Death remains mystery
The investigation into the November death of a prominent small-business leader at Tinker Air Force Base is ongoing, a police spokesman said.
Police will not say whether they have any suspects, nor will they say whether anybody has been ruled out as a suspect in the shooting death of 48-year-old Denise Stice. Her body was found Nov. 27.
"It is still an active investigation,” police Capt. Steve McCool said. "It is currently still in the hands of the investigators, and due to the fact that it is an ongoing investigation, we cannot disclose whether or not we have developed a suspect.” McCool would not call the case "cold” because detectives have not exhausted all leads, he said.
After the shooting, police searched Stice's residence, where she lived with her husband, Don Stice, police said.
Cleveland County property records show Denise Stice was the sole owner of the home, 12316 Crystal Gardens Drive
There were no 911 calls to her home before the shooting, police Sgt. Paco Balderrama said.
A toxicology test performed on Denise Stice by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation showed she did not have drugs in her system at the time of death, said Rob Deaton, an investigator for the medical examiner's office.
What was found?
A church group found Stice's body halfway in the water along the south shore of Lake Overholser. She had been shot once in the head.
It appears the body was dumped at the lake to conceal the crime, police said. The body had not been there very long.
Denise Stice's car was found in the parking lot of an apartment complex near NW 10 and N Tela Drive. Her car was found about three miles from where she was dumped, police said. Police would not say what they found in the car.
Police said Don Stice reported his wife missing the afternoon she was found, but a missing persons report was never filed because police immediately identified the woman they had found, police said.
‘....Face of small business'
Denise Stice was the "face of small business” at Tinker Air Force Base, colleagues said after receiving news of her death. She was director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at the Air Logistics Center on the base.
She was also a stepmother to Gary and Alex, Don Stice's two children from a previous marriage.
