TULSA, Okla. — A man from Talihina, Oklahoma, is in jail after allegedly faking his own death while kayaking in Hanville, Louisiana.
On Aug. 7, Melvin Emde, 41, was reported missing by his son after allegedly going overboard and drowning while kayaking in the Mississippi River.
Detectives with the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office learned that Emde was facing charges of Indecent Liberties with a Child and Statutory Rape of a Child by an Adult in Brunswick County, North Carolina and was due in court.
“We immediately became quite suspicious that this may have been a faked accidental drowning and death in order for Mr. Emde to escape charges in Brunswick County, North Carolina. However, we could not publicly expose our suspicions for fear of tipping him off,” said Sheriff Greg Champagne.
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On Sept. 17, a Georgia State Highway Patrol officer attempted to stop a motorcycle without a license plate. The motorcycle fled and crashed, according to the officer.
The driver originally gave a false name but was identified as Emde through his fingerprints.
“Now it’s time for Mr. Emde to face the music for his charges in North Carolina,” Champagne said.
NORMAN — The 2024 season hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Oklahoma.
Patty Gasso’s Sooners dropped their first Big 12 series since 2011 in a loss to Texas in Austin.
And then it happened again.
OU lost the first two Bedlam contests of the year in a Freaky Friday-style body swap. Oklahoma State played the role of loose-swinging, home run-hitting favorites while the Sooners capitulated late.
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It was uncharted territory for a team that lost a single game in 2023 and a senior class that knows nothing but winning back-to-back-to-back national titles.
“There’s a good group of us on the team that have never been kicked in the teeth before,” OU catcher Kinzie Hansen said after Oklahoma fell to BYU on April 12.
Oklahoma found a bit of momentum in the regular season finale, avoiding a sweep at the hands of the Cowgirls, and the Sooners rolled that into a Big 12 Tournament title where OU exacted revenge on Texas.
The clutch hitting was back, and the dominant performances in the circle returned in Oklahoma City. But that wasn’t a result of the Sooners simply waking up because there was another conference title on the line against the Longhorns.
“Our team came together and worked out some things behind closed doors that a lot of teams don’t do,” Gasso said after beating Texas. “And that’s why we’re here.”
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The progress made behind the scenes saw the Sooners take down Oregon twice in last weekend’s regional action, and has 2-seeded Oklahoma ready to host 15-seeded Florida State at Love’s Field on Thursday.
The shift was subtle but important, said senior third baseman Alyssa Brito, and it has the Sooners making the most of their final postseason run with 10 seniors at the helm.
“When we really stepped back for a second,” Brito said on Tuesday, “and thought about the fact that like we get to only play together for a couple of weeks, I think that kind of shifted our perspective.
“And (I) was like, I don’t get to play with Tiare Jennings and Kinzie Hansen and Rylie Boone for all my life.”
Gasso’s teams always seem to find one guiding light for why they are working so hard to play softball, finding their “why”.
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For this talented group of seniors, finding a way to come together for one last ride and ensuring they leave Oklahoma with no regrets is the rallying cry.
The spotlight has been focused on the Sooners for the better part of three years. Gasso often references the pressure of outside expectations. Oklahoma is expected to play a perfect game every time it steps onto the field, and the only players who understand the gravity of those expectations are teammates.
“Living in this space is hard,” Brito said. “… We had to step back and understand like, ‘OK it’s hard. It’s gonna be hard.’ Those are conversations that maybe not a lot of people on teams have and that’s okay.
“But for us, we had to really get into that and understand, how are we going to handle living in this space and moving forward, what are we going to do side by side?”
Since dropping Game 2 of Bedlam, the Sooners have been up for the challenge.
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Oklahoma rebounded with a victory on Senior Day highlighted by Jennings breaking out of her slump with a sixth inning home run.
The Sooners smothered Kansas and BYU in the Big 12 Tournament before beating Texas.
OU even played a pair of tight games against Oregon that Gasso is confident will have the team prepared for the rematch of last year’s Women’s College World Series Championship Series against Florida State.
“Run rules are boring,” Gasso said. “I don’t know that they’re good for anyone, especially us… What’s good for us is what we did with Oregon on Sunday. That’s good for us.”
The pressure cooker of the postseason has been a place where this senior class has forged lifelong memories, collecting trophy after trophy.
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Now the Sooners set their sights on a familiar foe, and the chance to return to the WCWS to compete for a fourth-straight title has Oklahoma playing with fire again.
“They live for postseason,” Gasso said. “And that’s what the most fun is and it means something and you’re chasing something now.
“… You’re looking for that trophy like everybody else. So right now we’re in the chase like everyone else.”
OKLAHOMA CITY (KSWO) – Senate Bill 1835, a revised version of the Oklahoma Survivors’ Act, is officially set to become law after Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed his name to the bill.
SB1835 directs Oklahoma courts to consider a defendant’s history of being abused by their sexual partner, family member, any member of their household, a trafficker, or any person who used them for financial gain as a mitigating factor when sentencing or accepting a plea deal.
The defendant would have to provide the court with at least one piece of documentary evidence which shows the abuse took place.
This signing comes just after the Oklahoma Governor vetoed a previous version of the bill, Senate Bill 1470. The Oklahoma Senate quickly overrode it, sending the original bill to the House for consideration.
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However, Senate Bill 1835 was officially modified to be a revised version of the original survivors’ act on May 14, according to the Legislature’s tracking webpage.
The biggest difference between the original, and now the signed version, is that the signed version has language which limits the scope of the bill to only apply to cases where the defendant has fought back against their alleged abuser.
The signed bill will officially take effect at the end of August.
Oklahoma has been in the bottom of state rankings for years on both rate of women murdered by men and rate of domestic violence.
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – The Coeur d’Alene Police Department arrested a man it claims attempted to kidnap a girl Tuesday night.
According to the department, a Coeur d’Alene man and his daughter were in his car at around 6pm when Peter Cahoon approached the vehicle and attempted to pull the girl out of the window.
Police claim Cahoon jumped on the car’s hood as the man tried to drive away and continually tried to open the door when he slid off and the car pulled away.
Coeur d’Alene officers found Cahoon several blocks away from where the indecent allegedly took place after the father called 911.
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“Cahoon seemed to be suffering from mental health issues and made statements about trying to save the girl,” the department said.
Cahoon was charged with attempted kidnapping and several other charges relating to the alleged conduct and was described by police as a transient man from Oklahoma. He is currently in Kootenai County Jail.
