TULSA, Okla. (Scripps News Tulsa) — A quiet night of watching television in April 2008 turned into a night of terror for Frederick Wilson and his girlfriend when intruders went into their home.
One person made it out alive. The other didn’t.
“He was a good kid. Active, liked to play basketball, go swimming, go to the park,” said Sandra Wilson, Frederick Wilson’s mother.
Sandra Wilson went to all her son’s basketball games, but they disagreed about football.
“He’s a big OU fan, and we would always go rivalry OU, OSU,” she said.
His cousin even played for OU and wore number 82, honoring the year Frederick was born.
As a child, Sandra gave Fredrick a unique nickname: Petey Whitesraw, a character from a 1970’s comedy-horror that was killed and returned to life.
Wilson also had a daughter of his own, Kennedy.
“They were very close,” said Sandra.
But their time was cut short when Kennedy was five years old.
“Me and my friend were playing dominos, and I might have gone into another room, and he said your house phone rung,” said Sandra.
It wasn’t just any phone call.
“Somebody called me and told me that he had got shot. But they never told me he was already dead,” she said.
Unlike the character in the movie, “I know I wasn’t gonna see him no more. Took everything away from me,” she said.
Wilson and his girlfriend were watching tv just before he was killed.
“A minimum of at least two men came into the house,” said Rick Lawrence, a Tulsa County cold case investigator.
Lawrence said that’s when the real terror began.
“The people came in. They zipped both of the occupants of the home. They then covered them up with sheets and blankets and things like that so they couldn’t see what was going on,” he said.
The motive they suspect, “They were there to rob him of his drug money proceeds. And it was rumored to have several thousands of dollars in the apartment with him,” he said.
They shot Wilson once in the back of the head.
“After the robbers left, the girlfriend was able to get the zip tie off of her feet, and then she went to the front door, was able to manipulate the front open, went to the neighbors, and called police,” said Lawrence.
How the robbers got in the home always has troubled detectives.
“It’s believed that they were let in the house, or they crawled through the window in the bathroom,” he said.
But there’s a problem with that.
“The height of the window was pretty significant,” said Tressi Mizell the Tulsa County cold case sergeant.
It only opened about six inches. There’s another nagging piece of the puzzle for these investigators: Why leave a witness?
Investigators told KJRH that the only witness has been less than cooperative.
This undated photo provided by the victim’s family shows Frederick Wilson, who was killed in April 2008. (Wilson family/KJRH)
“She did have enough time to actually see them when they came into the house. So, it’s not like she was immediately covered,” said Mizell.
Investigators are on the trail of Wilson’s killers.
“The suspects I have are very well known to law enforcement,” said Lawrence.
In the meantime, missed opportunities for the mother and daughter he left behind.
“I wish he was here where you know, he could see her grow up, graduate, she gets married, he’s not here for nothing. Whoever killed him took all that away,” said Sandra Wilson.
If you have any information about the April 22nd, 2008 murder of Frederick Wilson, contact the Tulsa County Cold Case Unit at 918-596-5612.
This story was originally published May 22, 2021, by Vincent Hill of KJRH in Tulsa.
