Miles Bench was sentenced to death by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of sixteen year old Braylee Henry
According to court documents Miles Bench was working in a store when sixteen year old Braylee Henry would come in. While the teen was getting a drink Miles Bench would attack her and eventually beat her to death
Miles Bench would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Miles Bench is incarcerated at Oklahoma State Penitentiary
Miles Bench Case
¶2 Miles Bench began working at the Teepee Totem convenience store in the town of Velma, Stephens County in May of 2012. He was twenty-one years old. Appellant lived outside of town with his grandparents. His cousin, Clayton Jenson, regularly drove him to work.
¶3 After three weeks of training, Miles Bench began to close the store by himself. On June 6th, Jenson drove Appellant to work. They visited for 2 hours beforehand and discussed Appellant’s plan to go to California so Appellant could be a mixed martial arts (“MMA”) fighter. Jenson dropped Appellant off shortly before 2:00 p.m. Other than a sore throat, Appellant seemed absolutely normal to Jenson that day.
¶4 Sixteen-year-old Braylee Henry drove into Velma around 7:30 p.m. to get an item from the grocery store. After completing this task, Henry went into the Teepee Totem to get some candy and a soda fountain drink. Through Appellant’s admissions to his psychological expert, we know that Appellant attacked Henry while she was filing a cup at the fountain. He struck Henry and took her to the ground. He strangled Henry with a choke hold and dragged her into the store’s stockroom.
¶5 Henry played basketball for her school and was in good shape. Once inside the storeroom, she fought back. Appellant attacked Henry a second time. He repeatedly hit her. Miles Bench brutally beat Henry’s head, face, neck, and chest. Appellant dragged Henry across the room causing her head to strike the floor. He stomped on her head, neck, arm, and upper back with his shoe. Appellant’s prolonged savagery resulted in Henry’s death. She asphyxiated on the blood in her lungs and died from the blunt force trauma to her head and neck.
¶6 Miles Bench then took steps to conceal what he had done and flee to California. He put a sack around Henry’s head and placed her body inside a shopping cart. Appellant covered Henry’s body with boxes, pushed the cart out to Henry’s car, and placed her body inside the back seat. Appellant gathered up peanut butter, sunflower seeds, a toothbrush, rubbing alcohol, and razors from the store’s shelves and placed them in the car. He drove Henry’s car to a semi-secluded area on his grandparent’s land and removed her body from the car. Appellant completely undressed Henry from the waist down and pulled her jacket, tank-top, and sports bra up until they fully exposed her breasts. He dragged Henry’s body to a muddy spot in the field and partially covered it with dirt and vegetation.
¶7 Miles Bench went inside his grandparent’s home, put a clean shirt over the top of the shirt he was wearing, and collected additional items for his trip, including boots, clothing, hydrogen peroxide, and his wallet. Recognizing that it was too early for Appellant to be home from work, his grandfather, Stanley Bench, asked Appellant if he had quit or been fired. Appellant simply responded, “Yes.” Appellant informed Mr. Bench that he was leaving. He went outside and washed himself in the water spigot. When he was done, he stuck his head back inside the door and declared; “Pa, I love you.” Mr. Bench responded; “I do you too. Be careful out there and don’t get hurt.” Appellant stated, “Okay,” and left.
¶8 Tammy Wilkerson ventured into the Teepee Totem around 8:15 that evening. She was alarmed to discover that the clerk was missing from the store. When she looked into the storeroom she discovered a pool of blood. Wilkerson called the Velma Police Department and contacted, Melissa Lynn, one of the other store clerks who lived nearby.
¶9 When Henry failed to return on time, her mother went looking for her. She contacted law enforcement when she was unable to find Henry.
¶10 The Stephen’s County Sheriff’s Department investigated Appellant’s absence from the store. Deputy Michael Moore documented the interior of the convenience store and obtained a DNA sample from the pool of blood in the storeroom. Deputy David Martin went to the home of Appellant’s grandparents to check on Appellant’s welfare. Using canine officers, Lieutenant Chad Powell discovered Henry’s nude body in the nearby field. The officers put out a “BOLO” alert for Henry’s car.
¶11 Deputy Quinton Short of the Custer County Sheriff’s Department received the alert and observed Henry’s vehicle headed west on Interstate 40. He stopped the car and approached it on foot. Short observed in plain sight a large amount of blood in the backseat. He discovered Appellant seated in the driver’s seat and ordered him to exit the car. Once outside the sedan, Appellant spontaneously declared that he was not driving the vehicle. Slightly confounded by Appellant’s assertion, Short responded; “Then whose vehicle is it?” Appellant then stated; “I think I f****d up, I may have killed somebody.” Deputy Short observed that Appellant had blood on his clothing. He took Appellant into custody and transported him to the Custer County Jail.
https://law.justia.com/cases/oklahoma/court-of-appeals-criminal/2018/d-2015-462.html
