Man charged with second-degree murder in case of missing Stillwater woman

STILLWATER, Okla. – A man accused of murdering a woman he worked with in Stillwater and then dumping her body into a river has been charged with the crime.

According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, 29-year-old Chelsey Chaffin moved into a home in Stillwater near E 32nd Ave. and Fairgrounds Road on May 24.

Officials say the home belonged to 54-year-old Earl Oswalt, Jr., who worked with Chaffin at a tile company in Stillwater.

The day after she moved into Oswalt’s home was the last time anyone heard from the 29-year-old Stillwater woman.

“I kept trying to text her,” Michelle Leshore, Chaffin’s mother, told News 4. “I kept trying to get ahold of her even on Facebook.”

A missing person's case was opened on June 3, but the investigation quickly took a devastating turn.

Investigators learned that Oswalt allegedly killed Chaffin during the early morning hours of May 26. Around 1 a.m. the next day, her body was dumped over a bridge into the Cimarron River.

Officials say this is not Oswalt's first run-in with the law.

Oswalt is a registered sex offender who spent 20 years in prison on a 60-year sentence for rape in the first degree. In 2017, he was paroled.

“She didn't know his background information or nothing,” Farren Metz, Chaffin's ex-fiancee, said.

Court documents in Payne County state that Oswalt has been charged with second-degree murder in connection to Chaffin's death.

So far, Chaffin's body has not been found.