The Latest From Duncan, Oklahoma: There is Nothing Quite Like a Mother's Love

Perhaps there is something contaminating the ground water of Duncan, Oklahoma. After all it is the ancestral home of Halliburton Oil, so God only knows what sort of terrible, DNA twisting, toxins have been dumped into the handiest ditch, or man hole over scores of decades.

For those with short memories, Duncan first hit the international news in August, 2013. That's when Michael Jones got behind the wheel of a car and took a spin around town with his pal James Edwards in the front seat and Chancy Luna in the back. At some point they spotted Australian, Christopher Lane, who was in town visiting his girl friend, jogging along the side of the road.

Edwards story was he was busy rolling a joint completely unaware of what was about to happen. Luna, who had a pistol--because, hey don't we all--later claimed he thought the gun was loaded with blanks and he was simply intending to scare Lane. After Lane was shot in the back of the head, one of the merry pranksters initially told arresting officers the crime was committed because the three of them were bored.

Well who isn't these days?

Lane was killed. Luna and Jones were found guilty of murder and Edwards, after it was discovered he had phoned a friend from the jail with instructions to get rid of the weapon, was convicted of being an accessory after the fact.

In October, 2014 boredom wasn't an issue for Alan Hruby, but money was. Early in the year, his father, the publisher of the nearby Marlow Review, had turned his oldest kid into police for stealing five G's of his grandmother's money. The cash was used to pay for a trip to Paris. By that fall, worn out by his son's crazed spending sprees, the senior Hruby cut him off financially.

The decision didn't go over well. Alan Hruby, then a student at the University of Oklahoma, snuck home on a Wednesday night and stole his father's gun out of his pick up truck. He returned to Duncan the next day. That's when he shot and killed his 48 year old mother, Tinker, his 17 year old sister, Katherine and his 50 year old father, John. The theory was, since everyone was dead, the Professor Moriarty wanna be would be the sole heir to the family fortune.

On Friday, after the murders, he took off for Dallas to party hearty all weekend with some buddies during the Oklahoma-Texas football game weekend. A house keeper found the bodies of his family on the following Monday. Young Mr. Hruby is currently doing three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Now, also out of Duncan, comes the tale of Patricia Ann Spann. Last Friday, The Oklahoman ran a story by Nolan Clay which details criminal charges filed against Ms. Spann.

According to the article, Patricia Spann, proving there is nothing quite like a mother's love, married her daughter, Misty Spann in neighboring Comanche county earlier this year. She used the name Patricia Clayton on the wedding license.

However, this being Duncan, Mom marrying Misty isn't the first time the Spann family has gone deep down the rabbit hole. One of Patricia Spann's ex husbands is her son, Jody, who she married in 2008. Their union was annulled in July, 2010.

The elder Spann claims all this bizarre shit is perfectly normal because she gave up custody of her two sons and daughter years ago after they were adopted by their paternal grandmother. Clay writes Spann told DHS workers she and her daughter, "hit it off," after reuniting a couple of years ago.

Misty Spann is now 25 years old. The DHS became involved because the happy couple have been spotted on occasion with a young child in tow. The Stephens County DA says the prosecution will be open and shut because the state doesn't have to prove the newly weds are engaged in sexual activity, just that they are mother and daughter.

If that's truly the case, there is no doubt the members of some future jury will be more than grateful.

Indeed.




9-12-16