Dilan Newberry
(Tulsa PD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Cushing, Okla.) — A 34-year-old man from Cushing has been jailed on $1,000,000 bail pending his arraignment Friday in Tulsa County District Court on a first-degree murder charge in the death of his girlfriend, who was found with a knife in her neck at their apartment in Tulsa, according to an affidavit.
Dilan Scott Newberry, who was arrested at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24 at a relative’s house in Cushing, had called 911 at 12:32 am to report an assault and to check the well-being of his girlfriend, Chandra Cole, at their apartment in the 1400 block of S. Quincy, an affidavit by Tulsa Police Officer Ryan Woolman alleged.
At the time, Newberry was on probation on domestic violence charges regarding a different girlfriend in rural Stillwater in 2019; Newberry pleaded no contest to a three-count charge and denied that he was guilty, according to a pre-sentencing report in 2021 in Payne County.
According to court documents filed on Feb. 28 in the Tulsa County murder charge, “The boyfriend, Dilan Newberry, claimed that Chandra invited two guys home from a bar and urged them to beat him up, so he left and was now concerned for her safety,” the Tulsa police officer’s affidavit alleged.
“Officers arrived and were looking around the apartment when one crawled up on the side of the building to peer into a window. There, he could see the body of Cole laying on the couch,” with a knife in her neck, the affidavit alleged.
“They forced entry to the front door (which was locked and barricaded) and cleared the house. There was no one inside. Officers learned the front door is always barricaded and unused. The occupants only use the back door to go in and out,” the affidavit alleged.
When police received surveillance from the apartment complex owner, “Video showed Newberry and Cole arriving home with a female who then leaves the scene. Newberry, who appears to be wearing a dark dashiki and Cole go into the apartment.
“At about 2345 hours (11:45 pm), Newberry comes running out of the back of the apartment wearing different clothes and carrying what appears to be the clothes he was wearing. He gets into his Mercedes and takes off from the scene. Running the car got us the tag, and it appears he is headed towards Stillwater or Cushing,” the Tulsa officer’s affidavit alleged.
After Tulsa Police Detective J.R. White obtained the address for a relative of Newberry in Cushing, he was arrested by Cushing police for Tulsa police, the affidavit alleged. “Det. White and Det. Kennedy responded to the Cushing Police Department and read Newberry his Miranda Rights, which he voluntarily waived.
“Newberry had visible injuries to his right hand and was bleeding slightly from his knuckles. Also, he had a small hematoma to his left forehead and two small lacerations to his right hand.
“During the interview, Newberry initially stated that there were two unknown males, with a vague description, that came into his bedroom and were being confrontational.
“He stated that his girlfriend was encouraging the two unknown males, and Newberry stated that he struck one of the males approximately seven times in the face, then grabbed some clothes, went out the back door, then got dressed; then he said he ran to his car and left.
“He then called 911 approximately 30 minutes later because he became concerned about his girlfriend. (He) later stated that it was possible that he could have blacked out if we didn’t have anyone else on video. He states that he just doesn’t remember.
“There was video surveillance on the rear of the apartment building, and the only people seen going into the back of the apartments was Newberry and Cole. The only person seen leaving was Newberry, who was running from the apartment.
“The front door was locked, and multiple items of furniture were placed behind the door, and it was not accessible. All of the windows were secured from the inside,” the Tulsa officer’s affidavit alleged.
According to Payne County court records, three years ago Newberry pleaded no contest to a three-count domestic violence charge without an agreement with the prosecution regarding his sentence.
Following a July 6,2021, hearing before Payne County Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler, Newberry was given a one-year jail term for misdemeanor domestic assault and battery for allegedly pressing an orange into his then-girlfriend’s face, pulling her by the hair, and ripping her clothes off at their rural Stillwater residence. He served about five months before being released from jail on Dec. 1, 2021.
In a pre-sentencing report, Newberry denied he was guilty of any domestic violence, although he pleaded no contest to threatening his then-girlfriend with a handgun and hitting her over the head with the weapon on April 26, 2019, felony counts for which the judge ordered him to register as a violence offender for 10 years.
As conditions of a seven-year deferred sentence on both felony counts, Newberry was ordered by the Payne County judge in 2021 to take a 52-week batterers’ treatment program, have a substance abuse evaluation, undergo random drug tests, provide a DNA test and pay $665 restitution, court records show.
In the pre-sentencing report in 2021, Newberry claimed he was innocent: “There is no way to prove anything, just she and I were there…She pointed the gun at me, there was not a clip or any ammo with the gun. She hit me in the back of the head with something. I didn’t hit her with the gun. She made it look like she frantically left, but I just wanted her gone.”
“Mr. Newberry stated he attended school in Cushing, Oklahoma, until the eighth grade. He stated he left school to be home-schooled, but never went much further. He stated his grandfather had lots of money, so he never saw the value in school. Mr. Newberry reported he had been suspended during his school years,” the report said.
