TULSA, Okla. — The brother of a homicide victim wants answers after his brother’s body was found nearly five months after the crime allegedly took place.
Two men have been arrested for murder after Steve Wilkins was found near a burnt out shed on Feb. 9.
According to court documents, one of those men, Devin Scrivner, said he, Tad Kleiner, and a third man, whose identity authorities are not yet releasing, confronted Wilkins about “messing with young females in the neighborhood.”
[ Second suspect arrested involved in the Wilkins Homicide ]
Scrivner said he and the third suspect hit Wilkins, who then fell to the ground.
After this, Scrivner said Kleiner stomped on Wilkins’ head, he stabbed Wilkins and the third suspect shot Wilkins.
He said the third suspect started the fire.
Court documents said the Tulsa Fire Department (TFD) responded to that fire on Sept. 14, 2022.
Wilkins body was found on Feb. 9, 2023.
Steve Wilkins’ brother, Eric, said he doesn’t understand why his brother wasn’t found at the scene of the fire.
“There’s a big question mark in our heads about how could the Fire Department come out here and put out a fire in a small area like that and not find my brother and it took more than four months for his murders to be identified as murderers,” he said.
Eric also said Steve would fall in and out of communication with Steve, so he wasn’t worried when he hadn’t heard from him in a while.
“We were waiting for him to show back up, make contact again and unfortunately this is how it happened,” he said.
“You never think of a family member or anyone that you know, being murdered. Especially in the brutal way that he was. It’s bad enough to know it happens to strangers, when it happens to your family it’s even worse, it’s not just seeing a story on the news and being done with it,” he also said.
[ Police identify remains found in west Tulsa, one man arrested ]
Now, Eric wants more accountability from TFD.
“The Fire Department is one of the pillars of our community they run into burning buildings and save people but that’s not their only responsibility. It’s things like this,” he said.
“I want to know what they’re doing to make sure that this doesn’t happen to someone else’s family. That’s what we want, accountability,” he also said.
A statement from TFD said they responded to a shed fire on Sept 14, 2022. Neighbors told TFD the person living in the shed was seen leaving on a bike earlier, and if the bike wasn’t there, he wasn’t there. Despite “extensive search efforts,” TFD could not find him.
On Feb. 9, 2023, a woman looking for her cat near the shed found human remains among the debris and contacted the police.
TFD said the body was found not inside the shed, but about 12 feet away under metal debris.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.