Matthew Taylor Rekart and Shayla Nicole Grant (LeFlore County Jail and KHBS screenshot)
A 33-year-old Oklahoma man is accused of beating a woman to death after learning that she was having an affair with his wife, then staging a car crash to make it look like the victim died in an accident.
Matthew Tyler Rekart was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of first-degree malice aforethought murder in the slaying of 27-year-old Shayla Nicole Grant earlier this month, court records obtained by Law&Crime show.
According to the criminal information filed on April 19 in LeFlore County District Court, Rekart killed Granton on April 6, 2023, by “inflicting certain mortal wounds, to-wit: by striking Shayla Nicole Grant in the head multiple times with an object.”
The filing also notes that if convicted, Rekart could face a maximum punishment of death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Officers with the Pocola Police Department and LeFlore County Emergency Medical Services personnel on April 6 responded to George Avenue East regarding what initially appeared to be a motor vehicle crash, Fort Smith CBS affiliate KFSM-TV reported. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders found Grant unresponsive in the driver’s seat of the car. She was pronounced dead on the scene.
When a trooper with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reportedly reviewed the electronic data from Grant’s car, they discovered that she was only traveling at 12 mph at the time of the presumably fatal crash. The data also reportedly showed that no pressure was applied to either the gas or the brake in the five seconds prior to Grant’s vehicle crashing.
“The damage to Grant’s vehicle appeared minimal, and did not appear consistent with the fatal injuries sustained by Grant,” the affidavit reportedly states.
A medical examiner on the scene reportedly found a dashboard camera in Grant’s car and placed the SD card into evidence. A review of the footage showed a disturbing revelation, police said.
The dashboard camera footage reportedly showed Grant pull up to the home of Rekart and his wife, Tiffany Rekart, and park. A man believed to be Rekart then walks around the front of Grant’s car and apparently gets inside. The car then reportedly pulls out of the driveway, drives to a nearby abandoned property with a shed, and parks, facing the small structure.
After parking, the dashcam reportedly begins to shake in what investigators believe to be a struggle taking place inside the car. Rekart is then allegedly seen walking towards the shed with several items that he places in the shed before returning to the vehicle.
The car is then “rolled” until it collides with a railing at the place where authorities later responded to the purported car crash, KFSM reported.
Grant’s mother told Fort Smith ABC affiliate KHBS that her daughter had the dashcam installed a few years ago after she was involved in a car accident.
Authorities reportedly located Grant’s phone inside the shed on the abandoned property.
In an interview with police, Tiffany Rekart reportedly said that she’d informed her husband on March 31 that she wanted to get a divorce. Rekart on April 5 reportedly took his wife’s cellphone and found text messages between her and Grant, refusing to return the phone until April 7, one day after Grant was killed.
Rekart is believed to have used his wife’s phone to lure Grant to their home while Tiffany Rekart was at the grocery store with their children.
Rekart on Monday pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, court records show. His next court appearance is scheduled for June 2023.
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