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By J.C. Hallman, Oklahoma Watch
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Morgan Stewart was at brunch with family in Missouri when her phone started to blow up with calls from Oklahoma relatives. She ignored a few, then picked up because they kept calling, over and over.

“You need to get here now,” said Misty Stewart, a cousin. “Your dad has been found. He’s gone; he’s died.”

Morgan Stewart, 26, couldn’t process it at first. Her parents divorced years before. She moved with her mother to a Kansas City suburb but remained close to her father, Bob Stewart, a lieutenant in the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office. In Morgan Stewart’s eyes, her father was the embodiment of a man; everyone knew that Bob Stewart could handle himself. His daughter had watched him survive numerous travails: another divorce, the unexpected death of a daughter, Morgan’s sister, and even a tornado that had sheared off 90% of his Shawnee home just five days before.

Morgan Stewart didn’t remember much from the drive that day from Missouri to Oklahoma. But she recalled only too well the shock that came next. She told someone, she didn’t remember who, that she would be going to her father’s house to begin the process of organizing his things.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” they said. “What about the blood?”

That was how Morgan Stewart learned that her father had died of a single bullet to the head, a suicide, according to the medical examiner’s report.

It didn’t make sense, Morgan Stewart said. Her father had been through a lot, but he wasn’t down or depressed. She’d checked on him just the other day, and he seemed great. He was talking about making a fresh start in a new house, doing things for the future.

That was April 2023. More than two years later, Morgan Stewart still wasn’t buying it.

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Here’s what’s happening in Oklahoma today:

• (🗓️ Event, May 20) Toxic Pressure: A documentary screening on oilfield wastewater threatening Oklahoma communities (The Frontier)

• New report ranks Tulsa among the worst cities in the country for ozone pollution (The Oklahoma Eagle)

• Oklahoma City University chosen as Satellite Village for LA28 games (KFOR)

• Feds indict 51 people in Oklahoma illegal pot conspiracy (The Oklahoman)*

• Oklahoma House sends permanent school cellphone ban to governor’s desk (Oklahoma Voice)

• Governor OKs new development law despite rejection of similar measure by Oklahoma voters (Oklahoma Voice)

• Oklahoma lawmakers work to protect rural citizens from rising rates due to data centers (News On 6)

• Tulsa city councilors field questions about conflicts of interest (Tulsa Flyer)

• ‘It’s horrific’: CEO of Boys and Girls Club of Darlington charged with embezzlement (KFOR)

• Gold Star Families Monument to be placed at Oklahoma Capitol (Oklahoma Voice)

• Tulsa utility bills could go up another $6. Here’s what you need to know. (Tulsa Flyer)

• Encampment clearing confusion continues; new Norman homeless shelter still years away (Fox 25)

• 'We've got to keep this momentum': Bixby bridge bill heads to Governor (2 News Oklahoma)

• Muscogee National Council issues no-confidence vote in Supreme Court justices (KOSU)

• Okmulgee County installs first outdoor siren in years with $248K grant (2 News Oklahoma)

• Black Mesa turned off the lights to protect the night sky. Visitors and wildlife are feeling the difference (KOSU)

• East Tulsa sober living center changes lives along the Mother Road through faith and family (Tulsa Flyer)

• Bojangles opens first Oklahoma City location, drawing crowd to see inside 'biscuit theater' (The Oklahoman)*

• NCAA filed appeal against OU's Owen Heinecke's eligibility using wrong type of court document (OU Daily)

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