Reopen Investigation For Justice

My name is ****Hughey. I was married to Richard Hughey on May 29th *. October 1st *, Richard and I separated and he moved to Ottawa County, Miami, Oklahoma. Prior to his leaving, we resided as a family with my three children in Cherokee County Kansas, Baxter Springs from February * to October 1st *. He stayed at the residence of Jesse Beard's house located at. 531NW D st. in Miami Oklahoma. It was a drug house to say the least. It had no running water or electricity. I do believe the residence burnt down last December of *. The house contained a few occupants. Jesse Beard, who was the homeowner. Another male named Jamie Westpfahl. He resided inside the house, another male named Chris Barton, and he stayed in the cellar which was out back and my husband, Richard Hughey who stayed out back in the garage. So in order to get to the garage and the celler, you had to go into the house and go out the back door.

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When you went out the back door, off to the left was the side door to the garage and then if you went straight past the garage through the backyard, there was a small chain link fence, so if you lift up the closure to the gate, you could open it and then the seller was off to the right, not much but a couple feet from the chain link fence. The Doors to the celler lay flat as it's like a tornado shelter or storm shelter and you pull the doors open and there's a very steep set of concrete stairs leading down into the cellar and that's where Chris Barton stayed while he was an occupant at Jesse Beard's house.

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November 19th *, I took my children to Pittsburg Kansas to go be with my mom and stepdad because November 21st was my mother's birthday. So the 19th was a Friday, the 20th was a Saturday, and the 21st was a Sunday. My kids spent the entire week weekend in Pittsburg. I had went to Joplin Saturday night to see my friend and I left her house real late, way after midnight. I was going to go home but on my way home I called my husband, and his phone had started to ringing and it kept ringing. So I was excited that he had unblocked my number because that always meant thst he was ready to talk and come home. So, now technically we're in the very early morning hours of November 21st *. Let me back up a little bit. Earlier on the day of the 20th, I called Ottawa County Sheriff's Department to let them know that my husband was staying at Jesse Beard's house I had a horrible feeling about something and it just didn't feel right. I told him my husband was staying there and that he had a fugitive warrant out of Cherokee County Kansas or not appearing in court.

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Unbeknownst to me, they went to the residence of Jesse Beards looking for Richard, officers knocked on the door and when answered, Jesse ran after seeing it was law enforcement and he had a bunch of outstanding warrants and at the time. When the law enforcement showed up Richard wasn't there when this had happened. So Richard's gone, and Jesse goes to jail. Now after making that call I went about my day and night and I had no idea that law enforcement had actually went out there. Again, I told them that Richard had the fugitive warrant but that I just felt something was wrong or had a bad feeling and I thought he'd just be safe in jail and then he'd be extradited back to Cherokee County and he'd be safe that was my intention for calling law enforcement

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Ok back to the early morning hours of November 21st *, his phone rang and then I kept calling it in hopes that he'd answer. Instead of going home I went to Miami and was hoping that he'd answer the phone. I just wanted to know if you maybe wanted to talk and maybe wanted to come home I probably called at least * times back to back. I even drove up and down North West D Street and parked out front of Jesse's house but never went to the door because Jesse didn't like me and I figured he just not answer or lie to me about Richard being there. I didn't know all the people staying there and I never even met Jesse in person but I didn't like him and he didn't like me. I didn't know anybody or other people that were staying there until after Richard had died. I probably spent three to four hours driving around Miami and calling his phone but he never answered. So I just figured he was just asleep.

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Richard was a heavy sleeper at times. I eventually came home, and it was almost Daylight by the time I pulled into my driveway and I came inside and I went to bed. Now November 21st *. My mom's birthday and the actual day my husband died. Later that evening, I drove back to Pittsburg Kansas to pick up my kids because they had school the next day. It was also the week of Thanksgiving that year. so now it's early November 22nd *, Monday morning. I wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and I grabbed my phone, check my Facebook messages and I saw this one message from a girl I knew. She asked me if I was okay and I didn't know what she meant. She said and I quote, "I'm not for sure, but I had heard that Richard died yesterday" . I instantly got scared and I am worried so I called the local hospitals, ambulance service, Miami pd, Ottawa County like three times and then someone there said that I needed to talk to his mother. I stated that his mother had died when he was 3 years old. Then someone said the female family member closest to him. So yeah now at this point all i feel is terror. I got a hold of his cousin and his mom gave me Deena's phone number and I called her it was around *:* a.m., and I asked her, "where is Richard ?", she said, "he's gone baby girl". My oldest daughter had woke up at one point and asked me what was wrong and I told her to leave me alone cuz I was still trying to figure it out and I was in shock. Deena told me to come down to the Quapaw Tribal Complex for breakfast.

