Authorities look through the remains of Shannon Southern’s home Wednesday for evidence that will provide information about what may have been used to kill Southern. From the left are Sequoyah County Deputy Rodney Beard; Sheriff Ron Lockhart; Deputy Lance Yoakum; Brad Green, Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation agent; and Mike Tubbs, State Fire Marshal Investigating Agent.
Courtney Coble • TIMES
Sequoyah County Undersheriff Roger Fuller said he received a call at 12:45 p.m. from the State Medical Examiners Office in Tulsa notifying him that 20-year-old Shannon Bryan Southern’s death was ruled a homicide.
A source, which did not wish to be identified, said it is believed that Southern had been shot three times in the chest.
Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart said he was not going to release the cause of death at this time.
“We are now actively working a homicide scene. He was killed for an unknown reason and the house was set on fire to destroy evidence,” Lockhart said.
Fuller said deputies and the sheriff headed straight to the crime scene when they received the call and they plan on being at the scene until something is found.
Investigators with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) and the State Fire Marshal’s office were at the fire scene Wednesday afternoon looking for clues.
“OSBI, deputies, and the State Fire Marshal will be going through every piece of this house until evidence is found. He was a good-looking well-liked boy that lost his life for some unknown reason. I don’t care what he may have done to someone it wasn’t worth killing him over,” Lockhart said.
“It’s a pretty quite area,” Lockhart said. “I don’t remember having any calls for deputies to come out.”
About 12 of Southern’s friends stood at the edge of the yard where the house once stood, waiting to be interviewed by authorities Wednesday. Family members and residents in the area were also being interviewed throughout the day in hopes to dig up a lead in the homicide.
“We are going to find evidence that will lead us to whoever committed this brutal killing,” Lockhart said.
Investigators worked till after 7 p.m. Wednesday sifting through pieces of the house looking for any evidence that may be found where Southern was laying.
“We will be here until the crime scene is released,” Lockhart said.
Southern’s grandfather, Kenneth Lewis, has been on the scene with the deputies since the body of his grandson was removed from the burned house.
Lewis was reported to be the last to see Southern alive around 7 p.m. Monday. Lockhart believes the fire started between 4 and 6 a.m. Tuesday.
Muldrow Police Department dispatched at 6:05 a.m. the Muldrow, Liberty and Roland Fire Departments to the burning home one mile south of Muldrow Cemetery on Lee’s Chapel Road.
Southern’s body was found inside the home hours after the firefighters arrived. Southern lived in his grandfather’s old home for three months before the fire took his life, according to his step-grandmother Susie Lewis.
Mike Tubbs, State Fire Marshal is investigating the exact cause and origin of the fire.
“He was a good kid and too young to lose his life, this is tragic. We will get to the bottom of it,” Lockhart said.
Lockhart asked anyone who saw anything or knows anything suspicious to call the sheriff’s office at (918) 775-9155.
