Determined family not giving up

(Editor’s note: This story on the murder of Mary Morgan Pewitt story originally ran in the June 3, 2021 edition. It has been edited for this week’s edition as the family is still seeking answers after 34 years in the unsolved murder in Comanche. A $10,000 award is being offered in the case.)

June 4, 1988 started out as a typical Saturday lazy summer day in Comanche. For one Comanche family, however, it was a day their lives changed forever.

That Saturday morning, Mary Morgan Pewitt’s mother, Elizabeth Morgan, was returning Mary’s two daughters to their 25-year-old mother after the children spent the night at the home of David and Elizabeth Morgan.

There was no answer at the door. Amber, Mary’s youngest daughter, went and peaked into her mother’s bedroom window. On the bed was her lifeless mother covered in blood. Investigators would later find out she had been stabbed 30 times.

Thirty-four years later, the case is still unsolved and has the distinction of being Comanche’s only unsolved murder.

In a 2004 YouTube video, David Morgan, Mary’s father, described his daughter as a fighter, who also fought for others and was a confrontational person. She had been involved in several volatile relationships.

Just 13 days before her murder, she had got a job at Harold’s Club, Comanche’s only bar.

On Friday night, June 3, Mary Morgan Pewitt closed the bar and took the receipts over to the bar owner’s home. She then went home to 611 N. 10th Street where her friend, Randy Benson, was already there waiting for her. He told police afterwards that they watched television and he left at 12:45 a.m. that morning.

What happened after that remains a mystery. Somewhere during the early morning hours, someone entered the home and stabbed Mary 30 times in the neck and upper chest. She had defensive wounds on her arms and hands as she tried to defend herself against the attacker.

She would be found in a t-shirt, underwear and socks, but the autopsy revealed no sexual assault had taken place.

The case is now in the hands of the OSBI’s cold case division.

In past interviews, OSBI agents have said one of the problems is that there are too many suspects. The fact she was stabbed and the number of times she was stabbed has led investigators to believe it was a personal and not a random act.

The OSBI will not comment on any direct motive, but there are several theories as to who may have murdered her. It includes people from past relationships to even possible strangers. Mary was considered by many to be attractive and her appearance got the attention of men she was around, which led to one theory of a stalker or secret admirer killing her.

DNA was recovered at the scene. DNA evidence was in its infancy in the late 1980s and given the advancement in that field since, it raises the question of if it can be identified.

The OSBI has not responded to the inquiries, however, about DNA or finger/palm prints found at the scene.
Daughter Kira Allen-Lowe said when the cold case department at OSBI was formed a few years ago that her mother’s murder was one of two from the region that were focused on. However, the process of testing evidence has been going slow.
“The evidence in this case had not been tested for DNA until about two years ago and we don’t know if all of it was even tested,” Allen-Lowe said.

Anyone with information can call the OSBI tip line anonymously at 800-822-8017 or email tips@osbi.ok.gov There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.