A man accused of beating a registered nurse to death with a wooden board at an Oklahoma City car wash has been charged with first-degree murder. Billy Buford, 59, was charged in the killing of 48-year-old Douglas Smitherman, who was discovered dead at a self-service car wash on NW 122nd Street in May 2025.
Oklahoma City police officers responded to the car wash near North Pennsylvania Avenue at 12:36 p.m. on May 2, 2025, and found Smitherman's body, according to the Oklahoma City Free Press. Responding officers noted that Smitherman had sustained injuries consistent with homicide, and his death was logged as the city's 24th homicide investigation of the year, per the same outlet. KOKH has reported on a man sentenced for a car-wash murder.
Investigators Traced the Fatal Beating to a 2x4 Board
Homicide investigators determined that Buford killed Smitherman by beating him with a 2x4 wooden board at the car wash, according to KWTV News 9. That station also reports that open reporting questions remain about what exactly led to the confrontation between Buford and Smitherman before the attack. No motive or precipitating interaction has been publicly established.
The Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office initially charged Buford with first-degree murder in June 2025 under case number CF-2025-2572, holding him at the Oklahoma County Detention Center on a $10,000,000 bond. After the initial charge and bond, Buford was bound over to stand trial. Prosecutors originally pursued a first-degree murder charge.
Remembering “DougE Fresh”
Smitherman worked as a registered nurse and had recently relocated to Oklahoma City for a fresh start, according to KOCO 5 News
. Loved ones and colleagues knew him as “DougE” or “DougE Fresh,” and his family held funeral services for him on May 17, 2025, in McAlester, Oklahoma.
Loved ones grieved Smitherman's death.
A WTOC 11 post described a man beaten to death with a cinder block while sleeping outside a laundromat.
