Woman Accused Of Murder Charged In Armed Robbery

Tulsa Police say a homicide investigation last week helped them solve an armed robbery that happened two months ago, on New Years Eve.

Police say what broke the case was finding the robbery victim's credit cards in the pockets of the homicide victim. That victim was Jeremy Wilkes, and police arrested his girlfriend, Kerri Stevens, for the crime.

Detectives believe Stevens and Wilkes committed the robbery together.

Investigators say the homicide scene and robbery scene are only a block apart. They say Stevens and Wilkes matched the descriptions of the robbers, their vehicle matched the description, and then, there were the victim's credit cards in Wilkes' pocket.

"Unfortunately, it took a homicide to kind of turn us on to this,” said Robbery Lieutenant Justin Ritter

Ritter says on New Year's Eve, a woman ran out of gas and started walking to find gas when two people in a white minivan pulled up, got out, and the man assaulted the victim with a something like a pipe while the woman suspect yelled, "get her babe." Ritter says the two suspects took the victim's purse and left.

"I'd say this would qualify as a 'who done it.' We had a general description: white male, and a white female and a white minivan,” said Ritter.

When Ritter heard the details of the homicide, he says it sounded similar to his robbery case from just a block away.

“The male description, had a beard, the white van, it just kind of rang some bells, and I was like that's weird, it kind of sounds like this robbery case I'm looking at,” said Ritter.

Ritter says all the boxes were checked when the medical examiner found the robbery victim's credit cards in Wilkes' pocket.

"The homicide took place, which is obviously a negative, but the positive is we are able to figure out and get justice for this female, who was assaulted, and she was a true victim, this was a crime of opportunity,” said Ritter.

Stevens is in jail on a $2 million dollar bond for first-degree murder and has also now been charged with robbery.