Man arrested for 29-year-old Oklahoma murder

MCCURTAIN COUNTY, Okla. — The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) says recent developments in technology helped them finally make an arrest in the 1993 McCurtain County murder.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers assisted OSBI Special Agents in the arrest of John Wesley Smith Sept. 30.

OSBI says the investigation into the death of John Randall O’Steen began in May 1993 when an anonymous caller reached out to the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office telling them where remains could be found.

After several days of searching, skeletal remains were found in a wooded area southeast of the Pankibok Community. The Medical Examiner’s Officer ruled the death as homicide.

Smith was identified as a suspect back then but nothing ever came from it because officials couldn’t confirm the skeletal remains found belonged to O’Steen.

In 2012, a rib from the unidentified remains was sent to the University of North Texas Department (UNT) of Forensic and Investigative Genetics for possible DNA identification. At that time, DNA was collected from O’Steen’s parents for comparison. UNT compared the DNA to the that of the rib bone and it was a match to O’Steen.

An arrest warrant was issued for Smith on September 30, 2022 and he was taken into custody that same day.

Smith is in the McCurtain County jail facing one count of Murder in the First Degree. He is being held without bond.

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