In the early morning hours of August 19, 2018, 53-year-old Gregory Meidl was shot once in the head and killed in the driveway of his Bartlesville, Oklahoma home. Meidl had gone outside to confront people he suspected of breaking into cars in his neighborhood when the fatal shooting occurred.

Surveillance footage from the area helped police identify three suspects: 18-year-old Tyler Thomison, 20-year-old Thomas Alexander, and 17-year-old Terry T.J. Donaldson Jr. The trio were stopped and arrested in Nowata. Investigators say they had driven to more affluent neighborhoods with the intent to burglarize vehicles.

Donaldson was charged with first-degree murder and related offenses and claimed he shot Meidl in self-defense after Meidl approached him with a bat; he was convicted of first-degree murder, a conviction later upheld on appeal. Thomison and Alexander pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in August 2019, each receiving 15-year prison terms as part of plea agreements that required cooperation and potential testimony at Donaldson’s trial; they were also convicted on burglary counts.

Did anyone in Bartlesville notice suspicious vehicles or persons in the neighborhood around the morning of August 19, 2018?