An Edmond attorney was killed by her ex-husband in a murder-suicide, police say. The bodies were found Tuesday evening in Oklahoma City.
BY BRYAN DEAN
Published: March 24, 2011
Freda Cross took all the legal steps she could to protect herself after her ex-husband’s alcoholism spiraled out of control, but it wasn’t enough, her attorney said Wednesday.
Oklahoma City police investigate a shooting scene where the bodies of a man and a woman were found Tuesday evening near NW 26 and Western Avenue. PHOTO BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN
The Edmond attorney was shot to death by her ex-husband Tuesday before he turned the gun on himself, police said. Cross recently had filed a protective order claiming she was being stalked and harassed.
Hours after he was released from jail Tuesday following his latest alcohol-related arrest, Michael J. McCreary, 61, began following Cross, 58, according to her attorney, Matt Buergler. About 6:15 p.m., she pulled her car into the parking lot of an empty convenience store at NW 26 and Western Avenue.
McCreary pulled up next to his ex-wife’s car with the driver’s side windows facing each another and shot her multiple times. McCreary then shot and killed himself, police said. The state medical examiner ruled it a murder-suicide.
“She was a dear friend and good attorney and a good mom among many other things,” Buergler said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.”
Buergler said Cross was talking to a friend on her cell phone when she was shot.
McCreary, who had worked in real estate, had a long history of alcohol abuse which worsened late last year, said his attorney, Dan Murdock.
Cross filed for divorce in October, ending the couple’s 10-year marriage.
“I know the divorce came about as a result of the alcohol abuse,” said Murdock, who said he knew McCreary for more than 30 years.
“I think Mike accepted that he had a problem, but it was uncontrollable and he just couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything about it.”
Divorce final in January
After the divorce was finalized in January, McCreary’s behavior worsened. He was arrested by Edmond police Feb. 5 on complaints of driving under the influence, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Beginning Feb. 16, McCreary began harassing Cross by repeatedly calling her and driving past her home, Cross stated in the application for a victim protective order. She said McCreary called her home and office at least 20 to 30 times a day between Feb. 16 and Feb. 22.
Documents with the protective order Cross filed on Feb. 24 state that a day earlier McCreary showed up drunk at her house and rang her doorbell, yelling that he needed money. He also dumped empty liquor bottles and beer cans in her yard, she said.
Shortly after a March 10 hearing on the protective order, McCreary turned over his gun to Murdock by order of the court. Murdock said he did not know where his client got another firearm.
McCreary was arrested Friday in Oklahoma City on a public intoxication complaint, had another alcohol-related arrest in Bethany and was arrested on another driving under the influence complaint Sunday morning in Perry, Murdock said.
Murdock said he last spoke with McCreary on Tuesday after he was released from jail.
“Mike was talking with me about treatment, about doing things to deal with the issue,” Murdock said. “He struggled with alcoholism his whole life.”
Shot near office
Buergler said Cross called a close friend Tuesday evening to say her ex-husband was following her. Cross’ office at 4808 N Classen is about two miles away from where she was killed.
“If I know Freda, she pulled over and did not get out of her car because she was going to ask him to please stop following her,” Buergler said.
Cross was still on the phone when McCreary pulled out a pistol and started shooting, Buergler said.
Jesse Thogmartin, who lives next door to the scene of the shooting, said he was in his backyard, heard five to seven gunshots and dove for cover behind a cinder-block building next to his wooden stockade fence.
One of the bullets left a hole in the fence and a mark where it struck the building Thogmartin was hiding behind.
“You can’t explain it,” Murdock said. “You can’t do anything but have such sorrow at the effect that it has had on everyone.”
Contributing: Staff Writers Nolan Clay, Robert Medley, Tricia Pemberton and Matt Patterson
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