Tulsa Police Make Arrest In Cold Case Homicide Nearly 20 Years Later

Tulsa Police made an arrest in a cold case homicide nearly 20 years after it happened.

Tulsa Police Homicide Detectives said they never stop working on these cases and they received new information that allowed them to get an arrest warrant.

Tulsa Police arrested Bryant Gamble for the murder of Ervin Tolon in 2006. Police said the case went unsolved for 18 years until they received new information in November.

"The cold case detective and another detective started reaching out to former witnesses and stuff and doing a bunch of research on the back end. So, yeah, they were able to get the warrant signed and get him under arrest," said Lt. Brandon Watkins with the Tulsa Police homicide unit. 

The murder happened near St. Louis and East Virgin Street. Tolon's sister had found him dead in his kitchen with a shot to his head.

"It appears to be like a drug rip, (robbing a drug dealer) that went bad. Mr. Tolon died as a result of what appears to be a robbery," said Lt. Watkins. 

Several witnesses told police Gamble planned to smoke marijuana with Tolon before robbing him and then confessed to shooting him.

"We have some cases that require a lot of attention, so other cases don't get looked at for long periods of time, and you know this was one of those that for whatever reason just flew under the radar with us until we were able to review it and realize that there was a lot to work with," Lt. Watkins said. 

Lt Watkins said this was the third cold case they filed for 2024, which is a good year for them. He also said in his 7 years with the homicide unit, they've filed ten cold cases.

Bryant Gamble was also convicted in 2007 for a robbery and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released this past February.