Joplin man indicted in slaying of Jolene Campbell
May 21—A federal grand jury in Oklahoma has indicted a Joplin man in the abduction and slaying of Jolene Walker Campbell whose body was found two years ago in a remote field of the Muscogee Nation reservation.
The U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Oklahoma announced in a news release Friday that Tre R.A. Ackerson, 28, was charged with first-degree murder in Indian country a fourth superseding indictment handed up in the case.
The indictment further charges both Ackerson and Breanna L. Sloan, 22, also of Joplin, with kidnapping the 34-year-old Walker Campbell, a member of the Osage Nation, on July 4 or July 5 in Joplin and taking her to Oklahoma, where she was slain.
The U.S. attorney's office said in its news release that Ackerson killed her and "then conspired with others to tamper with witnesses in an effort to obstruct a federal investigation" into her death. The news release said the medical examiner ruled the manner of death to be homicide but details of how she was killed will not be released at this time.
Ackerson, Sloan and Ackerson's stepbrother, Lane R. Bronson, 29, are also charged in this week's indictment with a conspiracy to tamper with a witness, victim and informant from July 5, 2020, to the date of the indictment.
The three of them and the stepbrothers' mother, Kimberly K. Grissom, 47, and their cousin, Jacob R. Scribner, 34, also both of Joplin, are facing additional charges of retaliating against and tampering with witnesses.
The U.S. attorney's office said they used physical force or threatened physical force against four witnesses in separate incidents that included the kidnapping, restraining, blindfolding and beating of witnesses, with some even shot at. Sloan also allegedly offered two of the witnesses $1,000 in exchange for recanting statements they'd made about Ackerson.
In the past month, five other defendants named in a third superseding indictment in the case pleaded guilty to involvement in witness tampering incidents: David W. Morris, 34, of Duenweg; Morgan L. Bowman, 26, of Joplin; Sarah M. Humburd, 25, of Joplin; Megan L. Detherage, 28, of Seneca; and Chloe L. Stith, 35, of Joplin.
The indictments in the case also charged an 11th defendant, Ariel S.P. Divine, 30, of Webb City, with assisting Ackerson and Bronson in the disposing of Walker Campbell's body and belongings.
The FBI, Joplin Police Department, Mayes County Sheriff's Department and Muscogee Nation Lighthorse Police Department have all been involved in the investigation of the case.
Ackerson, Bronson and Morris are also co-defendants in the murder of Lamar resident Terry Harless a little more than a week after the slaying of Walker Campbell. Bronson has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in that case and is awaiting sentencing.
Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.
