Police looking for son, 17, of slain Tulsa woman

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

Hank Laird, above, is wanted for first-degree murder in his mother's death.

/ KWTV

(CBS/KWTV) TULSA, Okla.- Police are looking to arrest 17-year-old Oklahoma boy Hank Laird on first-degree murder charges in his mother's death.

Police have already arrested 19-year-old Josiah Sklar after Linda Laird, 56, was found dead in her Tulsa home Tuesday morning by relatives, CBS affiliate KWTV reports.

According to jail records, police found Linda Laird's body at the bottom of a staircase in the living room, the station reports. The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office determined the cause of death was a homicide due to "blunt force trauma to the head and neck."

The records state a tip led officers to a Starbucks where employees told them Hank Laird used the store's phone, KWTV reports. Officers traced that call to Sklar, who they tracked down at another Tulsa restaurant.

Sklar reportedly told police he saw Hank Laird beat the victim in the head with the butt of a shotgun more than 20 times. He told officers he didn't call police about what happened because he wasn't ready to testify against his friend.

Sklar was booked into the Tulsa County jail on complaints of first-degree murder and possession of tobacco by a minor, KWTV reports.

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