Darla Katherine Rose was found murdered just outside of McAlester on April 29, 1990. She was thirty-three years old.

Darla was last known to be alive on March 29, 1990. She had gone to visit a friend in Sapula, and told this friend that she was going back to Hartshorne where she lived to try and find a job. She was taken to a bus station in Tulsa by a taxi. She would be seen in McAlester later that same day at two local nightclubs. One of which was called Cowboys on the east side of McAlester, this establishment has since closed. Her family reported her missing the next day when she hadn’t returned home.

On April 29th, a hunter would find Darla’s body floating in a creek about five miles west of McAlester. She was found in a logjam, floating naked with a pile of driftwood. She was severely decomposed, leading the medical examiner to be unable to determine if any trauma contributed to her death, and eventually would rule her cause of death to be drowning. However, it was ruled a homicide, and authorities would state to the media that evidence found at the scene helped lead to that conclusion. Per the autopsy, a woman’s sweater was found beneath a nearby bridge, it had been cut open in the front. The assumption would be that this is some of the evidence authorities were speaking about. Darla also had two fractures to her jaw, and had two notable contusions to the top of her head.

Investigators were told by Darla’s friends that she had left with them from Cowboys, going back to their home in McAlester. She had allegedly left this house on foot. This is believed to be the last known sighting of Darla Rose.

Darla was a mother of three, a beloved sister and daughter. She is so very deeply missed. In 2018 Pittsburg County Sheriff’s department reopened the case, enlisting the help of the OSBI, and even offering a $5,000 reward. However, to date, no one has been charged in the murder of Darla Katherine Rose.

If you have any information regarding the murder of Darla Rose, please contact the OSBI at 800-522-8017 or the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Department at 918-423-5858.