Muskogee County Sheriff's Deputies say they are investigating a murder turned suicide. It happened in Warner, Oklahoma, which is south of Muskogee. Deputies say the suspect shot his ex-girlfriend before turning the gun on himself. The woman that was shot dialed 9-1-1 and was unable to speak, that's when her daughter picked up the phone trying to get help for her mom.
The 9-1-1 call came in to dispatch about 4:25 in the morning. Once the 7-year old was on the phone, dispatchers asked her to give her address.
"She tried to give where she was at, stuff like that. Finally one of the dispatchers said go next door and get a hold of someone and she does," says Deputy Bert Poole, Muskogee County Sheriff's Office Investigator.
Deputies get the information and arrive at Houston Johnson Apartments in Warner. Where they found two people shot to death inside an apartment. Poole says the first person shot was Melinda Sue Chatto, they go on to say that she was shot by her ex-boyfriend Charles Donald Dickson. Deputies are still unsure how Dickson got inside the apartment.
"He either had a key and got in before she knew it or she was in bed and he came in and she didn't know it he brought a gun with him," says Poole.
The two broke up about six months ago and it has been trouble ever since.
"The neighbors were telling us that he has been a nuisance ever since. Our opinion, he was stalking her," says Poole.
Poole wants everyone to know that the 7-year old was the hero this morning.
"For her to get in there and do what she had done, knowing whatever she was seeing at the time, that her mother was hurt. For her to be able to talk and go and do what someone has told her to do. Go find someone and bring them back that's very hard," says Poole.
Deputies say the 7-year old even gave investigators more information about Dickson. But besides being a good mother, Poole say Chatto was a good woman.
"A good person. Her house was just as neat. Everything was orderly. She went to college over there at Connors. Nothing bad at all. This person was just a good person," says Poole.
The 7-year old girl is now in the custody of her father and was not hurt.
