A 30-year-old woman has confessed to strangling her female housemate to death during an argument over food stamps.
According to law and crime, Jessica Lavon McBride attempted to set the victim’s body on fire twice, so she could cover up the crime, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Oklahoma announced on Friday.
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“The victim, Tracy Russell, had previously allowed the defendant and her boyfriend to stay with her in exchange for assistance with groceries,” the Department of Justice wrote in a press release.
However, the victim later ordered that the defendant and her boyfriend leave the home, the DOJ said.
In a plea agreement, McBride confessed she left — but returned. The document contains the following confession signed by the defendant: “I, Jessica McBride, admit that I killed Tracy Elaine Russell on March 17, 2019. I intentionally killed Tracy Elaine Russell by strangling her until she died. I did this during a heated argument about whether Tracy Elaine Russell stole my food stamps. Then I took a blanket, covered Tracy Elaine Russell with it, and lit it on fire. I set the fire intending to burn Tracy Elaine Russell’s body and her residence located [on] North Johnstown Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma, to destroy evidence. However, the fire did not burn the residence down.”
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The signed confession says the defendant again left the house. Yet, she admitted that she came back three days later to try to finish the job: “Then, on March 20, 2019, I returned to [the house] with lighter fluid intending to set fire to the residence with Tracy Elaine Russell’s body inside. I understand the residence . . . was being rented and so effected interstate commerce. I understand Tracy Elaine Russell is an Indian, a member of the Cherokee Nation by blood and recognition. I understand this occurred in Indian Country and in the Northern District of Oklahoma. While I am of Indian heritage, I am not a recognized member of any federally recognized native American tribes and so do not count as an Indian for purposes of federal criminal jurisdiction.”