MACOMB, OKLAHOMA: An Oklahoma man was arrested more than a month following the murder of his wife when he fatally shot her in the head before wrapping her body in a borrowed carpet and tossing her into a ditch near their home.
Frank Alan Cole Byers, 32, was taken into custody and charged with one count each of first-degree murder, unauthorized removal of a dead body, and desecration of a human corpse concerning the death of Makayla Fay Meave, 30.
When was Byers arrested?
According to a Facebook post from the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, El Reno Police Department deputies detained Byers just before 1:15 am Wednesday, October 25, on the charges above, all of which are “concerning the death of Makayla Fay Meave.”
The victim was last seen alive at about 5:30 pm on September 15, 2023, at her home in Macomb, about 40 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, according to a missing person release on September 16.
The kindergarten teacher’s aide was said to be wearing “a Macomb Public School t-shirt, and blue jeans shorts, and was carrying a multicolor quilted pattern backpack.”
The T-shirt was emblazoned with the words, “It’s a great day to be a Hornet,” according to the sheriff’s office. “It is reported she allegedly left voluntarily in a white Chevy extended cab pickup with tinted windows,” the missing person’s release stated. “The driver was a tall male balding with a dark-colored beard.”
When did authorities find Maeve’s body?
On September 20, authorities tragically discovered the body of an adult female wrapped up in a carpet and near a drainage ditch just south of Oklahoma Highway 59B and Hamilton Road, about 2,000 feet from the couple's home.
The county medical examiner positively identified the body as Meave on September 22 and confirmed that she had been shot twice in the head.
What led to the arrest of Byers?
It has been reported that investigators spent weeks collecting evidence before developing probable cause to arrest Byers for allegedly killing his wife, Law and Crime reports.
“We got some results back on some evidence we had been waiting for,” Pottawatomie County Undersheriff Travis Dinwiddie reportedly told KFOR. “We executed the search warrant on the house. Frank Byers was inside, and he was taken into custody for a probable cause affidavit for first-degree murder.”
The evidence recovered while executing the search warrant reportedly included work boots that had a “blood-like substance on them” that tested positive for Maeve’s DNA.
What did Byers say after his wife went missing?
After his wife went missing, Byers told in an interview with Oklahoma City Fox affiliate KOKH that he and Meave had an open marriage because she “wanted to experiment.”
He claimed the development made him “upset” but said he agreed because he “didn’t want to lose her.”
He also claimed that Meave went on a date with another man he did not know the night she went missing. “She told me right before she left that it is none of my business where she goes or who she sees,” Byers reportedly told the station. He ended the interview sobbing and said his wife’s disappearance had been “pure hell” for him.
“I am constantly worried about her, messaging her and texting her. Even today, I called her,” he said. “She’s not here, but it’s just the fact that I have her number, and her phone is on somewhere, and it would be nice to hear her voice.”
Meave's family reportedly told the station that Byers’ claims were false
Meave’s family reportedly told the station that Byers’ claims about being in an open marriage and Meave going on a date with another man were false. Meave’s mother told KFOR that she suspected Byers had something to do with her daughter’s disappearance almost immediately.
“There was no concern, no sorrow, no tears. It was all just a show, and we could see it,” she added. “I can forgive him through Christ, but I am still flesh, and I want the death penalty for him and anyone else that helped him.”