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I told the girls that they didn't have to go to school, that I would be back in time to take them though. I got dressed and grab my notebook that had my important documents in it like my marriage license birth certificates etc. When I pulled up and parked in the tribal complex parking lot, I just sat there for a minute and remember as I pulled in - I could hear the elders whaling and song - but I sat there and I just started bawling because I couldn't believe it. My husband was dead. After bawling my eyes out, I pulled myself together, I grabbed my notebook and I looked up, and three women were waiting outside of my car one was Deena Hughey and the other ladies that I didn't know. They were his aunt's. Not by blood, but tribal ants. Deena wasn't actually Richard's mom either. She was actually his aunt by blood. His his mother Rachel's, older sister. She had adopted Richard when he was about 3 years old shortly after his mother, Rachel had died in *. Rachel was only * when she had Richard. He was only three when she died. Richard never knew her and he never knew who his was real father was either. Denna raised him and he called her Mom.

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They left. Sheila was there to make sure that no one was at Jesse's house while he was in jail. I explained to her who I was. The cops soon left and after they left, a guy jumped out of the backseat of Sheila's car. It was Chris Barton. He had a warrant and didn't want to see the cops obviously. I walked back to the garage by Jamie, I didn't know him but he took me back there and the garage was already full of bunch of crap anyways, but Richard had his nicely and color coordinated like always. It smelled like gasoline in there very very badly. His clothes wreaked of gas. He had a bed and a box spring in the corner of the garage and made himself a walking path to get through all the stuff. I saw the generator and it was towards the very front of the garage door. We had went in through the side door. Upon looking at the surroundings, everything was in disarray and extremely disheveled. My husband was a very clean and organized person. I found his wallet on the floor and it was ripped into pieces, his ID was gone and all that was there was his tribal enrollment card. Upon looking for more of his stuff, I found our marriage license, his birth certificate and other important papers all over the ground - all his stuff had been ransacked. I really didn't have much time because I had to get to the funeral home later on. But I grabbed his clothes, and the important papers and his wallet. Jamie told me that he would gather up the rest of his stuff for me and I told him that I'd be back later to get it. I went home and ran into my friend Chris and told him what happened. I brought in Richard's clothes and started washing them. I went back to Miami and met up with Deena and her kids at the Funeral home. We had made arrangements. I picked out his casket and signed the funeral paperwork. I went back home to change the laundry over and pick up my kids from school. We packed up for the whole weekend because it was a *-day ceremony. The funeral home needed some clothes for him so that's why I was in a hurry to get his clothes washed. After dropping my kids off at the tribal complex I went back to the funeral home and dropped off some clothes and thats when they gave me the stuff that he had on his person. Im trying to remember the sequence of events as they happen but it was almost 3 years ago so I'm trying my best. I talked to one of Richard's aunts and told her that I wanted to go see him and I met her down there at the funeral home. I talked to the funeral director, and asked if I could see Richard for moment by myself, he said of course. He got Richard ready and let me into a room with him. I remember just staring at him. It was the first time I had seen him since he left on October 1st. It startled me. I was so angry and hurt, I didn't get much time with him because his aunt had came back there and ruined it. I came back home to do some more of Richard's laundry and my girls were at the tribal complex. I needed to come home just to have some time to myself, on the way home, the funeral home called me and asked me if it was okay to move his body to the tribal complex and I said yes.

