On Monday, Jacob Mayhugh admitted to the premeditated killing of his father James Mayhugh, mother Patty Mayhugh, and sister Shayla Mayhugh, in their Chickasha home earlier in the year and has been sentenced to spend the remainder of his life behind bars without the option of parole, as reported by KOCO. Mayhugh pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on all three counts according to court records.
The discovery of the slain family members initiated an extensive law enforcement pursuit that began on May 11 after Chickasha police found the bodies at a home near Sixth Street and Washington Avenue, a sequence of events that sourced from a local news outlet News 9 published in its entirety; the young man evaded capture for days was ultimately apprehended in Oklahoma City through efforts involving various police agencies, after which he confessed to the crimes.
In an unexpected turn away from seeking the death penalty, a plea agreement was entered for three consecutive life sentences and Mayhugh relinquished all rights to appeal, commutation, parole, and contact with the victims’ families, choosing a swifter conclusion to a case that had deeply shaken the Chickasha community, these details were presented by News 9. District Attorney Jason Hicks citied the Mayhugh family's preference for a prompt resolution and articulated within his statement to News 9, "My policy is if I don't have a family that's 100% on board with seeking a death sentence, and is willing to go that far with it, I'm not going to do it simply because it takes too long to get somebody from the time that a crime is committed to an execution chamber."
The arrest brought to light that Jacob Mayhugh had planned the killings in advance, purchasing a rifle on April 25 and speaking about having pizza with his family that fateful night, he was found with incriminating items including ammunition clips, with KFOR reporting investigators found his vehicle contained, in addition to two AR-style magazines loaded with ammunition, a wallet and $750 in cash, Mayhugh's calm facade on a park bench during his arrest contrasted starkly with the brutal nature of his crimes and shocked the public, further details unfolded in court documents reported by KFOR.
Hicks, in a statement, touched on the incomprehensibility of the motive behind such heinous acts, "That's not something that we generally are ever able to answer because you can't explain other than somebody is just full of evil. The taking of three human lives, you can’t explain that. Taking one much less three, especially your parents and your sister," he told News 9.
