On the afternoon of March 11, 2012, Russell Hable, a 41-year-old white man, was found dead inside a room at the Super 40 Motel on South Council Road in south Oklahoma City. The motel manager discovered the body and officers noted trauma consistent with a homicide. Surveillance footage showed Hable returning to his room with two people identified as Joyce Michelle Seco and Sherry Lynn Campbell; later Rickey Dean Gold was seen entering the same room. Neighbors later described hearing gunshots, and the three visitors were seen fleeing the scene.

Detectives arrested Joyce Seco the next day; she was booked on a complaint of first-degree murder. First-degree murder charges were filed against Seco, Gold, Campbell and Camp and warrants issued for the three who were not in custody. Who else had knowledge of the plan, or how events unfolded once the door closed, remains a key question for readers with information.