After being found guilty in March, a Pittsburg County judge has sentenced Cody Ketchum to life in prison without parole for the murder of Holly Cantrell.
Cantrell went missing back in 2017 after leaving her job at McAlester hospital. In March 2018, human remains were found on a secluded peninsula near the Cardinal Point Recreation Area in Pittsburg. They were identified as belonging to Holly in February 2020.
At the time of her disappearance Cantrell was pregnant with Ketchum’s child. She was last seen on surveillance video talking to someone in the parking lot of the hospital before getting into a green, short wheel base truck, later identified as belonging to Ketchum.
“Justice has finally arrived for Holly Cantrell with today’s sentencing. I am immensely proud of my prosecutors, who helped secure this verdict and sentence. Our prayers and thoughts are with Holly’s family and friends,” Attorney General Genter Drummond said after the sentencing.
Ketchum’s attorney said they are planning to appeal the case.
The Disappearance of Holly Cantrell
Holly Cantrell was born on July 12, 1976, in Sacramento California and she lived in McAlester, Oklahoma.
She graduated from Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton and had worked as a teacher at William Gay and Emerson Elementary Schools for six years. At the time of her disappearance Cantrell worked as a physical therapy assistant at the McAlester Regional Hospital.
She married Tommy Cantrell on February 23, 2001, in Van Buren, Arkansas and had three three sons, ages 12 to 19, and two stepchildren with him. She was five months pregnant at the time she disappeared in January 2017, according to her family.
Holly was said to love animals and enjoyed taking care of her cows, goats, mini-horses and mini-donkeys and loved living in the country.
Disappearance
On January 20, 2017, Holly Cantrell left the McAlester Regional Health Center, where she was working as a physical therapist, at approximately 11:56 a.m on a lunch break.
She was seen, on surveillance video, talking to someone in the parking lot of the hospital, before getting into a green, short wheel base truck.
At 12:20 p.m, Holly Cantrell was seen at Braum’s, an ice cream and dairy restaurant, at 625 S. George Nigh Expressway, along U.S. Highway 69 in McAlester, about a seven-minute drive from her workplace.
She never returned to the clinic and has not been seen or heard from since.
In the evening, concerned when she hadn’t returned home, Cantrell’s husband took a ride over to the hospital but found no signs of her with her vehicle parked still at the health center parking lot.
Investigation
Authorities interviewed Cody Ketchum, a local man confirmed to be the driver of the green truck. He claimed they had arranged a meeting earlier, he had taken Cantrell to a local restaurant where she was supposedly meeting with friends for lunch but forgot to go back and pick her up.
In the area of the restaurant, video footage of the surveillance camera couldn’t confirm his testimony. Furthermore, police were unable to find any single friend who was supposed to meet Cantrell for lunch nor any evidence of Cody’s truck even driving there.
Moreover, the pair were said to be having a recent affair. Cody took a polygraph test and had been cooperative with investigators but remained a strong person of interest
On February 25 2017, a hunter came across a purse belonging to missing Cantrell at the Cardinal Point Recreation Area, near Lake Eufaula in Pittsburg County.
The purse contained Cantrell’s credit cards, identification and some personal belongings. However, her cell phone was nowhere to be found.
In March 2017, a group of 100 volunteers combined with the OKCM Search and Rescue Team in an effort to search for Cantrell whereabouts in the area where her purse was previously found a week earlier.
Pieces of clothing and papers were identified on location and confirmed by the family to belong to Holly Cantrell.
February and March 2018
Skeletal remains were discovered on a secluded peninsula near the Cardinal Point Recreation Area of Lake Eufaula in Pittsburgh, Oklahoma on February 25, 2018, less than two miles from where her purse was originally located.
Authorities discovered bones and a partial skull scattered over an area of about 50 yards by 50 yards. They also recovered a bra and fragments of green clothings, in the same kind of scrubs Holly Cantrell was last seen wearing.
Additionally, Cardinal Point was about 12 miles north of the Braum’s restaurant, where Cantrell was reportedly last seen alive. The remains were sent for testing to the National DNA Database for Missing and Unidentified Persons at the University of North Texas.
February 2020
Three years after her disappearance, Cantrell was officially identified as the located remains, in February of 2020, and the case became a homicide investigation.
Cody Ketchum Arrested For Holly’s Murder
In October 2022, Cody Ketchum was arrested and charged with first degree murder in the homicide of Holly Cantrell and destroying evidence.
After the positive identification of her remains, the case was taken to a grand jury who issued the indictment and arrest warrant for Ketchum. Not many details have been released, but authorities say evidence from Ketchum’s phone led to the indictment.
Ketchum Found Guilty of Holly Cantrell Murder
On March 13, 2024, Cody Ketchum was found guilty in the murder of Holly Cantrell. The jury recommended a sentence of life in prison without parole.
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