Hey All....Happy New Year!!! Let me compliment this website and the people who answer my questions that I post...BIG THANK YOU!!!

This one I may have to take a look at it for myself....buy I forget or get side tracked every time.

To begin: My In-Laws live in the Belle Isle area kind of behind the Belle Isle School in that area. It seems the past 10 years on NW Expressway and N Villa I have noticed ...on the NE side of the intersection....East of the library at the intersection...a decorated tree and a few feet East of the tree a little heart shaped stone grave marker that's engraved.

Over the years the tree has Iris planted around it and the tree is usually decorated in seasonal decoration. The marker stands alone.

I need to park in the Belle Isle Library parking lot and go look at the marker. I'm surprised the City of OKC mowers haven't removed it and the tree....I don't know if it was planted by someone as a loving reminder but I know the iris around it have been planted by someone other than the OKC Parks Dept. The year 2018 the tree doesn't look as decorated as it has in the past 10 years that I have noticed it. Today as I drove past the tree it wasn't decorated.

I have asked my In-Laws if they knew anything that happened there but it was at least(guessing) 10 years ago and their neighbors can't remember.

Any ideas??

Here is the site: The little tree is East of the silver electrical box and the marker is East of the tree up against the fence...kind of blocked a little by shadows and trees.https://goo.gl/maps/bHA52iYE1By


One of these days I gotta go look at this site.

Thanks for your help!!!

Back in the mid 90’s, there was a nasty road rage and shooting resulting in a car wreck at that intersection where two people were killed. One of the victims was an innocent motorist, on her way home. This could be a memorial for that incident.

It could also be a memorial for a young victim of the Murrah bombing. We have a tree in the median of Venice Blvd, around 30th (I believe it's there and not in the Winter Drive median) that has a little memorial for a couple of children that died in the bombing that were created and given out at the time (they lived in the house across the street from the tree it's under at the time, but not any more).

Here"s what I think is going on (but take with it a grain of salt, because I am only a graduate of OKC pubic schools and that was eons ago): NW Expressway is a state highway, and the ODOT right of way extends to the fences on the side of the road. ODOT appears to take a pretty passive approach to roadside memorials on their right of way, based on other roadside memorials I observe around the metro area. So, I think the idea it is a memorial for an innocent victim of a gansta shootout is accurate.

Thanks!!!

My Father In-Law thought there was a shooting there but he wasn't for sure. He's passed and my Mother In-Law has no idea.

Thank you for all the answers!!!

Thanks!!!

My Father In-Law thought there was a shooting there but he wasn't for sure. He's passed and my Mother In-Law has no idea.

Thank you for all the answers!!!
Maybe this is your answer.



An Oklahoma County jury deliberated 30 minutes Friday before returning guilty verdicts in a 1994 shooting on Northwest Expressway that left two people dead and one person seriously wounded.

Jurors found Cleotis Raines Jr., 31, guilty of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of of Marcus Bowen, 21, and guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Sheila Mayberry, 37.

Mayberry, a marketing executive at Boatmen's Bank, was killed after Bowen's car collided with her vehicle at the intersection of Northwest Expressway and Villa Avenue.

Raines was chasing Bowen on the Northwest Expressway at an estimated speed of 80 mph when he fired the fatal shot. The pursuit began after a dispute erupted between the men while they were stopped for a traffic light on Northwest Expressway.

Bowen was struck once in the head by the gunshot. He lost control of his car, which jumped over the expressway's median before crashing into the driver's side of Mayberry's vehicle. She was killed instantly.