacant since Gardner went to jail this year.
Gardner, 47, was arrested Jan. 29, and court records showed 3306 S Quapah Ave. as Gardner's address. He was booked into the Oklahoma County jail on complaints of receiving stolen property, maintaining a drug house, possession of a sawed-off shotgun and using surveillance equipment during the commission of a felony. Agents with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant at his house that day.
Federal charges were filed in April in the U.S. District Court for the Western District in Oklahoma City, accusing Gardner of illegal weapons possession and methamphetamine possession with intent to distribute. The charges allege Gardner is a member of the Rogues Motorcycle Club.
Graham said he lived two doors from Gardner for several years before buying a house and moving nearby.
“I never really associated with him,” Graham said. “He was usually pretty quiet. You didn't see him out much.”
A woman who lives next to the repair shop said she knew Gardner for a number of years. She said she often saw children around his house but she has not seen anyone around it since Gardner was jailed.
Graham said Gardner had motorcycles and worked on cars at his house.
Along with stolen firearms, agents found biker paraphernalia and a large amount of information about the motorcycle club during the January search, authorities said.
Read more: http://newsok.com/okc-police-look-for-remains-at-jailed-mans-house/article/3568484#ixzz1MZdgYZxZ
