MUSKOGEE, Okla. — It happened in September of 2020, and the family of John Martin still wants answers.
Magen Lindsey remembers her grandfather as a big stern man who loved his family fiercely. "He didn't tolerate a whole lot especially from us kids, but he was a loving man,” said Lindsey.
Her grandparents lived in a quaint, house nestled on Monta Avenue in Muskogee, and she said it was a peaceful neighborhood until a masked gunman destroyed their lives September 15th, 2020.
“I had just gotten to work and the phone rang and it was my mother and she was just screaming that dad's been shot, and I don't think I've ever driven that fast in my entire life,” said Lindsey.
Lindsey recalled what her grandmother told her about the events from that violent, day. "She said she heard something and so she came up from the den, and that there was a man standing in the doorway with a mask on, holding a gun and he had pointed it at her. He just looked right at her and shot 4 times,” said Lindsey.
Sgt. Dillon Swaim with the Muskogee Police Department said they determined what type of weapon the intruder used. "We basically had established that there were no shell casings while we were there, and we figured out that it was probably a revolver of some kind,” said Swaim.
A key piece of evidence is missing in this case, "The direct across the street neighbor had a doorbell cam that faced Mr. Martin's front door and the night before, he deactivated it."
Investigators took bullet fragments from Martin’s chair and everything else they could find, but nothing came back.
“The running theory especially from the family is that this was done in retaliation for the ongoing land dispute,” said Swaim.
Lindsey agreed with that theory of a possible motive.
“I don't know if they were just trying to cheat him out of the money he had paid for the land, or if the person that was paid for the land just decided to sell it to two people,” said Lindsey.
Martin passed away from his injuries roughly a week after the shooting.
Lindsey said her family is desperate for answers, and is offering a $5,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case. If you have any information contact the Muskogee Police Department at 918-680-3120.
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