OKC-area man guilty in death of locals’ kin

Keenan Lynn Holcomb, a 34-year-old who strangled to death a woman whose parents live in Clinton and Arapaho, should spend the rest of his life in prison with no possibility of parole, a Cleveland County jury decreed Friday after a week-long trial and two hours of deliberation.
The victim was Tami Elston, daughter of Joe and Cindy Cloninger of Clinton and Danny Elston of Arapaho. She was 52 when she died. Evidence at the trial was that she was strangled to death and a bone was broken in her neck on June 10, 2016,  at her apartment in Norman.
Her now convicted killer reportedly stands more than 6 feet tall and weighs over 300 pounds.
The victim’s step-father is Joe Cloninger, a retired lieutenant for the Clinton Police Department. He and Ms. Elston’s mother, Cindy Cloninger, attended every day of the trial, driving back and forth from their home in Clinton.
In fact, Mr. Cloninger was the first witness at the trial. He said he was surprised when Holcomb’s two lawyers did not cross-examine him at all after he testified for the state.
He said he also was surprised that they put on no defense after the state had rested, simply announcing that they too would rest. That was about 11:30 Friday morning.
The guilty verdict and recommendation of life without parole were returned about two hours later.
Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman, who presided over the trial, scheduled formal sentencing for May 30 at 4 p.m.
Lieutenant Cloninger said that before doing so, Balkman questioned Holcomb, asking him if he didn’t want to testify in his own defense, but he said no.
The state’s key witness, a woman named Michelle Stuard, also did not testify at the trial. Cloninger said she was afraid to so the judge allowed testimony she had given at a preliminary hearing to be read into the trial transcript.
A press release issued by the Norman Police Department shortly after the murder indicated Oklahoma County sheriff’s officers met with a woman (evidently Stuard) the same day as the killing and it was she who led them to a location in Spencer where Elston’s body was found alongside the road near NE 37th Street and Richardson Avenue.
The release said the woman also identified Holcomb as the killer and said she and he had met Ms. Elston as she was walking south on the Interstate 35 service road near 89th Street in south Oklahoma City. She said they picked her up and ultimately drove to Elston’s apartment in Norman, spending more time together there. At one point, the woman said she left the apartment, leaving Holcomb alone with Elston. The press release quoted her as saying when she returned, Elston was dead in the apartment, and Holcomb told her he had strangled her. She said he also asked her to help clean the crime scene and told her he would kill her too if she didn’t help him clean the scene and dispose of the body.
The release said the body was found in Spencer near NE 36th Street and Hiwassee Road.
In addition to first-degree murder, Holcomb was charged and tried for three other crimes – kidnapping, unlawful removal of the dead, and forcible sodomy. The jury found him guilty of those charges as well and recommended sentences of 30 years in prison for the kidnapping, 5 years for the removal of a dead body, and 10 years for the sodomy. Cloninger indicated no recommendation was made as to whether those sentences should run concurrently (at the same time) or consecutively (one after the other).
The Cloningers have indicated their daughter was a very talented woman, able to play various musical instruments, often after only just a little practice. She also held bachelor’s and master’s degrees and was just a few hours away from receiving her doctorate from the University of Oklahoma.
Unfortunately, despite her talents and intelligence, she also struggled with addiction. The Cloningers have not tried to keep that to themselves, hoping that by talking about it other people suffering from the same or similar afflictions will be helped.
Ms. Elston had three children, including a son who was killed in an automobile accident at age 24 on U.S. Highway 183 two miles north of Arapaho just two years before his mother was murdered.