Cold Cases Closed in Osage County

With a little help from Hollywood and some funding from a popular TV show the Osage County Sheriff's department has been able to close three famous cold cases. Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden was approached regarding several cold cases by the television network Oxygen for the TV show Cold Justice, and with the funding from Oxygen and diligent work of Osage County investigators the Osage County Sheriff's department has been able to close three cold cases specifically, the drowning death of Blayne Davis in 2011, the murder of Donna Wilson in 2011, and the murder of Joannie Goodwin of Pawhuska from 1996.

Do to the diligent efforts of investigators J. Hunter and S. Talbert they were able to determine that the drowning death of Blayne Davis showed no evidence of foul play, and the death has been ruled an accident.

Donna Wilson was murdered in Lakeshore Heights in 2001 by strangulation, her body was then burned with accelerates in an attempt to conceal the crime. Cold Justice paid for a advanced DNA testing but they were unable to recover any additional DNA evidence. However, enough new evidence was presented to District Attorney Rex Duncan to file second degree murder charges, and the Osage County Sheriff's Department intends to make an arrest. The investigators on this case where J. Hunter and W. Gee.

Lastly, the case of Joannie Goodwin of Pawhuska. Goodwin was murdered in 1996 the investigation had been long cold when Sheriff Eddie Virden was asked to reopen the case in 2006. Virden was the lead investigator on the case with the Osage County Sheriff's Department at the time, and managed to make good progress and believe he had sufficient amount of evidence to make an arrest, however the District Attorney at the time disagreed. With the assistance of Cold Justice and investigators J. Hunter and K. Burke, New evidence was gathered, new witness statements were recorded, and District Attorney Rex Duncan filed first-degree murder charges against Cherri Dawn Miller.


Miller was arrested at 3:45pm on June 28th in Colorado County, Texas. Miller will remain in custody until extradited to the Osage County Jail.


The information in this story was disseminated by the Osage County Sheriff's Department on Thursday June 28th, and those in custody are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.