Preliminary Hearing Set For Pottawatomie County Man Charged In Wife’s Murder

The murder case against a Pottawatomie County man moves forward.

Frank Byers is accused of killing his wife, Makayla Meave after her body was found in a culvert.

On Friday, Byers returned to court for a status hearing where a judge set a preliminary hearing. The preliminary hearing will allow the court to review the evidence against Byers and determine whether the case should proceed to trial. Even though her parents, Scott and Barbara Harper are ready to see justice in this case, they believe there are more suspects out there involved in their daughter’s death. “I want God's will done whatever that may be,” said Barbara Harper, Makayla Meave’s mother, outside the Pottawatomie County Courthouse.

The couple attended the hearing, where their daughter’s alleged killer faced a judge. “As I was looking at him, I just thought ‘here's a guy that we welcomed into our family, that walked my daughter down the aisle,’” said Scott Harper, Makayla Meave’s father. “The trust we had in him, the trust now broken." Byers is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife. Byers reported Makayla missing last September. Investigators say she was found shot to death a week later, her body found wrapped in carpet and dumped off an embankment into a seven-foot-deep ditch near the couple’s home in Macomb. 

“It's sickening to know they disposed of our daughter,” Scott Harper said. 

He says “they” because the family believes Byers didn’t act alone. “We know in our hearts that there were others involved in this, it was not a solo act,” said Scott Harper. “She's her mother's daughter, I’ve said it from the beginning, she was a big girl, dead weight is even heavier,” Barbara Harper added. “To pick all that up at one time, there’s more than one person.”

While the case is not closed, the Pottawatomie County sheriff’s office says there are no other persons of interest, unless new evidence shows otherwise. The sheriff's office says it's still waiting for search warrant returns, to see if any new evidence is uncovered. However, with a new court date set, the family is hopeful the case will be just. “We're grateful that it's moving as quickly as it is because it just prolongs it,” Barbara Harper said.

“I think that's what helps us get through this process is the fact that God is the one is in control and he will see to it at the end that justice will be served,” Scott Harper added.

Byers’ preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 14 at 1:30 p.m. at the Pottawatomie County Courthouse. The prosecution plans to seek the death penalty.