Midwest City, OK – August 17,2015 – Midwest City police are seeking the public’s help in locating a couple who are wanted on first-degree murder warrants following the slaying of a Sapulpa police lieutenant and another man who was the father of one of the suspects.
Sapulpa police Lt. Trey Pritchard and his cousin, Jeffrey Grafton, both 46, were found dead Saturday night at the Traveler’s Inn Motel, 6821 S.E. 29th St., in Midwest City.
Grafton’s son, Jonathan Grafton, 22, and Jonathan Grafton’s girlfriend, Daphne Mason, 21, are wanted on first-degree murder warrants in the homicides, Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes said.
Clabes said that police were called to the motel about 10 p.m. Saturday and found both victims dead. He declined to say how they were killed.
Jonathan Grafton and Mason had leased the room on Saturday morning, the chief said. He said Pritchard and Jeffrey Grafton had traveled from Sapulpa to repossess a 2000 pickup that had been taken by Jonathan Grafton without permission from his father.
“The pickup had a GPS tracking system on it,” Clabes said. “That’s how they were able to locate it here in Midwest City.”
Clabes said he did not know why Pritchard and Jeffrey Grafton did not contact Midwest City authorities about the vehicle, rather than trying to repossess it themselves.
Pritchard was off duty at the time. 
He said police received information that after Pritchard and Jeffrey Grafton arrived at the motel, the elder Grafton went into the room to confront his son. “He didn’t return,” Clabes said.
“After a while, Pritchard went in and he didn’t return.” Witnesses told police that they saw the pickup leave the motel. Clabes declined to say when Pritchard and Jeffrey Grafton arrived and when they were killed on Saturday.
The vehicle was later recovered in Yukon, a suburb west of Oklahoma City, the chief said. Neither suspect has been located, he said. Both Jonathan Grafton and Mason are believed to be from the Sapulpa area, Clabes said. “They are considered armed and dangerous,” he said.
“We don’t know where they are at, that’s why we are asking for public assistance.”
“I understand that Lieutenant Pritchard was a very fine officer. Our condolences go out to his family and to the Sapulpa Police Department,” Clabes said.
In June, Jonathan Grafton pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled dangerous substance and drug paraphernalia in Creek County, court records show. He was given a five-year deferred sentence.
Clabes said Midwest City police are working with law enforcement agencies in both the Tulsa and Oklahoma City areas, as well as the U.S. Marshal Service on the case.
He said anyone who might know of Grafton and Mason’s whereabouts to call local law enforcement or the Midwest City Police Department at 405-739-1306. Story By: Tulsa World
As sad as this story is, it is NOT really a repossession.
They say the son did not have permission to take the vehicle in the first place. So this make it GRAND THEFT AUTO. He was trying to a recover stolen vehicle without pressing criminal charges against his son who obviously had a serious drug problem. This was a father trying to protect his son. He even brought along an officer who was also a relative. Unfortunately the fact that they both failed to follow proper police procedure by notifying the police department for backup and their negligence resulted in their deaths.
But making it seem like they were repomen sounds much better for headlines ….. instead of bumbling police officer fails to follow police procedure while trying to protect a relative which leads to his death.
Still a very sad story …… just wish reporters could actually report this correctly…… but what fun would that be ???? …. We do not need truth from reporters after all.
Ken, This was NEVER an attempt to portray these men as “Repo Men” and your inference that I was in some way being dishonest in the reporting of this story is perplexing. These men were never referred to as “Repo Men” in this story.
The actions that they were attempting were by definition, a repossession attempt. By definition a verb “to possess again; regain possession of, especially for nonpayment of money due.” or “to put again in possession of something.”
As far as a “Grand Theft Auto” charge goes, I am sure we have all encountered the reluctance of law enforcement to make these charges in situations where there was earlier permission granted for the use of a vehicle and often a similar reluctance by the legal owners to pursue criminal charges as well.
The reason this article is important to me, is to illustrate the dangers of unlicensed and untrained repossession activity of ANY kind. In this case, even with the familiarity of family and the assistance of a law enforcement agent, this turned deadly. This is EXACTLY why repossession activities of any kind should only be conducted by professional and trained Repo Men.
If you want to slam me for publishing news that I believe serves a purpose and that will attract peoples attention and hopefully teach lessons, so be it.
CU …… I should have been more clear in my comment. I in no way was criticizing you or your website , which I think is fantastic. I know that you get your stories from the mainstream news media feeds. I was referring to the mainstream news reporters…… NOT YOU.
For that confusing I deeply apologize.
However I still stand by my original statement that this is a case of a father protecting his son from criminal charges and police who failed to follow procedure…… not an actual repossession. Yes we can and have done private repos for family members and it is very dangerous.
Again this was never meant to be critical of you, your reporting or your website. It was directed towards the mainstream news media that originally aired the story.
No sweat Ken! I responded before my second cup of coffe and guess I was a little too defensive! 🙁
Thanks for speaking up regardless. Your opinion matters! A LOT!