Sheriff: Cousin Urged Grady County Murder Suspect To Call 911

A gunshot blast to the face is what Grady County sheriff's deputies believe killed a woman in Amber late Wednesday.

Residents in the small town near Chickasha were left in shock after learning of the alleged homicide.

A suspect is being held at the Grady County Jail. Steven Thompson of Amber is accused of beating his fiancée and killing her friend. Sheriff Jim Weir says, had it not been for a simple phone call, there could have been even more bloodshed.

"They found the victim in the back bedroom on the bed with what appeared to be a shotgun blast to the face," Weir said.

Next door neighbor and witness Greg Mosier says he heard the blast around 10 p.m. Wednesday, and he talked with Thompson just hours before the killing.

"We talked about going fishing," Mosier said.

That's when Thompson told Mosier that his fiancée would not be joining the two on the fishing trip because they were "not getting along."

Weir would not go into a possible motive, but points to domestic violence. Mosier says, earlier in the evening, Thompson seemed upset after finding his fiancée, Katie Garner, with another woman.

6/27/2013 Related Story: One Person in Custody For Grady County Homicide

Deputies say Garner's friend was killed. Garner was beaten and taken to the hospital via helicopter. Roughly 12 hours later, Thompson called 911.

"When the deputies pulled up, he was waiting on the front porch," Weir said. "He immediately threw his hands up in the air, as to surrender."

Weir says that surrender was thanks to some sound advice.

"He had called a cousin [around] 10:30 this morning," Weir said. "He told the cousin that he had killed the girl and that he was probably going to kill his fiancée and himself. The cousin calmed him down, talked him out of it. [The cousin] said you just need to call the deputies. Let them come out and take care of things ... And he did. He called the deputies."

As of late Thursday, Weir had not released the name of the homicide victim, saying deputies are still working on notifying family members.

This is the first murder in Grady County for 2013. OSBI agents are also working this case.