CHEROKEE COUNTY, Okla. — The Illinois River is a long and winding body of water that snakes itself around Cherokee County.
Thousands of people float down the river each year, but in April 2020, the river revealed a dark secret.
“It was a couple of years after his disappearance, an individual who was by a certain body of water there in Tahlequah came across his skull, and once it was identified as an actual human skull, there was follow up investigation of that area that then led to the discovery of enough of remains in order to make a determination that this was in fact, David Lewis,” said District Attorney Jack Thorp.
2 News sat down with Thorp, who said those skeletal remains did not give investigators a cause of death.
"While we are not able to truly determine his cause of death because all we were able to recover was some skeletal remains, based on the information that we know, we firmly believe that David Lewis was murdered,” said Thorp.
Despite not having a cause of death, investigators developed a possible motive and it had to do with money.
“Following his death, there was money related to his home and after the death, that money after he was reported missing, there was an individual that continued to utilize this money on a monthly basis and I thought that was suspicious. We believe that a family member was related to the use of this money after his disappearance,” said Thorp.
Over the years, investigators with Cherokee County developed persons of interest, but 2 News learned they did not have sufficient evidence to proceed with a criminal case.
Thorp is asking anyone with information about the murder of David Lewis to contact the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
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