Oklahoma
Latest Updates on Amber Portwood’s Missing Fiancé Gary Wayt: Sighting in Oklahoma, Catelynn Lowell Weighs in On MTV Wanting to Film About It For ‘Teen Mom’ & More
The saga of Amber Portwood‘s missing fiancé continues, as it appears that he is alive and on the move.
Gary Wayt— who recently proposed to the Teen Mom: The Next Chapter star — has been listed as a missing person in North Carolina since Monday. As The Ashley previously reported, Gary (not to be confused with Amber’s baby daddy Gary Shirley) was in North Carolina with Amber to attend the wedding of Amber’s brother Shawn last Saturday. After Amber and Gary got into some sort of disagreement on Sunday, Gary took off in his car–without his cell phone— and hadn’t been seen since. Amber has begged fans to pray for her fiancé, whom she claims she has a “beautiful relationship” with. She also denied having any part in Gary’s disappearance.
On Thursday, however, news broke that Gary was spotted alive in Oklahoma— 900+ miles away from Bryson City, North Carolina, where he was last seen. The Sun broke the news of the Gary sighting, stating that Amber’s betrothed was seen on-camera at an Oklahoma Verizon phone store.
Amber’s manager confirmed to The Ashley on Thursday that police have been able to verify that the man on the Verizon store video was, indeed, Gary.
Amber’s manager also confirmed, though, that Gary has not contacted Amber or his loved ones. His reason for driving all the way to Oklahoma is unknown at this time.
“He might not even know he’s a missing person at this point since he hasn’t had his phone and only took his wallet and the car,” a source told The Sun.
Various news outlets have reported on Gary’s disappearance since he was reported missing earlier this week.
Amber, who went Live on YouTube with Elle Bee this week to talk about Gary’s disappearance, has vowed to stay in North Carolina until Gary was located. In fact, her ‘Teen Mom’ co-star Catelynn Lowell confirmed on Wednesday that Maci Bookout was heading to North Carolina to be with Amber in her time of need.
Catelynn also defended Amber against people online who were speculating that Amber was responsible for Gary’s disappearance and insinuating that Amber hurt him.
“I’ve known Amber for 15 years, ok?” she said during a Live stream with TikTok user @crime.n.missing. “She might fly off the handle sometimes but she’s not going to f**king kill somebody. Come on now. If you guys think that about her, you’re ridiculous…”
Catelynn also denied that she is an “enabler” for Amber.
“I tell her how it is,” Cate insisted. “Me, her and Maci, we’ve known each other for so long that we can tell each other, like, ‘Hey dude, that was f**ked up’ or ‘You shouldn’t have done that’ or whatever. And we listen to each other. Of course, MTV is only going to put on [the show] what they want to put on there.”
Catelynn then revealed that MTV is actually chomping at the bit to film about Amber’s missing fiancé.
“They’re asking me to film myself talking about this whole situation and I’m like, ‘No, I’m not. I’m not exploiting the situation and what Amber’s going through.’ I’m not doing all of that,” Catelynn said. ” I’m going to help her and be a friend.”
After going Live on Wednesday, Catelynn posted on Instagram Stories to clarify that she wasn’t trying to bash MTV during her Live.
“I did a live on TikTok earlier today talking about the situation with Amber’s fiancé and MTV asking me to talk about it,” Catelynn wrote. “I DID NOT mean anything bad about what I said! Actually @MTV has helped a ton with trying to help us and help the situation. So please don’t get that part twisted. We are all just wanting to find Gary alive and safe!”
Catelynn went on to state that Gary and Amber have been engaged longer than the public was led to believe, and that she and Maci were even present when Gary popped the question.
As of press time, Gary is still listed as a missing person by the Bryson City Police Department. Police are asking the public to contact them with any information regarding Gary’s location.
UPDATE! On Thursday night, TMZ provided more information about the sighting of Gary in Oklahoma. According to Bryson City PD Asst. Chief Wayne Dover, Gary was seen Tuesday morning in Weatherford— a town about an hour from Oklahoma City. Chief Dover stated that witnesses who identified Gary said he “did not seem in distress and had a calm and nonchalant demeanor.”
