Second search of Craig County quarry pits shows the need for a sonar search

CRAIG COUNTY, Okla. — Several promising leads developed during a perimeter search around two rural Craig County quarry strip pits, about seven miles south of Vinita.

McDonald County Cold Case Detective Lori Howard said four cadaver teams, comprised of five dogs, alerted on multiple spots indicating further investigation is needed in the area.

The quarry strip pits are filled with water and they resemble ponds, she said.

Plans are to contact Cherokee Nation to use their sonar equipment on the follow-up search, Howard said.

Howard declined to release additional details of the follow-up search to protect the investigation’s integrity.

Dive teams recovered a mud-covered VHS tape earlier this month. VHS tapes were widely used from the 1990s to the early 2000s.

Howard refers to the pond where the VHS tape was recovered as “Pond No. 1.” The pond’s murky water level is drastically down from its usual 40-foot mark, which helped in the tape’s recovery.

Howard said the VHS tape is now in the FBI’s custody.

The crystal-clear waters of “Pond No. 2” are 64 feet deep and have been used as a swimming hole since 1989.

The genesis of the search traces back to Talfey Reeves, 58, of Pineville.

Cold Case detectives were able to tie Reeves to the death of Shauna Beth Garber Harvey . The young woman was 22 years old when she was killed. Her badly decomposed remains were found near an abandoned farmhouse in rural McDonald County in Dec. 1990.

Reeves died from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle crash on Nov. 15, 2021.

Rhonda Wise, a McDonald County cold case detective and Howard believe the ponds hold the keys tying Reeves to other unsolved murders in the four-state area.

“We heard repeatedly he (Talfey) liked to dump all things that needed to disappear in this pond,” Howard said.

Detectives learned Talfey had an attraction to dark-haired, dark-eyed women.  He also liked to tie up his victims with barbed wire and cut their hair, Howard said.

Harvey’s hair had been cut, she said of Talfey’s victim.

Persons with information are encouraged to call the McDonald County Sheriff’s Office at (417) 223-4319.

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