UPDATE: Authorities find suspected remains of missing woman; boyfriend arrested

UPDATE: 4/5/19 4:20 P.M.

Kingfisher Police Department and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents were working through the afternoon Friday recovering what they believe are the charred remains of a missing Kingfisher woman. Her live-in boyfriend has been arrested in connection with her alleged murder.

OSBI agents arrested Steven Stricker, 62, 421 W. Sheridan Ave., Kingfisher, about 3 p.m. Friday afternoon at the police department.

He was just booked into the Kingfisher County Jail on an as yet undetermined charge related to the death of Brenda Baber, 56, a woman police describe as his live-in girlfriend.

Police launched a search for Baber Thursday when her sister, Ellen Samuels of Cushing, reported that Baber had called her on Tuesday and asked for her help moving out of her Kingfisher home on Thursday while Stricker was at work, according to a police report.

Samuels  told police that she went to her sister’s home and no one answered the door, although she believed Stricker was inside.

Samuels also told police that her sister and Stricker had a history of domestic violence and Baber told Samuels that if she ever comes up missing to call the police, Samuels said.

An online search of court records showed Stricker had pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of domestic abuse in Kingfisher County District Court in 2011, for which he received suspended sentences.

When police spoke to Stricker at his home Thursday, he said Baber had been home in bed when he left for work that morning and was gone when he arrived back home and he did not know where she was.

Baber used a walker and was unable to drive. Her walker and recently refilled prescription medicines were still in the home, as was her dog, according to the report.

Samuels told officers her sister would never have left the dog behind, which made her concerned that something bad had happened.

A neighbor told police Thursday that Stricker allegedly had been burning something in his backyard fire pit over the last few days and also had been “messing around in the garden,” which the neighbor found odd since the house was slated to be purchased and demolished as part of the city’s flood buyout program, according to the police report.

Police examined the fire pit on the back porch and described it in the report as “very clean with no ash or wood inside.”

Police also noticed “burnt wood pieces mixed into the rain-packed dirt” in the garden area, according to the report.

Later Thursday evening, Julia Blanchard, identified in the report as Stricker’s sister, called the police department with more information.

Blanchard told police that Stricker allegedly called her about 6 p.m. Thursday and repeated several times that “we lost Brenda,” according to the report.

Stricker also allegedly told his sister that the police were at the house looking for her and he did not know where she is but “she is gone.”

Stricker also allegedly told Blanchard that he used to work as a butcher and he knows how to get rid of a body and that “a fireplace works miracles,” according to the report.

Blanchard told police that Stricker allegedly had threatened to kill Baber in the past if “she ever left him and took his stuff” and Baber had allegedly told Blanchard that she was going to leave Stricker and Blanchard informed her of Stricker’s alleged threat to kill her.

Police Chief Dennis Baker said OSBI was called in to assist with the investigation Friday morning, based on witness statements, although the case also continued to be worked as a missing person.

Baker said authorities obtained a search warrant for the property and began excavating the garden area Friday, where they found what appeared to be charred human remains.

The remains had not been officially identified at the time of Stricker’s arrest.

Search of the property was still ongoing late Friday afternoon.

The Kingfisher County Jail book-in form showed Stricker was arrested on a complaint of second-degree murder. Baker said a complete report will be submitted to the district attorney’s office on Monday, when an official charging decision will be made.