POCOLA, Okla. — A Pocola man has been arrested for allegedly attempting to cover up killing a woman and staging a car accident as the cause of death, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
An arrest affidavit lays out the evidence against Matthew Rekart, a 33-year-old man, who is accused of killing a woman that police say was in a romantic relationship with his wife.
On April 6, Pocola police officers and LeFlore County EMS responded to what appeared to be a motor vehicle crash on George Avenue East in Pocola. First responders found Shayla Grant's body in the driver's seat and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The affidavit says that an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper reviewed the data in Grant's car during the crash and found that the car was going 12 mph and that the data didn't compute the incident as having enough force to cause an injury. "The damage to Grant's vehicle appeared minimal, and did not appear consistent with the fatal injuries sustained by Grant," the affidavit says.
The data from Grant's car also showed that in the five-second period before the crash, no pressure was applied to the accelerator or brake pedals.
While at the scene, the medical examiner noticed a dashboard camera in Grant's vehicle and took out the SD card. While reviewing the footage, investigators found that Shayla Grant's car had pulled into the driveway of a home belonging to Matthew and Tiffany Rekart. While parked in the driveway a white male "believed to be Matthew Rekart" is seen on video walking around the front of Grant's car before it pulls out and drives to a vacant property with a shed.
The vacant property is also where police found Grant's cell phone after speaking with her family, who said it was being digitally tracked.
Investigators said the dashcam also showed Grant's car shaking while parked in the vacant lot, which they believed to be a struggle. Police say the video then shows Matthew walking away from the car with a phone and unidentified items in his hand before walking back to the car without the items.
Then, investigators say the vehicle reversed from the vacant property's driveway and rolled west toward State Highway 112, where it came to a complete stop and collided with a red pipe railing—allegedly what was to be believed as the crash that killed Grant.
In an interview with police on April 14, Tiffany Rekart said that "although she was married to Matthew, she had been in a romantic relationship with Grant." Tiffany said that Matthew had known that Tiffany and Grant had been in a relationship in the past but he thought it had ended.
During the interview, Tiffany told investigators she had informed Grant that she was going forward with a divorce on March 31. Five days later, Matthew saw texts on Tiffany's phone and "refused to let" her have her phone back until April 7, the affidavit states. Grant died on April 6, reportedly during the time Matthew had "possession and access" to Tiffany's phone.
Investigators say that when Tiffany and her kids went to pick up groceries from Walmart in Fort Smith on April 6 Matthew was at their home, still possessing her phone. Police referenced footage from Walmart during the time Grant "was killed" which showed Tiffany's vehicle picking up groceries.
Grant's stepfather said that his stepdaughter was somebody that "You couldn't help but fall in love with. You just can't."
Grant's mother Shana McClure said that "I don't know how to feel right now. I've got a lot of anger, a lot of rage, a lot of sadness, and a lot of questions why." McClure said that in their last phone call, she had told her daughter that they'd see each other Easter day, but she "didn't get to see her for Easter. He took her."
On April 19, Matthew Rekart was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Shayla Grant. He pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance on Monday, April 24.
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