April 29, 1986, a Lawton wife and mother Aileen Conway, was found burned to death in a car that had crashed on a lonely, isolated rural road. Ruled at first an accidental death, her husband and children soon became convinced that was wrong and worked tirelessly to get authorities to delve deeper into the case. Too many things did not add up.
Indications were that the care had been going about 50-60 mph when in ran into a low metal railing over a narrow bridge. It burst into flames, burning so hot that the car was consumed, metal merging with metal in the inferno. Tests by the authorities (including the state Fire Marshall) indicated the material of her car had flame retardant qualities that should have put out any normal blaze or minimized its impact. Tests proved similar material doing just exactly what it was supposed to do. To burn as hot as the fire in the car did, an accelerate would be need to feed the flames.
Her family had found, additionally, several clues that something had odd had occurred. The ironing board had been set up , with the iron on. A bath was run but not used. A phone was off the hook. A yard hosed filling or topping up an outdoor pool was left running. Her purse was left inside the house.
One of the biggest puzzles was why was she on that desolate, isolated, county road in the first place? Her family could not find any clues or reasons why she would have been there, that time or any other. Especially given the conditions left at home. Theories included her being a victim of local robbery spree gone bad but that leaves as many questions as it answers.
Aileen Conway died a mysterious and, to date, still unsolved death on April 29, 1986. That tragedy still haunts family and friends to this day.
An oddly similar death occurred in March 1956 when a young wife, a student at the university in Alva, Oklahoma was returning to her home near Avard. The tragic death of Mildred Ann Newlin Reynolds, known by most friends as Ann, involved a lonely and isolated stretch of country road, a car that burned at an unusually high level, tracks of a possible second vehicle, and what looked like an attempt by one driver to turn around.
Her young coach husband, and many others, were eyed as possible suspects. The event occurred - as with the Lawton case - on a stretch of country road far away from the nearest residence. In the Reynolds case the victim was simply heading toward the farm she and her husband lived on.
There were anomalies : the tire tracks, a shoe and blood outside the vehicle and on the side of the road (although her body was found laying slumped from driver side onto the passenger side, and what looked like something might have been stuck in the gas tank opening to speed up fire reaching the gas tank. See more at LACY NEWLIN'S STORY.
