11 Joplin-area people indicted in death of woman in Oklahoma

Jul. 24—The discovery more than a year ago of the body of a woman in a remote field in Mayes County, Oklahoma, has resulted in federal indictments of 11 people from the Joplin area.

"The 11 defendants charged were allegedly involved in either the kidnapping and resulting death of Jolene Walker Campbell or with threatening witnesses and concealing evidence to cover up their crimes," Clint Johnson, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, said in a statement announcing the indictments.

The indictments are the product of a year of investigative work by FBI special agents and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Fletcher, Johnson said.

Campbell's body — discovered July 15, 2020, at a location within Muscogee Nation boundaries — was identified by the FBI with the assistance of the Mayes County Sheriff's Office, Muscogee Nation Lighthorse Police Department and Joplin police, the U.S. attorney said.

Investigators determined that Campbell — identified in a news release from the the U.S. attorney's office as a member of the Osage Nation — had been the victim of a kidnapping resulting in her death, perpetrated on July 4-5, 2020.

Seven people were indicted by a federal grand jury in June on charges of attempting to cover up the crime through intimidation of witnesses and concealment of evidence.

Another indictment announced Friday charges four more people with involvement in the crime, including stepbrothers Tre R.A. Ackerson, 27, of Carthage, and Lane R. Bronson, 28, of Webb City; their mother, Kimberly Kay Grissom, 46; and Jacob R. Scribner, 33, of Joplin.

The latest indictment charges Ackerson, Bronson and Breanna L. Sloan, 22, of Joplin, with a conspiracy to kidnap Campbell. Bronson is accused of putting a gun to her head and forcing her into a vehicle in Joplin. Ackerson and Sloan then allegedly transported her across state lines into Oklahoma, where she met her death.

The indictment and accompanying statement do not state how Campbell died. But the trio are charged with desecrating her body and leaving it in the field where she was found as well as participating in the kidnapping.

Sloan was one of the seven initially charged with tampering with witnesses and altering or destroying evidence. The superseding indictment charges all 11 of the defendants with conspiring to intimidate at least four witnesses to keep them from telling investigators what they knew about Campbell's death.

The indictments further charge Chloe L. Stith, 34, of Joplin, and Ariel S.P. Divine, 29, of Webb City, as well as Ackerson and Bronson with disposing of Campbell's body and belongings.

The stepbrothers, Sloan and two other women — Morgan L. Bowman, 26, and Megan L. Detherage, 27 — are accused of tampering with two witnesses July 7, 2020, by binding and blindfolding them and taking them to a remote location, where they allegedly shot at one of the witnesses with a semiautomatic rifle while telling them to dance and forcing the second witness to listen to the gunfire and screams of the first. Those witnesses purportedly were warned not to talk to law enforcement.

The same five defendants then cleaned the car of one of those witnesses with bleach to destroy any evidence of the alleged assault, according to the statement from the U.S. attorney's office.

Ackerson, Bronson and Scribner are charged in another count with further tampering with the first witness by carjacking him on July 19 outside a motel in Joplin as a reminder after Campbell's body was found that he was not to speak with law enforcement.

Sloan is accused in the 10th count of the indictment with tampering with the first and second witnesses by offering them $1,000 on Aug. 8, 2020, if they recanted their testimonies in court as to Ackerson's alleged involvement in the carjacking.

In count 11 of the third superseding indictment, Bronson, David W. Morris, 33, of Duenweg, and Sarah M. Humburd, 24, of Joplin, are charged with threatening the second witness on Aug. 11, 2020. Morris and Humburd allegedly told the witness that they were "playing with fire" and took the witness to Bronson at a hotel in Carthage, where he again demanded recanting of the witness's testimony against Ackerson, according to the statement.

Stith and Brosnon are charged in a 12th count with tampering with a third and a fourth witness on Aug. 13, 2020, by binding their hands with zip ties, covering their eyes with duct tape and transporting them to a remote location where Bronson allegedly made one of them watch as he beat the other one.

A 13th count charges Stith and Scribner with conspiring on Aug. 22, 2020, to retaliate against a witness for speaking with investigators. The 14th and final count charges Ackerson, Scribner and Grissom, the mother of Ackerson and Bronson, with conspiring on April 26, 2021, to retaliate against the third witness in the case.

The statement from the U.S. attorney's office notes that Ackerson and Bronson are in state custody in Missouri, where they face murder charges, along with Morris, in the slaying of 51-year-old Lamar resident Terry Harless on July 13, 2020, two days before Campbell's body was discovered.

The statement notes that Grissom and Scribner remain at large. Scribner pleaded guilty July 6 in Jasper County Circuit Court to a reduced charge of tampering with a motor vehicle in the Joplin carjacking case. He received a suspended sentence and was released on probation. He initially faced a charge of being an accessory to robbery in the case.

What connection, if any, the Lamar slaying has to the death of Campbell — other than the three shared co-defendants of Ackerson, Bronson and Morris — has not been made public by investigators in either state.