The murder trials for a Wellston woman and an Iowa man charged in the death of a Carney man have been rescheduled to October, Clyde Dean Clayton, 42, of Sioux City, Iowa and Janelle Berthna Brown, 39, Wellston, were formally charged July 14, 2023 in Lincoln County District Court.
At the conclusion of their preliminary hearings last December, each was bound over on charges of first degree murder, accessory to murder, unlawful removal of a dead body and desecration of a human corpse.
Their arraignments were held on Jan. 30, 2024. Each is being held in the Lincoln County Jail in Chandler without bond.
Appearing before District Judge John Canavan recently, each waived a speed trial, the waivers were received and the judge scheduled their trials for 9 a.m. Oct. 21. They are set for the felony disposition docket on Sep. 30.
Supplemental information filed in the case by Assistant District Attorney Kelly Trimble shows Brown has a prior conviction on May 1, 2018 in the District Court of Dakota County, Neb., for the felony offense of theft over $5,000.
Clayton and Brown have been in jail since their arrest on July 7, 2023.
In a multi-page probable cause affidavit, investigators with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office detail their interviews with both Clayton and Brown and others they talked with during their probe.
The investigators also requested assistance from both the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
According to the affidavit, on May 12 this year, Deputy Kevin Roe was first dispatched to a residence on East 840 Road in Lincoln County regarding a welfare check on Brian Corey. The reporting person was Trudi Corey and she stated she hadn’t heard from Brian in over a week.
Trudi was Brian’s ex-wife, the affidavit states. Roe said he went to the residence and couldn’t contact Brian, but spoke to his girl friend Janelle Brown.
Brian’s sister, Rebecca Suhr also called in, wanting to report him as a missing person, saying she hadn’t heard from him since June 5.
During the course of separate interviews by investigators, Brown and Clayton accuse one another of shooting and killing Brian Corey.
According to the affidavit, Brown claims she was outside after she and Corey got into an argument and that he and Clayton remained inside and were doing drugs (meth) while she was mowing the lawn.
When she went back into the house, she found Corey slumped over in a recliner and he had been shot in the neck and not breathing.