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Someone from the tribe followed behind him. When I made my way back to the tribal complex, I saw my kids and Richard was laying there in state. There was a reclining chair sitting next to him a few feet away. Someone always has to be sitting in that chair, to keep the bed Spirits away while he's on his journey saying goodbye to everyone he's ever met in his life. He had a veil type thing over his face. Women were still in the kitchen cooking and we ate dinner. I was just so tired. I wasn't really supposed to leave but I couldn't just stay there looking at my husband's dead body. The next day he laid and state all day. November 21st he died, November 22nd he went to Tulsa to the medical examiner had a full autopsy and then was brought back to Miami to the funeral home then move to the tribal Complex , where he laid in state all day. That night of the 22nd, I did go back to Jesse Beard's house. Chris Barton was there as well as Jamie westfall. Chris was just really emotional and jamie, he tried to tell me his part but I was so overwhelmed with everything that I couldn't process it. Chris asked me if I could help him with the phone he had trying been trying to set up I guess. I remember the brand, it was a TCL. He said that it was one of Jesse's old phones that he had given him. Come to find out much later on and upon going through my husband's stuff, I found a receipt from Walmart in Miami Oklahoma. It was for a Straight Talk TCL phone and also a card with airtime for 3 months. The total was around $* but I hadn't seen the receipt yet to put two and two together. I had tried to help him with the phone but I didn't have much time. I do recall that Jamie had said a guy named Tyler found Richard at first but I'm unsure of his last name.This Tyler guy maybe found him and freaked out I can't remember exactly. Jamie said that around *:* a.m., he went to check on Richard then again a little later and when he actually went in there, he noticed that Richard was in the same position and he went to touch him and he was cold to the touch. After that, I headed back to the tribal complex. November 22nd - 23rd, overnight. I stayed there and slept in the chair that was right next to Richard's casket.The chair that someone always has to be sitting in to ward off the bad spirits while he's on his journey. My daughters woke me up, we had breakfast, changed our clothes and cleaned it. Richard Chisso showed up. He had always claimed Richard as his son, but it was never confirmed. Deena let me and my kids sit in the very front row that was reserved for family. Right in the front row, right in front of his casket and further down with Deena and her kids. Chris Barton the night before when I went down there to get more of my husband's stuff, I mentioned that I needed pallbearers and he said he wanted to be one. I said okay that I would come pick him up before the funeral in the morning but on the way to get him, I called Jamie Westfall and Jamie said that he wasn't there, which sucked because both my pallbear's flaked and both of them and their names were put in the funeral announcements. Chris Barton and Tony huffman. Tony and Richard were good friends. I'm not sure what the excuse was that he gave me but I know that I was embarrassed to have to go in there and face Dina and tell her that they weren't coming. She was less than happy with me. So she found some fill-ins. We had the service then me and my kids and Richard Chisso rode in the limo to the graveside service. Me and my kids in the front and so on. This was the day before Thanksgiving in *. It was hard to find gratitude for anything. The gravediggers were there. The Vault company was there, they're responsible for lowering him into the ground and actually also digging the grave but the tribe does it themselves. I seem to be holding it together until they started lowering him into the ground. Then I lost it!! My friend Brandy Beach and Sheila Beard, Jesse's aunt, came to me immediately as I was bawling my eyes out. So after he was lowered, covered with the dirt, we left back to the tribal complex. We got smoked or saged or whatever they call it. It was time to eat again. This time - the gravediggers were there again. Richard at the head of the table, his journey was over. I was devastated. After we ate, we all said our goodbyes, I gathered at flowers, I gave Deena the shoes he had on when he died. When Richard died, he was fully dressed. Undershirt, jeans, shoes. Knife holder around his waist, no knife. I remember when I got his stuff from the funeral home, what all was in his property. That was the stuff that was on his person when he died. His knife had been stolen and all his Rings had been stolen off of his fingers as well even his necklace also. I didn't realize any of this until later on. As time went on, I did go check on Jamie to see if there was more of Richard stuff found. On the last visit, which was not planned to be the last visit it just happened that way. I'd say it was maybe a couple months down the road after Richard died, I saw Jamie and he said that Chris and him were talking, and these were Jamie's words verbatim," Chris and I were talking the other day and he said - I'd still like to know who did that to Richard and he said, oh yeah!! I did it!! " that's exactly what Jamie told me that Chris had said. I didn't really know what to say. I assume Jamie maybe wanted me to go to the police but I didn't because what if he was lying? That's one heck of an accusation to make. Chris of course wasn't there when we discussed this. I let a few months go by. Sometime in *, I contacted the investigator over my husband's death, I can't remember his name and I can no longer find the emails I sent to him where we corresponded back and forth, but basically he said it's almost been a year, which is way far out and that he would have to try and find them both. Chris and Jamie, and bring them in for questioning. However, if Jamie ended up denying what he had told me, that nothing would matter. So I never heard from the investigator again after that. Last year A friend of mine who is actually friends with Chris Barton on facebook, seen a comment left under one of Chris's Facebook posts by a guy named Shawn Barr. Shawn Barr comment to Chris Barton, basically saying that Jamie is threatening to go to the cops about the guy that died.. Chris replies back to Shawn Barr in another comment - telling him to contact him through Facebook messenger. And here I sit trying to gather everything to reopen my husband's case once again. Now Chris Barton is in Ottawa County Jail in Miami Oklahoma. Jamie Westfall is in Oklahoma Department of corrections. How do I go about contacting Jamie to see if he'll help me and ask him if he'll get a notarized statement of the happened that night leading up to Richard's death and what all would that statement need to entail and how would he get it notarized and back to me ?