Hitchita Man's Death Ruled A Homicide

NewsOn6.com

OKMULGEE COUNTY, Oklahoma -- The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's office has confirmed the identity of a body found last week and declared the death a homicide. 

The Okmulgee County Sheriff's Office found the body of Chris Shelton on Friday, April 8, 2011, but waited for the medical examiner's office to positively identify the body before releasing any further information. 

Cherokee Ballard with the medical examiner's office says Shelton died of a gunshot wound to the head. 

Shelton's extensively decomposed body was found in the Twin Hills area just west of the Okmulgee and Muskogee county line.

At that time, deputies declined to speculate if the body was that of Hitchita resident Chris Shelton, 36, who was last seen February 15, 2011, at a friend's house near Haskell.

4/11/2011 Related Story: No ID Yet On Decomposed Body Found In Rural Okmulgee County

On the same day Shelton disappeared, deputies found his silver pickup truck with the keys still in the ignition on a county road in Okmulgee County.

The Okmulgee County Sheriff's Office says they are actively investigating this case.