It is still unknown why Gary— who hails from Indiana— drove to Weatherford, Oklahoma, which is a nearly 12-hour drive from Indianapolis. It’s also unknown if Gary is still in Oklahoma or was just stopping there on his journey.
Chief Dover stated that Gary is still considered a missing person; however, cops are not suspecting foul play.
RELATED STORY: Amber Portwood Asks Fans to Pray For Her Missing Fiancé Gary Wayt & Insists She “Did Not Hurt Him”; Amber’s Ex-Fiance Matt Baier Weighs In
(Photos: Bryson City PD; MTV; Facebook)
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KANSAS CITY, MO — Christian Coleman reached high but couldn’t grab the alley-oop pass from Jaylen Curry.
But it glanced off his fingertips, hit the backboard, then the rim and fell in the basket.
It wasn’t the prettiest clutch play by the Oklahoma State forward, but it was as important as any of them.
Coleman’s alley-oops layup with just over two minutes remaining helped the 14th-seeded Cowboys stretch their lead on the way to a 92-83 win over No. 11 Colorado in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Tuesday at T-Mobile Center.
Had Coleman gotten his hands on the ball, it would have been a massive exclamation-point jam, yet as he rose for it, he could tell it was out of his reach.
“But God had his hands around it and it kinda fell in for me,” Coleman said with a laugh. “So we count it.”
Coleman finished with 17 points and a season-high 14 rebounds, backing guard Anthony Roy, who had 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half. Curry added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Late in the game, the lanky 6-foot-8 Coleman moved to center as coach Steve Lutz was forced to put a small lineup on the floor.
The Cowboys were without their two most-used bigs, Parsa Fallah and Andrija Vukovic, because of injuries. Their freshman replacements, Benjamin Ahmed and Mekhi Ragland, found themselves in foul trouble.
“He’s versatile,” said OSU point guard Kanye Clary, who had seven points, six assists and five rebounds. “He can guard the 1-5. He switches and plays hard.
“When he’s motored up, I don’t really think there’s nobody who can stop him. He’s the only person who can stop himself. And tonight, he went out there and showed how impactful he is.”
The Cowboys (19-13) will take on sixth-seeded TCU at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday as they try to once again keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
“Our mentality has been the same every game in the Big 12, because the league is so darn hard,” Lutz said. “If you look forward, you have no chance.
“I’m proud of the guys for sticking together and banding together, because we’ve had some key people, teammates, go down and we had to piece it together. I’m just happy for them and excited to face TCU tomorrow night.”
Here are three takeaways from the OSU victory:
Anthony Roy settles in for big game
In an odd twist, Colorado was hit with a technical foul for not submitting its lineup in time prior to the game, and that put Roy on the free throw line before the tipoff.
He missed the attempt, but it was the only one he’d miss all night, hitting the next 10.
Roy hit some rough patches throughout the first half, at one point getting quickly subbed out after missing an awkward 3-pointer from the corner.
But in the second half, he found his rhythm, going 5 of 6 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers and a couple tough drives for layups.
“He got to the free-throw line and made 10 of 11,” Lutz said. “I thought he did a good job with that. And we tease him a bunch about his defense, but I thought at the end of the game when it mattered, he played good defense. And he rebounded the basketball.”
Freshmen Benjamin Ahmed, Mekhi Ragland play key minutes
With the Cowboys thin in the frontcourt, Ahmed made his third straight start, and Ragland was the first center off the bench.
Ahmed went to the bench after getting his fourth foul with 7:20 to play and didn’t return, but still played his second-most minutes in a game this season at 21. He finished with seven points, six rebounds and a blocked shot.
“Parsa going down, he spoke to me about it that I have a big role to fill,” Ahmed said. “It’s a learning process for me. I’m just excited to see what the future holds for me.”
Ragland had four points, a rebound and an assist in eight minutes — his most against a Big 12 opponent.
“It felt good being able to step up,” Ragland said. “I’ve wanted to show myself and show what I can do all year.
“The first couple up-and-downs, you’re a little nervous, but that goes away fast. It’s just basketball at the end of the day, so I was ready for the moment.”
