Why is Poteau, Oklahoma so murdery?

Poteau sits in eastern Oklahoma, the seat of LeFlore County, about three hours from Oklahoma City and four from Dallas. It grew from a few houses and a general store in 1885, then part of the Choctaw Nation, and takes its name from the French word for post, by way of a river and a trading outpost below Cavanal Mountain. That is a long way from anywhere, which is perhaps why the show has only found two episodes within 25 miles.

Between them they account for seven dead. Episode 641, set in Poteau itself, carries six across two dates, May 1984 and July 1986. Episode 435 adds one from Gans, 23 miles away, dated July 1982. So this is not a town with a long murder habit in the show's files. It is one episode doing almost all the lifting, with a neighbour chipping in one case from the same few years.

The count is the show's cases, not the town's crime statistics. James and Jimmie go where the stories are, and Poteau's story happened to fill an episode. Rank 192 overall and second in Oklahoma is what that looks like.