Court Documents Detail Possible Evidence Found In Connection With Carina Saunders Case

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation filed search warrant returns Tuesday in the investigation into Carina Saunders' homicide in Oklahoma County District Court. 

The warrants indicated a folding knife, shirt, windbreaker jacket and two slip-on sandals were recovered during the three-day excavation in northwest Oklahoma City.

"We know a knife or sharp-bladed instrument was used in her killing and dismemberment," OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown explained. "Since we found a knife there at the scene, we are going to take it back to our laboratory to see if it has any relation to the marks on her body."

The clothing recovered by agents will also be tested at the OSBI forensic laboratory.

"What we want to do is see if there's any skin cells or blood or anything on those clothes that we can test and test against her [Saunders'] DNA," said Brown. 

Special Agent Jim Ely indicated in the search warrants that several informants provided information leading them to the homes at 504 and 504 1/2 Oakdale Drive.

Kenny Richards, a person of interest in the case, owned the homes during the time period of Saunders' disappearance and homicide.

Richards has never been arrested and maintains his innocence.

The court records show multiple informants suggested Richards was involved by driving Saunders to the location where she was killed.

Informants also claim Richards buried Saunders clothes in a metal tank near a water well in the backyard of his home, according to search warrants.

Agents searched a metal tank during the excavation and turned over dirt in several areas of the backyard.

The OSBI said items were found underground. The question now is will fingerprints and other DNA still be intact more than five years after the murder?

"It takes quite a bit of time for items to degrade," Brown said. Investigators are hopeful this lead will pan out.

The forensic testing could take several weeks, maybe months, to be completed.