Michael Warren Ritter
(PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Payne County judge denied to temporarily release murder defendant Michael Warren Ritter from custody for 11 hours to attend the funeral in Stillwater and burial of his father in Glencoe last week, according to court records.
Ritter, 52, of Stillwater, was arrested on May 28, 2024, as a co-defendant with his 22-year-old employee, Christopher Michael Somers, a mechanic, who had been arrested on Sept. 13, 2023, for allegedly killing Samuel Cade Crawford, 21, by repeatedly shooting him in the back of his head.
The pair were ordered jailed without bail on a three-count charge accusing them of murdering the young customer, burying his body, and operating a chop shop in rural Glencoe on Aug. 29, 2023. Their preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 21 and Aug. 22.
In addition to denying a defense motion on July 9 to release Ritter from the Payne County Jail from 6 am to 5 pm on July 12 to prepare for and attend his father’s funeral services, Special District Judge Katherine Thomas scheduled an Aug. 6 hearing on a defense motion to set bail for Ritter.
According to privately retained defense attorney Aaron W. Easton of Oklahoma City in a motion to set bond filed on July 9, “Mr. Ritter is currently being held in a maximum-security pod at the Payne County Jail.
“The charges against Mr. Ritter are serious. Count 1 (first-degree murder) carries a possible sentence of life imprisonment, life imprisonment without parole or death. However, the apparent likelihood of conviction is not good. The state alleges that the victim in this case was murdered on or about Aug. 29, 2023, and an investigation into that death originated within days.
“Between Sept. 8, 2023, and the date of his arrest, Mr. Ritter willfully and voluntarily met with agents from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) no less than five times to provide them with valuable investigatory information.
“In fact, cooperation from Mr. Ritter was critical in the state’s Sept. 13, 2023, arrest of Christopher Somers for murder. In the state’s probable cause affidavits from this matter, it claims to have witness and forensic evidence directly linking Somers to the victim’s murder but makes no such claim against Mr. Ritter.
“Further, based on information available to the defendant, it appears that the state based their May 28, 2024, arrest of Mr. Ritter on information wholly within their knowledge as of Oct. 9, 2023. The state strains to make an intelligible argument as to probable cause that Mr. Ritter is guilty of first-degree murder — and instead seems to reason Mr. Ritter is guilty by association.
“Prior to the arrest herein, Mr. Ritter has never before been arrested and steadfastly maintains his innocence to the present charge. Mr. Ritter has a great reputation and is well-liked in his community. Mr. Ritter has numerous business and personal contacts within the area and is prepared to present witnesses who would testify to the same.
“Mr. Ritter has long-lasting ties to this community as he has been a resident of Stillwater, Oklahoma, for approximately 45 years. Mr. Ritter runs a successful business in the Stillwater area and has raised his family here. Mr. Ritter is a longtime entrepreneur and sole proprietor. He owns nine rental properties in the surrounding area and approximately 60 head of cattle from which he operates a ‘cow-calf’ business.
“Mr. Ritter vehemently maintains his innocence to the crimes alleged and is anxious to prove his innocence to this court. He would respectfully submit that if the court were to order a bond that he would abide by any condition placed upon him as the court deems appropriate.”
OSBI agent Lynda Stevens alleged in an affidavit that investigators interviewed Ritter on Sept. 8, 2023, Sept. 13, 2023, Oct. 9, 2023, and Jan. 29, 2024, during which “Ritter provided bits of information pertaining to the murder of Crawford and the ‘Chop Shop’ Ritter and Somers ran at the VFW property,” located at 5304 East VFW Road.
“Ritter claimed Somers told him the day Crawford came to the VFW property, Crawford needed Somers to fix his truck. Somers took Crawford to a property of Ritter located on North Highway 108 in Glencoe,” that Ritter called the Vensil property. Ritter claimed there was a black Dodge truck there that no longer ran. The truck sat on blocks on the east side (back of 80 acres) of the property.
“Somers took Crawford there under the guise they were going to look at the black Dodge truck to see if the hydro-boost system on the black Dodge truck would fit Crawford’s truck. When Somers and Crawford arrived at the Vensil property, Somers took Crawford to the black Dodge truck and had Crawford look at the hydro-boost system.
“Ritter claimed when Crawford was looking at the hydro-boost system, Somers shot Crawford in the back of the head ‘a lot’ of times. Ritter said he saw bullet holes in the black Dodge truck which made him believe at least some of the bullets either went through Crawford and into the truck or some of the bullets missed Crawford and went into the truck.
“Somers told Ritter when he initially shot Crawford that Crawford ‘stumbled’ or ‘staggered’ leading Ritter to believe Somers followed Crawford as he stumbled and kept shooting Crawford in the back of the head until he fell and died. Ritter claimed he did not help Somers clean up or get rid of evidence related to Crawford’s murder. Ritter claimed Somers asked him for his help. Ritter claimed he told Somers, ‘Get the f…. away from me. I don’t want to know anything about anything.’
“On Jan. 29, 2024, Ritter told investigators he should have reported the murder of Crawford when Somers first told him he murdered Crawford,” the affidavit alleged.
