Oklahoma couple still jailed, hearing time uncertain

Alice Campbell Havre Daily News [email protected]

Abel Travis Wolf, 35, and Denise Ann Wolf, 40, are still in the Hill County Detention Center after being arrested on charges that they failed to report their 11-year-old daughter Cheyenne Wolf's death and instead transported her body through Oklahoma, Oregon and Montana. Hill County Sheriff's deputies arrested the two Thursday. The couple will face charges of unlawful removal of a dead body once they are extradited to Oklahoma, a process that has been started, Hill County Attorney Gina Dahl said. The couple was originally arrested on charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence as well as Oklahoma warrants, however, Dahl said, “we're not going to pur sue the tampe r ing charge. “We have filed a fugitive complaint already to start the extradition process” to Oklahoma, she said yesterday. The couple may waive their right to an extradition hearing, and that would speed up their return to Oklahoma, al though no timetable is certain, Dahl said. It is unclear why the couple, who were arrested at their residence on County Road 100 South, southwest of Havre, moved to the area. Several days ago, the Ardmore, Okla. , pol ice department received a report from family members that Cheyenne was missing, after the family members grew concerned that no contact had been made with the girl since the family began a string of moves through Montana and Oregon, Brown said. The Ardmore police referred the case to the Bryan County Sher i f f 's Office, which alerted the Oklahoma State Bureau of Invesitagion, Jessica Brown of of the bureau said. Police searched a storage unit used by the couple in the Milton-Freewater area of Oregon. There, remains were discovered. Based on signed affidavits by two people, those remains are Cheyenne's, and “It's possible that one of her siblings actually beat her to death,” Brown said. The remains are being shipped to Portland, Ore., where the medical examiner's office will perform an autopsy to positively identify the remains and to determine the cause of death, Brown said. `This morning, no information was available from the state medical examiner's office. “We believe that it was April 2008 that she died,” Brown said. Dahl said the couple's other children were placed with child protective services before the arrest. “It was my understanding that the Wolfs voluntarily placed them,” she said.