OSU by the numbers
∎ The Cowboys are now 29-1 under Steve Lutz when scoring at least 81 points. The only loss came to TCU earlier this year, 95-92 in overtime at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
∎ The 92 points scored Tuesday are the most by OSU in the Big 12 Tournament. The previous high was 87, scored against Colorado in 2005.
∎ Coleman’s 14 rebounds were his season high and tied his career high.
∎ Adding a new combination Tuesday, OSU has used 19 different starting lineups this season.
∎ Clary led the team in plus-minus at 17, followed by Vyctorius Miller at 14.
Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@oklahoman.com or on X at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.
Oklahoma State vs. TCU
TIPOFF: 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. (ESPNU)
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Severe weather is still expected tonight across much of our area. In fact, the threats have increased since this morning due to more clearing skies in western Oklahoma. More sunshine means more instability to work with.
SPC Severe Weather Outlook. (KOKH)
Due to this, the Storm Prediction Center has increased all hazards for our part of Oklahoma. The strongest storms could produce winds up to 80 mph, baseball size hail, and a few tornadoes. This would be from essentially now until early Wednesday morning.
SPC Tornado Outlook. (KOKH)
The tornadic potential has increased across much of the area generally along and east of I-44/I-35.
The general thinking is that discrete supercells will form in western North Texas in the 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM window and begin to make their way towards southwest Oklahoma. These storms will then quickly go from being individual cells to more clusters of storms. This would increase the wind potential and make it possible for brief spinup tornadoes to form. These QLCS (quasi-linear convective systems) tornadoes can form and develop quickly.
Once the storms are generally east of I-35, there won’t be any more cells anymore and we’d be looking at a larger squall line. Check out the below model images for a look at the evolution of the storms tonight:
There is also the potential for very heavy rain with these storms too.
A cold front will sweep the storms away to the east tonight. After the front, strong northerly winds are possible. Due to this, there is a Wind Advisory Wednesday for parts of our area.
Wednesday Wind Gusts. (KOKH)
These strong winds will increase the fire danger Wednesday afternoon.
To stay up to date with the latest forecast, be sure to download the Fox 25 Weather App.
Download the Fox 25 First Warning Weather App. (KOKH)
Stay with Fox 25, we’ve got your back.
A legal fight is escalating between former Oklahoma City municipal attorney Orval Jones and the city over how the Oklahoma City Police Department handled cash seized during arrests.
The city has filed a motion asking a judge to strike Jones’ claims, arguing he has no legal standing and calling the criminal-case process a “restitution scheme.”
Jones says he spent eight years “cleaning up” the OKCPD property return process from 2017 to March 2025 until he resigned “due to duress” in September.
He filed an affidavit claiming OKCPD seized more than $400,000 in cash from arrests and deposited it into the city’s bank account.
In his audit, Jones made lists of seized cash amounts, including amounts under $250, from $250 up to $500, and more than $500.
In its motion, the city argues Jones is no longer an attorney for the city or the district attorney’s office, is not an owner of any of the property “properly disposed of,” and has not suffered an injury.
The city also alleges Jones filed his motion with “half-truths” and without support or proof.
Jones responded in a rebuttal affidavit that the issue involves injury to the state, the county, other counties, crime victims, and property owners who received no notice. Jones said, “I had a professional duty to tell the court that these filings were legally defective and potentially fraudulent. I cannot stay silent.”
In an email in April 2025, OKCPD Chief Ron Bacy said the department had 288,000 overdue property and currency claims needing a disposition update, and that many investigators assigned to those cases are no longer employed with the department. Bacy said the department developed programs to assist the Property Management Unit.
Court documents show more than 350,000 pieces of property held in the Property Management Unit, more than $2.5 million in the unit’s bank account, and that 80% of the property and money are due for disposition.
If a judge agrees with Jones, the funds may be returned to the owners.
If the judge agrees with the city, the case will be dropped.
The city and OKCPD had not responded to open records requests submitted Feb. 10.
When asked whether the city conducted or requested an internal review into the allegations, the city said it does not comment on pending litigation.
A hearing has been set later this month.
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