PART ONE OF A TWO PART SPECIAL INVESTIGATION 

UPDATE - September 19, 2008

A preliminary hearing for Darrell Lynn Madden, age 38, who is accused of kidnapping Steven Domer last fall on Oklahoma City’s gay strip and later brutally murdering him, will be held Thursday, September 19^th in Oklahoma County District Court.  

Gossip Boy has conducted a complete investigation into the background of the alleged killer and is now ready to release information about this case that has previously been under-reported by local gay and mainstream press.  

THE KIDNAPPING OF STEVEN DOMER 

In the early morning hours of October 26, 2007, Steven Domer, age 62, and a friend [Gossip Boy is withholding the friend’s name at the request of the District Attorney’s office.] approached two men hanging around the An-Son Carwash located at NW 39^th and Barnes Ave, which is in the heart of Oklahoma City’s gay district. The carwash is well known to the gay community as being the haunts of local sex hustlers and drug addicts. Though Domer and his friend’s motivation to make contact at that specific location has not been revealed to the public, there is a general consensus within the community that it is the spot to secure gay male prostitutes. 

Area businesses and their patrons have long complained about the low rate sex providers and panhandlers seeking quick cash for their next crystal meth fix. Lucas D., a frequent visitor to clubs in the area, said, “There’s talk, but everyone knows that if you’re over there you’re either a trick or a john. That might not be what happened that night, but come on there’s history.”     

“They really need to clean them out of there and shut down that nasty apartment complex. It just makes the area seedy and unsafe for club goers. They’ll chase you down the street trying to bum money or sell their ass. It’s disgusting. They have robbed people and broken into cars and now killed a man. It needs to stop,” he concluded. 

A video surveillance tape and the testimony of the friend has identified the two hustlers that day as likely being Darrell Lynn Madden and Bradley G. Qualls. The tape shows Domer and his friend approaching the pair and initiating contact.   

Later the friend would state that he felt uneasy with the pair and he and Domer left, as the tape shows, but that he sensed his companion would later return. It was to be the last time he ever saw Steven alive again. Nine days later Domer’s body would be discovered in a ravine by a hunter in McClain County. 

It would later be discovered that two days after the disappearance Darrell Madden wrote on his MySpace page the cryptic, “Well if you only (k)new the things we have done these past few days it would blow your … mind!!!.” 

Little is known what came next for Domer and the pair he fell in with. Police have no leads or witness statements that fill in the points between Domer’s disappearance off the gay strip and subsequent events. It was a busy pre-Halloween weekend at the clubs and yet no one has step forward claiming they saw any suspicious acts. Some have conjectured that Domer left the area willingly with the duo and the lack of eyewitnesses to an altercation of any kind seems to support that theory. 

Jimmy Hill, a former security guard who was working that night at Tramps, a bar directly across from the carwash, recalls the night as being hectic. He said, “There were several under-aged kids in costume trying to sneak into the bar and I had my hand’s full keeping them out. I don’t know why I didn’t see what happened. It haunts me to this day.”   

THE MURDER OF STEVEN DOMER 

When Steven Domer failed to show up for work his employer called to inquire about his lateness.  Steven, lived with his brother Morton in Edmond, and so it would be he answering the call that morning and it would be he who launched a journey to find his much loved brother. A missing persons report would be filed and soon followed by appearances in the media pleading for any information. 

Steven’s car was found abandoned and burned in McClain County on October 30^th. Four days later, and three miles from where the car was discovered, a man out hunting stumbled upon the body of Steven Bayless Domer.  His body had been bound by duct tape and a wire clothes hanger was wrapped around his neck. The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner would conclude the hanger had been used to strangle the victim and thus ruled the death a homicide. 

Investigators soon discovered they were in Darrell Madden’s stomping grounds. Specifics of them finding their way to Madden’s doorsteps are for the most part being withheld for trial. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Agent Joe LaRue filed an affidavit for a search warrant, which was approved. On Nov. 6^th, two days after the discovery of Domer’s body, officers conducted a sweep of the Madden home and seized numerous items including a computer and disks, wire hangers with duct tape attached to them, and a notebook referring to Adolph Hitler.  

Subsequently, investigators would be led to Madden’s now-deleted MySpace page. There they would discover a site dealing with white supremacy and featuring numerous photographs of skinheads, including Madden. In the blog section of the site an October 28^th post said, “Well if you only (k)new the things we have done these past few days it would blow your…mind!!!” Another entry said, “It might well be the juice in the needle that kills me. Know what I said?” 

It is inferred that Madden’s post is alluding to death by lethal injection. This may have been prophetic as the Oklahoma County District Attorney is now pursuing the death penalty for the homicide. 

A manhunt began for Darrell Madden and Bradley Qualls as suspects in the murder.  Hints of a possible motive began floating within the inner circle of the investigators and they were anxious to apprehend the pair.  

THE MURDER OF BRADLEY QUALLS 

On November 7^th, three days after Domer’s body was found, 26-year-old Bradley Qualls was shot to death at an Ardmore, OK apartment complex.  

A female friend of Madden and Qualls told authorities that the two were arguing in her home at the Huntington Falls Apartments and later told authorities, "Brad was kind of tweaking…you could tell he was on something. The other guy was saying, “You need to calm down.” Within minutes of their leaving, Qualls was shot multiple times.  

Police arrived at the scene to discover the bullet-riddled body and Madden fleeing the scene. Lt. Eric Hamblin with the Ardmore Police Department stated that as officers responded to a call about a shooting they noticed Darrell Madden waving and pointing a gun at the apartment complex. “Madden ran to the skating rink and was attempting to carjack a vehicle from passersby in an attempt to escape.” 

Police were forced to shoot Madden as he attempted to commandeer a vehicle with a semi-automatic weapon. He was then transported to a nearby hospital for treatment for a gunshot wound to his arm. While hospitalized in Oklahoma City, an enraged Madden threw urine and other objects at the Oklahoma City police officers assigned to guard him.  

Bradley Qualls was buried and Madden was charged in the first degree murder of his friend and fellow suspect in the Domer death. Tina Melton, Qualls’ mother, came forward and reported that he had told her that he and Madden had killed someone. Rumors began circulating that the Domer death involved the Aryan Brotherhood.  

On July 25, 2008, in Carter County District Court Darrell Madden entered a guilty plea for the murder of Qualls; he wept openly as he received a life sentence for that killing. He, also, pled guilty to three counts of shooting with intent to kill and received ten years in prison for each of those counts. All counts are run consecutively and Madden must serve 85 percent of that time. 

On November 28, 2007, Oklahoma County prosecutors filed first degree murder and kidnapping charges against Madden for crimes he is alleged to have committed against Steven Domer. A preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 19, 2008. Additional charges of assault on a police officer and placing bodily fluids on a government employee were filed over his actions during his hospital stay.  

Last month, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prated declared he would be seeking the death penalty due to the horrific nature of the crime and explicit hate involved in the act.     

Ends Part One 

PART TWO COMING NEXT MONDAY – Now that we’ve established the back story, our next segment will be delving deeply into Darrell Madden’s life and the Aryan Brotherhood. In Part One, you read about the crimes he committed or is alleged to have committed and now GOSSIP BOY will  detail the life of this notorious killer through the eyes of his family and friends and how he hooked up with Bradley Qualls in prison. Learn exclusive details presented for the first time anywhere right here at GOSSIP BOY!