
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 58-year-old Stillwater man avoided a murder trial this week by admitting he was driving under the influence of an intoxicating drug when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a ditch in a collision two miles north of Ripley — killing his girlfriend.
Richard Randall Catlett has a plea agreement with the prosecution for a 15-year prison term followed by 10 years of probation for second-degree murder after a prior DUI, a felony carrying a possible life prison term, court records show.
Catlett has been jailed on $100,000 bail for 19 months and remains held pending his sentencing on June 6 before Payne County Associate District Judge Michael Kulling.
The victim was identified by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol as Linda Kimble, 41, of Stillwater, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Toxicology results on Catlett from the state crime bureau “indicated the presence of oxymorphone, oxycodone, amphetamine, methamphetamine, methadone and alprazolam,” according to an affidavit by Trooper James Stacy, a member of the OHP Traffic Homicide Unit.
Catlett was driving a Chevrolet Cavalier at 6:30 pm on Sunday, July 11, 2021, south on Union Road approaching 80th Street when he lost control of the car on the gravel road, went off to the right, hit a rocky ditch and the vehicle began to roll, the affidavit said. His girlfriend, who was in the front seat, was ejected and suffered fatal injuries, the affidavit said.
A witness told OHP Trooper Colby Martens that he saw Catlett driving at a high rate of speed and thought the car “was going to crash due to the reckless driving, so he turned around to check on the vehicle,” found it had rolled over and ejected a woman, the affidavit said.
When the trooper asked Catlett if he had taken any medication, “he stated that he took his prescribed Oxycodone at noon,” the affidavit alleged.
Asked if he had the prescription, “Catlett removed an Oxycodone prescription bottle from his pocket,” and took an unknown number of tablets in front of the trooper, who was unable to keep him from swallowing them, the affidavit alleged.
Catlett was transported by LifeNet EMS to the Stillwater Medical Center where his blood was tested on a search warrant obtained by a trooper, the affidavit said.
“I interviewed Catlett at the hospital, and he admitted to taking un-prescribed Xanax earlier in the day,” taking Oxycodone pills in front of Trooper Martens and smoking methamphetamine before driving, Trooper Stacy alleged in his affidavit.
“Catlett stated he was driving at approximately 60-mph in the 45-mph speed zone;” however, the car’s event data recorder indicated 77-mph five seconds before the algorithm enable, the affidavit alleged. “Catlett was falling asleep while speaking to me,” but had not received any hospital medication, Trooper Stacy wrote in his affidavit.
Stillwater Police Department Drug Recognition Expert Sgt. James Hansen evaluated Catlett after his release from the hospital and “determined that Catlett was under the influence of several illegal substances at the time of the collision.
“I later obtained a search warrant for Catlett’s hospital records and a urine analysis indicated the presence of benzodiazepines, oxycodone, methadone, methamphetamines, and cannabinoids,” Trooper Stacy alleged in his affidavit. “Catlett had a prior DUI in Payne County that was accelerated to a suspended sentence in 2012,” the affidavit alleged.