During the early morning hours of June 29th, 2017, 43-year-old Ronald McMullen Jr. (pictured right) called 911 and frantically told dispatchers that his daughter, 22-year-old Kailee McMullen (pictured left), had been shot in the face. The 911 operator is heard asking Ronald, “did she do it?”, to which Ronald replied “Yes.”
Paramedics and police officers were sent to the McMullen’s home located in Norman, Oklahoma. When asked what happened, Ronald told police that Kailee had been playing with a wheel gun that went off when he tried to take it from her. Ronald was covered in his daughter’s blood, but he kept trying to wipe it off with a towel in front of police.
He eventually had to be restrained from wiping blood off as crime scene investigators took photographs of him. Ronald also exhibited other odd behavior in front of police—at one point, he began laying on the ground and covering himself with dirt. This all seemed very suspicious to officers, but Ronald maintained that Kailee’s death was an accident that she caused herself.
As police pieced together the events over the following few days, they noticed many inconsistencies in Ronald’s story. The investigation into Kailee's death revealed that it was not an accident after all.
Evidence from the scene.
The gunpowder residue found on Kailee’s face indicated that the gun was fired from around 18 inches away from her face. If Kailee had fired the gun herself, it could not have been more than 14 inches away. Police have stated that it is likely that the gun was fired out of Kailee’s reach.
Additionally, there was evidence that somebody had tried to clean up the scene before police arrived. Police were able to confirm that there was a gap of time between Kailee’s death and the time they were called, because Ronald reportedly called Kailee’s mother before calling 911. In fact, Kailee’s mother was already on the scene when paramedics arrived, attempting to administer CPR to her daughter.
Information from friends and family.
Police also spoke to Kailee’s friends and family about her relationship with her father and learned that they had a dark past. Many described him as a “very controlling father” with abusive tendencies. In 2009, Ronald was accused of sexually abusing Kailee.
No charges were ever filed for the 2009 accusations. In the months leading up to Kailee’s death, however, she told her friends that her father had begun sexually abusing her again. He also allegedly slapped her in the face during an argument two months before her death.
Arrest and conviction.
On July 5th, 2018, Ronald McMullen was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Kailee’s death. He pleaded not guilty and went to trial in 2019.
During the trial, Ronald's defense continued to try and argue that Kailee had shot herself. However, in October 2019, a jury found Ronald guilty of murdering his daughter Kailee during June 2017. He was later sentenced to life in prison.
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Sources:
CBS News
Sources:
CBS News
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