Unsolved cases of Comanche residents linger

By Todd Brooks

Three unsolved cases involving Comanche residents dating from 1988 to 2023 are still a mystery.

The cases of three young adults, Mary Morgan Pewitt, 25, Raul Solis, 23, and Noah Presgrove, 19, have been the cause of much talk and speculation, but they have reached no conclusions.

Mary Morgan Pewitt

In the early morning hours on June 4, 1988, the body of 25-year-old Mary Moran Pewitt was found in her Comanche home. Pewitt had been stabbed multiple times.

Her body was discovered by her children and mother. The children had spent the previous night at their grandmother’s while Pewitt worked at a bar in downtown Comanche.

The murder has been investigated for many years by various agencies, with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) taking over shortly after the murder from city and county law enforcement agencies, but no arrests have ever been made. The OSBI has said little about the case. Most recently, the agency turned down an interview by the NBC series Dateline, telling the news show that they didn’t have anyone available to talk about the case. With the OSBI not being available, her case is an online story on the Dateline website instead.

The family, especially her oldest daughter, Kira Lowe, has been working hard and talking to anyone who will listen about the case in hopes of having it solved.

Pewitt’s story has been featured on television shows and podcasts, but there still have been no answers. The most recent podcast to focus on the case, Murder Diaries, is scheduled to run on Feb. 1 on https:themurderdiariespodcast.com.

There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for the murder. Tips can be sent to agent Joe Kimmons at Joe.kimmons@osbi.ok.gov.

Raul Solis

On Feb. 1, 2019 a couple miles west of Comanche on Highway 53, Raul Solis was severely injured in an alleged hit-and-run accident while riding his bicycle. He later died at an Oklahoma City hospital from his injuries.

According to accident reports from that time, after being hit by a vehicle, Solis was sent over a guard rail into a drainage ditch.

There were some clues like a broken headlight from a Chrysler Sebring, but exhaustive searches for the possible vehicle turned up empty.

It is now considered a cold case. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper that was investigating the case, Jason Riddles, retired in early 2022, according to Sarah Stewart, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

“It appears (Riddles) had exhausted all his leads at that point,” Stewart said in an email to the Comanche Times on Dec. 29, 2023. “If new information was to come to light, we would assign an investigator to follow up, but otherwise, it remains unsolved.”

The OSBI tip line phone number is 800-522-8017. The family is offering a reward for any information that leads to closure about the case.

Noah Presgrove

It has now been more than 100 days since Presgrove’s death on Labor Day Weekend in September and the family is still searching for answers now that the holidays have come and gone.

Originally thought to be a possible accident after his body was found along the roadside on Highway 81 near Terral, the death was later ruled as “suspicious.”

Trooper Zachary Wright of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol is investigating the accident. He told the Comanche Times in late October 2023 that the investigation was “not stagnant” and they are “working diligently to find out exactly what happened to Noah.”

Family members have not received any recent updates.

“We really don’t have any new news,” said Madison Rawlings, his sister, in a text message to the Comanche Times on Jan. 1. “I wish it was different. Hopefully, (this month), we will get something.”

Anyone with any information about the case is encourage to contact Wright at Zachary.wright@dps.ok.gov