‘MINDBLOWING’

Triple Murderer Killed Pair on His Birthday—Then Strangled His Girlfriend, Cops Say

Robert Lewis of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, allegedly buried the bodies in shallow graves on his property.

An Oklahoma man celebrated his birthday earlier this month by murdering two people, then followed up the double homicide by killing his live-in girlfriend a few days later, according to law enforcement officials.

Robert Lewis is facing three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Quinley Lamb, 43, and Brian Shackelford, 42, both of Sharp County, Arkansas, and Deanna Tippey, 36, of Cherokee County, Oklahoma.

Lamb and Shackelford were killed on Jan. 16, Lewis’ 61st birthday, Cherokee County Sheriff Jason Chennault said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. Lamb died of a fractured skull; Shackelford’s throat was slit, the sheriff announced. Tippey, who was dating Lewis, was strangled to death sometime after Jan. 19, according to Chennault.

Everyone involved “had involvement in narcotics,” but Chennault said investigators did not know if drugs played a motivating factor in the killings. Tippey had a minor criminal history, with misdemeanor charges for public intoxication, possession of drug paraphernalia, and trespassing, according to public records.

Police have had “some incidents” with Lewis but “we’ve never arrested him,” said Chennault. “We’ve been to his property before.”

Cops responded to the grim scene on Friday, after Chennault was contacted by Sheriff Mark Counts of Sharp County, which lies about 250 miles to the east. Counts told Chennault that Lamb’s brother had called to say he had traveled to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where he found Lamb’s remains buried in a shallow grave on a piece of property.

Investigators identified Lewis as the owner of the property, and took him into custody at the nearby Cherokee Nation casino that evening.

Under questioning, Lewis told cops he had in fact killed three people in all, according to Chennault. After obtaining a search warrant, investigators on Saturday morning found Shackelford and Tippey buried elsewhere on Lewis’ property.

Chennault said Lewis “admitted to killing all three of them [but] wouldn’t tell us why.” Police have not explained how Lamb’s brother knew where to look for his sister’s body.

Reached by phone on Monday, Lamb’s father, Jimmie, told The Daily Beast that authorities had released his daughter’s name before properly notifying the family, a complaint echoed by Lamb’s son, Cameron.

“We haven’t been contacted by anyone in Oklahoma, so I’m not 100 percent sure how this is out,” Cameron Lamb told The Daily Beast. “We haven't been notified on anything. I don’t have any clue on what happened, or how it happened.”

A neighbor of Lewis’ said Lewis and Tippey met at a bar “a year or two ago,” after which she quickly moved in.

“He had a bad meth problem and just about everybody he hung out with had a meth problem,” the neighbor, who asked not to be named, told The Daily Beast.

Lewis’ house was dilapidated and rundown, according to Chennault who described it as more of a “structure” than a house.

“There’s been drug issues there in the past,” said the neighbor, who alleged that Tippey “blew Robert’s house up like three times and he never did anything to her. I don’t know if they were cooking meth or what, but she literally blew his house up three times.”

In March, Lewis posted a message to Facebook about a fire at his home that appears to line up with at least one of the incidents.

“Someone I’ve tryed [sic] to be kind to has set fire to my world ones [sic] more,” it read. “Not in a good way. Made my naber [sic] insanely angry. Who I believe told the responding Deputy to shot [sic] and kill my dog.”

But Lewis, although apparently troubled, has “never been mean, he’s never been hateful,” insisted the neighbor, who said Lewis previously served in the Marine Corps and was not presently employed.

“This was even a shock to us that any of this happened, he was a very nice guy,” she said. “He accidentally cracked my windshield driving down the road one day and he came back and fixed it.”

The neighbor said she last spoke to Tippey on Jan. 16, the day Lamb and Shackelford were killed. They were at the casino, and everything seemed normal, she said. “And then all of a sudden, everybody’s dead. I was like, ‘What. The. Fuck. Happened?’” the neighbor said.

At Monday’s press conference, Cherokee County District Attorney Jack Thorp said his office extends “our deepest condolences to the families and our victim[s]... I’m sure it’s [a] horror to learn about the deaths of their loved ones. This case is a tragic case. And this investigation remains active.”

If convicted, Lewis could face life in prison without the possibility of parole or even the death penalty, according to Thorp, who said he and his team will be meeting with the victims’ family members to discuss all available options.

Lewis appeared before a judge on Monday who ordered him held without bond. He is scheduled to return to court on March 1. Authorities emphasized that the suspect Robert Lewis is not the notable Cherokee storyteller Robert Lewis.

A spokeswoman for the Cherokee Nation casino referred The Daily Beast to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, which did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for District Attorney Jack Thorp declined to comment beyond what was announced at Monday’s press conference. It is uncertain if Lewis has yet retained a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

In the meantime, members of the small rural community are left scratching their heads and hoping more information will come to light about what happened.

“It's just mindblowing, you know?” Lewis’ neighbor told The Daily Beast.

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Justin RohrlichReporter

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