MUSKOGEE – Fredrick Cody Burkhalter, 27, of Rentiesville, was sentenced to 222 months in prison for causing the death of a person by firearm during a crime of violence, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that The charges arose from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office, and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Lighthorse Police Department.
On March 28, Burkhalter pleaded guilty to one count of Causing the Death of a Person in the Course of a Violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c).
According to investigators, in April of 2022, Burkhalter intentionally shot and killed Kilby Jed Ingram, 27, then disposed of the victim’s body and attempted to cover up the crime.
The victim’s remains were recovered and identified during a coordinated search of Burkhalter’s home and property conducted by a multi-agency task force.
The crime occurred in McIntosh County, within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
According to a federal criminal complaint filed by the FBI, the agency had received word that a victim in Rentiesville had been shot multiple times, dismembered and his body stuffed in a 55-gallon barrel of muriatic acid.
On Wednesday, June 14, Burkhalter was arrested and charged with Desecration of a Human Corpse in Indian Country.
The crime allegedly was the result of an argument over a gun stolen from Ingram by the suspect.
According to the FBI, Burkhalter is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and he is accused of committing the crime in Indian Country.
Ingram reportedly lived with Burkhalter in Rentiesville a short time before disappearing on April 29, 2022.
The criminal complaint said multiple search warrants were executed on June 12, 2023, at properties in Rentiesville.
“Skeletal remains were located during the search of the properties. The remains were identified as human by onsite forensic anthropologists. The remains were found mixed with the skeletal remains of a dog,” the complaint stated. “(They) … include a fractured cervical vertebrae, fractured hand bones and a femur bone shattered into multiple pieces. The remains show signs of dismemberment, disfigurement, mutilation and of being devoured.”
The investigation was aided by, among others, personnel from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the Checotah Police Department, the District 25 Violent Crime Task Force, Muscogee (Creek) Nation Attorney General’s Office, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Fire Department Hazmat Unit, the Tulsa Fire Department, the Oklahoma Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue K9 Team, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Emergency Management, and the Tulsa Humane Society HEART Team.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office extends its deepest gratitude to each and every one of the state, county, tribal, and federal agencies who came to the aid of investigators and offered their invaluable partnership and combined efforts to bring resolution to this case,” said United States Attorney Christopher J. Wilson. “It is always heartbreaking when we are unable to bring good news to the family of a missing person, but we hope that this sentence brings a measure of closure to a family and a community during their time of grief.”
The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.
Burkhalter will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a nonparolable sentence of incarceration.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick Flanigan and Richard Lorenz represented the United States.
