Booking photo of Daniel Joseph Triplett, missing person image of Brent Mack. (Images: Guthrie Police Department)
Jurors convicted a former Oklahoma city councilman of murdering his employee and burying the man’s body under a customer’s new septic tank.
Daniel Triplett, 68, who served on the city council in Guthrie, was convicted of first-degree murder and desecration of a human corpse in the September 2020 death of Brent Mack, 50. Triplett faces a maximum of life in prison without parole during his formal sentencing on June 16.
The case originally landed on law enforcement radar after Mack went missing and his worried daughter reached out to Triplett for help. Communicating on Facebook, the defendant asserted he fired Mack on Sept. 20, 2021, dropped him off in front of a laundromat, and gave him $1,000 in severance. Triplett deleted those messages, authorities said.
As Law&Crime previously reported, investigators determined Mack and Triplett had been working at a property on E. County Road 69 on Sept. 20, 2021. They were installing a septic tank. Surveillance footage showed the men arriving in Triplett’s vehicle, but only one of them left. Footage showed Mack entering the septic tank hole and also taking a lunch break in the truck, authorities said. The video did not show any argument or confrontation between the two men but during the trial, Triplett reportedly tried to claim self-defense
Investigators ultimately discovered Mack’s body under the tank.
Investigators determined the last phone call Mack made was to his long-distance girlfriend from Texas. They last communicated on Sept. 20, when he told her he was being picked up for work, and later said he was on a job site and did not have good service.
“Okay babe I’ll call you later,” he texted her that day at 12:56 p.m., authorities said. It was the final time he contacted her.
When authorities reached out to Triplett, he asserted he split with Mack because of the man’s “violent demeanor,” according to investigators.
“Dan stated he gave Brent $1,000 as a severance pay,” authorities wrote. “Dan claimed that Brent exited the truck and told him he was going to Texas to get married. Lt. Bruning asked if Brent was upset about being fired and Dan told him he wasn’t upset.”
But when authorities asked when he worked on Sept. 20, 2021, he said it was W. — not E. — County Road 69. It was for building a barn home with a fresh septic tank and lateral lines. That tale did not hold up under the barest of law enforcement scrutiny because they asked that property owner, who said the job was done earlier that month, not the 20th.
“[The property owner] stated he had a text message from Dan on September 10, 2021, stating that job had been completed on September 8, 2021,” authorities wrote. “The job taking two days.”
Triplett later admitted to authorities he was in an area where someone dumped a bag full of Mack’s work clothes, but he maintained he was there to check on his own truck’s lights, according to documents.
He continued to insist he and Mack last worked at the W. County Road 69 address, but he changed his story several times on where he left Mack, authorities said. Also, his purported story about the laundromat did not hold up, authorities said.
“Dan was shown a copy of the video footage showing him driving by the Holiday Laundry and not stopping,” authorities said. “When confronted with the inconsistencies in the story Dan became very red faced and appeared to be angry. Dan was asked about other jobs and locations and Dan stated he couldn’t remember.”
Investigators tracked down the E. County Road 69 location when they executed a search warrant on Triplett’s home and discovered a statement book in his truck showing the Sept. 20 worksite.
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