Oklahoma Trooper Seeks Information In 40-Year-Old Family Cold Case

Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers often deal with the death of other people's family members. It's an unfortunate part of the job.

But one trooper said she is haunted by the death of one of her own family members. Her great-grandmother was raped and murdered in 1970, and the case has never been solved.

Sue Farley was only 2 years old when her great-grandmother was killed inside her Tulsa home, but she says her family has never forgotten, and 42 years later, they would like some answers.

Dorothy Brown is easy to spot in her family photos, as she was always a head taller than the other women.

By all accounts, she was a woman who cherished family and never did harm to anyone.

"Twenty-five years, she'd been a widow and lived by herself. She worked at Atkins food store; retired from there. She'd always go out in her backyard and work in her garden and come in to watch the five o'clock news," said Farley.

So, why would someone rape and stab to death this 70-year-old woman? That's what her great-granddaughter, now a state trooper, would like to know.

Dorothy lived on East Independence, just north of downtown Tulsa. It was a nice neighborhood then. It's a vacant lot, now.

The theory is she walked to the store, cashed her check, and was followed home and attacked at the back door.

"Everybody who walks this Earth deserves justice," Farley said.

A family member found Dorothy on July 10, 1970. She had been stabbed in the chest. Scissors were found nearby and her only clothing was a blouse and bra. She had been dead a few days.

An overturned table and her glasses on the floor were the only signs of a struggle.

"Somebody who does something that heinous doesn't just do it once," Farley said.

Dorothy's mower was still in the backyard, her coffee cup on the kitchen table—all signs it was just another day for her, until a killer struck.

"The unknown—the fact somebody did this to a 70-year-old woman," Farley said. "You kind of want to see the face of who could do that."

Farley's family hopes someone has heard something over the years or knows something and will now come forward, to give her family some resolution.

"If you know something like that, get it off your chest. You can't hold it forever. It's a heavy burden to carry," Farley said.

She said she believes the killer could be in prison for a similar crime or could even be dead now, but they hope some family member still lives in this area, and even if they heard secondhand information, will pass it on to the cold case detectives.

All tips can remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.