Town note
The town began to develop as people followed cattle herds along the Chisholm Trail.
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FILE 682 / 13 March 2026 / 72 MIN / express
We are going to Velma, Oklahoma ... this is in Stevens County, area code 580, population 601. about 0:03:05
The town began to develop as people followed cattle herds along the Chisholm Trail.
about 0:04:35A post office was established at Velma, then in Indian Territory, on September 25th, 1886.
about 0:04:45It was named for Velma Dobbins, the daughter of a local merchant.
about 0:04:45At the time of its founding it was in Pickens County, in the Chickasaw Nation.
about 0:05:19The town began to develop as people followed cattle herds along the Chisholm Trail.
about 0:04:35A post office was established at Velma, then in Indian Territory, on September 25th, 1886.
about 0:04:45It was named for Velma Dobbins, the daughter of a local merchant.
about 0:04:45At the time of its founding it was in Pickens County, in the Chickasaw Nation.
about 0:05:19It was mainly a farming community, with cotton the main crop.
about 0:05:25Later it became about cattle and hog operations.
about 0:05:29Oil came in, and there are now a lot of oil and petroleum-related industries around the town.
about 0:05:35"601"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:03:51
"$68,333"
Comparison: "just about the national average". Direction: about the same.
As told in 2026 about 0:04:05
"$140,300"
No direction stated.
As told in 2026 about 0:04:12
5.0 / 5 · average of 3
“Liked how small the town was, everyone knows everyone; would like to see more jobs available in the area.”about 0:05:43
“A very small close-knit community where people lend a hand; the writer graduated from Velma-Alma High School and her three children attend there; great schools but some buildings need renovating.”about 0:06:16
“A small town where everyone knows who you are and most people are related; safe and family friendly, with an outstanding school system in academics, sports and extracurriculars.”about 0:06:51
Brailey Ray Henry was born on September 20th, 1995, in Lawton, Oklahoma, to Billy Ray Henry and Gina Renee Henson, and grew up in Velma with an older brother and two younger siblings. She was a junior at Velma High School, president of the Future Farmers of America, a reserve grand champion with her sheep in 2010, a starter on the varsity basketball team, an all-area runner in track and cross country, a member of the student council, academic team, 4-H and the National Honor Society, and a recent Miss Velma-Alma contestant. She was about six feet tall, cheerful and driven.
He had a learning disability and spent years in special education, though his intelligence was judged normal and he worked his way into a co-taught classroom in the eighth grade. Neighbours described him as polite and quiet. In July 2005, when he was fourteen, Karen Doyle moved in behind his house and saw him masturbating at his window while she swam; over the Labor Day weekend he shouted at her and stood nude in his bedroom window, and she called the police. He was reprimanded at schools in Illinois, Ada and Davis for touching girls.
He trained in martial arts for years with the aim of becoming an MMA fighter. In May 2012 he took a job at the TP Totem Convenience Store in Velma, where he began approaching young female customers. At the beginning of June he touched sixteen-year-old Jessie Anderson at the snow cone stand across the street, kissing her hand and asking for her address and phone number; he groped Gina Mercer at the store's soda fountain and told her he thought she was a high school girl; and on June 5th he came up behind fifteen-year-old Brianna Stinchcomb at the fountain and asked her to go into the back room and exchange life stories. Mercer reported him to the owner and nothing was done; within three weeks he had the keys to close the store alone.
She fought him hard; his elbow was bruised and his arm bitten, and the medical examiner found defensive wounds and pattern injuries matching the soles of his shoes. She suffocated in her own blood.
He put a bag over her head, put the body in a shopping cart, wheeled it to her car and laid her in the back seat, adding peanut butter, sunflower seeds, a toothbrush, rubbing alcohol and razors from the shelves. He drove her car to a field on his grandparents' land, undressed her from the waist down and pulled her top up, dragged her to a muddy spot and covered her with a shovelful of dirt and leaves.
At 8.15 that evening Tammy Wilkerson found a large pool of blood in the store and called the Velma police. About an hour later Brailey's family reported her missing. Deputies went to the grandparents' house and dogs found the body in the field. I may have killed somebody." The blood in the storeroom was matched to Brailey, with a chance of a match to anyone else of one in 61.8 quadrillion.
Brailey's funeral was held on June 12th, 2012, in the Velma High School gym, and the street into the school was later renamed Brailey's Way.
After the McGirt v. Her family runs a memorial scholarship fund and golf tournament in her name.
June 6th, 2012 / the TP Totem Convenience Store, Velma, Oklahoma
As told in the episode, on 13 March 2026.
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
crime scene
about 0:11:44crime scene
about 0:12:43business
about 0:31:51business
about 0:38:23body found
about 0:46:49school
about 0:39:01school
about 0:58:23road
about 0:58:58school
about 0:06:20police
about 0:12:59police
about 0:49:13road
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