“The United States filed charges today alleging that a father punched, drowned, burned, and murdered his five-year-old daughter in Indian Country. This is heartbreaking. The alleged victim was set to start kindergarten next week,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores was quoted as saying in a press release posted to the Department of Justice Project Safe Childhood website on Friday.
29-year-old Adam Mason has been in and out of prison for the past ten years according to KOTV, and on Wednesday, he was arrested on a charge of first degree murder for the death of his 5-year-old daughter whose name was not released.
Tulsa World reports that Mason was convicted in 2011 by Creek County District Court of second degree rape. He was incarcerated a second time in 2014 for failure to register as a sex offender.
According to court documents filed by the FBI, the girl's mother last spoke to her on the 25th, and grew concerned when Mason refused to allow her to speak with the girl on the 26th. She contacted Creek County deputies to conduct a welfare check at the residence.
Deputies found Mason "shirtless and hiding" in a backyard about one mile from where his daughter's charred remains were located.
"A Muscogee (Creek) Nation Lightehorse investigator and the FBI agent interviewed Mason at the Creek County Sheriff’s Office where the defendant allegedly told the two that he believed his daughter was controlled by witchcraft," the press release states.
"According to the affidavit, Mason then told investigators that he punched the victim, drowned her, then took her to a creek bed where he set her body on fire. Mason and his daughter are members of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation."
"By rule, the United States Attorney’s Office will present this matter to a federal Grand Jury for their consideration as to whether probable cause exists to return an indictment," Shores stated. "If so, then Assistant United States Attorney Ryan Roberts and I will prosecute the case to the fullest extent of the law."