Gabrielle Monique Bledsoe

Date Found: March 2, 2013

Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Investigating Agency: Tulsa Police Department

(918) 596-9222

On Saturday March 2, 2013 Gabby Bledsoe ‘s mother, Lacrecia Bledsoe came back to her North Tulsa residence to find a horrifying scene- her daughter Gabrielle was laying lifeless on the floor.

Gabrielle Monique Bledsoe, known as “Gabby” to those close to her, was only 18 years old when she was murdered. She was a junior in high school with a bubbly disposition and high aspirations. She dreamed of becoming a lawyer, and with a 3.8 GPA- she probably would have seen those dreams come true. Those dreams were cut short that morning. She was stabbed to death, the kitchen knife still in the back of her neck when her mother found her.

Police collected evidence (his clothing, DNA, and fingerprints) from an un-named person of interest, nothing has tied any one person to the murder. According to police there weren’t any signs of a struggle. Lacrecia says that it looked like someone came in through the kitchen door, she states the front door was unlocked- which was unusual.

Meanwhile, a man named James Roylee Barber, who the media has described as an ex-boyfriend of Gabby’s mother, was arrested on unrelated warrants on March 13, 2013. Police have described him as both a source of speculation in Gabby’s homicide as well as rather uncooperative in discussing her death. In any event, they do not have any evidence to be able to definitively say that Barber was at the scene, let alone that he committed the crime. However, in 2010 Barber had been charged with assault and battery and assault with a deadly weapon- both instances were committed against Gabby’s mother, Lacrecia according to court records. At the time of the incidents, Lacrecia and Barber had lived together. The assault charges against Barber were later dropped.

Lacrecia Bledsoe has been quoted in the media as saying she believes that she knows who killed her daughter; whether she was referring to James Barber or not- hasn’t been said. She believes that whoever killed Gabby broke into the home without realizing anyone was there, causing things to go terribly wrong.

Whatever happened that morning left behind a horribly devastated family, with more questions than they will ever have answers for. The major one being, why, why has it been over six years and they STILL have no one that they can say “it was him, he did this, he took our girl.”? Gabby deserves at the very least the answer to that question. Her family deserves that, her sisters, her mom. No mother should have to bury a child, let alone find one in the state that Lacrecia Bledsoe did that morning.

If you have any information about the murder of Gabrielle Monique Bledsoe, please contact the Tulsa Police Department at (918) 596-9135.