McALESTER – Cody Lee Ketchum, 37, has been convicted of firstdegree murder in the 2017 death of Holly Cantrell and sentenced to life without parole.
His long-awaited trial was held on March 14. At Ketchum’s sentencing hearing on Thursday, April 18, defense attorney Brecken Wagner said he would appeal.
Cantrell, 41, an employee of the McAlester Regional Medical Center, disappeared on Jan. 20, 2017. Her skeletal remains were found in the Cardinal Point area at Lake Eufaula in northern Pittsburg County in March 2018 but the body was not positively identified until 2020.
Ketchum was arrested in October 2022, at the McAlester Army Ammunition Base where he was employed.
He was charged with murder and with destroying evidence.
At his trial in March, he was convicted on both counts and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder. For destroying evidence, he is to be incarcerated in the Pittsburg County Jail not to exceed one year.
