OKC Detective Revisits Cold Case Murder On 10-Year Anniversary

An Oklahoma City homicide investigator revisited a decade-old murder case on the anniversary hoping for new leads. The suspect has been on-the-run since the 2009 killing of Dwight Patrick. 

Ten years ago today, Patrick’s family lived their worst nightmare.

“Just like I’m living in a dream,” said Westley Patrick, victim’s son. “You can pinch me and wake me up because my dad didn’t deserve anything like this.”   

The lead investigator on the case never forgot the family's pain. 

“It’s never hard to keep investigating a homicide where the person hasn’t been held accountable for,” said Detective Cris Cunningham, Oklahoma City Police Department.

Cunningham was called to Southwest 84th and McKinley after witnesses discovered Patrick's lifeless body inside his work van. He was brutally attacked, stabbed multiple times and beaten. 

Witnesses recalled seeing a Hispanic man leave the van only 20 minutes before police arrived. According to a 2009 arrest warrant, witness statements and evidence pointed to Noel Fuentes, one of the victim's employees.

“His relationship with Mr. Fuentes was described as a father-son relationship,” said Cunningham.  

But they had an argument over money only days before the murder.

“He believed Mr. Patrick was withholding money from him that he was owed,” said Cunningham. “And that he didn’t want to have to do something crazy to get his money back.”

Cunningham said Fuentes is believed to have gone on-the-run after the murder and has not been seen since.

Noel Fuentes  

“We received information that he had connections in Baha, California and Sonora, Mexico,” said Cunningham. “We believe based on the fact that he just disappeared from the metropolitan area that he did flee to one of those two locations and he has never been located in the 10 years.”

Cunningham said they also monitor social media and databases for the suspect's whereabouts. She thinks people who did not want to come forward then, may now.