Who Is Frank Byers & Where Is He Now? 2026 Update & Profile
Frank Byers was the husband of Oklahoma teacher’s aide and mother Makayla Meave when she disappeared from their rural Macomb property in September 2023.
From the beginning, Byers presented himself as a husband trying to explain why his wife had vanished. He told Makayla’s family and police that she had left the property with a bald man driving a white truck. He said they had an open marriage and claimed Makayla later sent him messages telling him she was fine.
Investigators came to conclude that the story was invented.
Makayla had not left with another man. She had been shot in the head, wrapped in carpet and hidden in a roadside drainage culvert about half a mile from home.
Detectives said Byers manipulated Makayla’s phone, sent messages while pretending to be her, bought cleaning supplies after the killing and attempted to create the appearance that his wife had left of her own choice.
The evidence against him culminated in the discovery of Makayla’s blood on his work boots.
Byers was charged with first-degree murder and faced a death-penalty prosecution. He avoided trial by pleading guilty in January 2025 and accepting life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
- “Tracker Dakota Black”: 48 Hours Reports on Makayla Meave Homicide September 5 2026
- Who Was Makayla Meave & What Happened to Her? 2026 Update & Profile
- Who Is Tracker Dakota Black & Where Is She Now? 2026 Update & Profile
Frank Byers Was an Old High School Acquaintance of Makayla
Byers and Makayla had known each other when they were younger, but their adult relationship began after he contacted her through Facebook.
Byers was divorced and had primary custody of four daughters. According to Makayla’s family, he told her that a woman he was living with was mistreating the girls.
The story appealed to one of Makayla’s strongest instincts.
She cared about children and had already become a foster parent and adoptive mother. When Byers told her his daughters needed help, she stepped in.
Makayla allowed Byers and his four daughters into her life and began caring for the children.
The relationship between Makayla and Byers developed from there.
Frank and Makayla Married in 2022
Byers and Makayla married in 2022.
They lived on a 10-acre property in Macomb, Oklahoma, with children from their previous family arrangements.
Makayla worked as a teacher’s aide while studying for a teaching degree. Byers worked for an environmental cleanup company, a job that required periods of travel.
From the outside, the pair had created a large blended family.
Inside the relationship, problems developed.
Investigators later uncovered evidence that Byers had been communicating with other women.
Makayla’s family said the infidelity became a constant problem in the marriage.
Investigators Said Byers Pursued Other Women
Lt. Dakota Black later reconstructed much of Byers’ activity with other women.
She said he contacted women while travelling, met women at gas stations and hotels and communicated with them while still living with Makayla.
Makayla’s sister, Andria Meave, described him as someone who created dating profiles and cheated throughout the relationship.
The communications continued as Makayla prepared to leave him.
Detective Marcus May said Byers was communicating with women on the day Makayla was murdered and after her death.
Andria said he sent pictures of himself to women on the day of Makayla’s funeral and asked them how he looked in his tuxedo.
The conduct became part of investigators’ effort to understand what was happening inside the marriage before the killing.
A Former Girlfriend Described Byers as Controlling and Violent
Lt. Black also located Crystal Cantrell, a woman who had dated Byers before Makayla.
Cantrell said the relationship began with a story similar to the one Byers later told Makayla.
According to Cantrell, he said his daughters were being mistreated by the woman he was living with.
Cantrell cared about children and wanted to help.
She said Byers became controlling after they moved in together and isolated her from friends and family.
Cantrell described one violent encounter in which she woke to find Byers standing over her with handcuffs.
She said she prevented him from using them, after which he got onto her back and choked her.
Cantrell eventually left.
After Makayla was murdered, she said she believed Byers could have killed her as well.
Makayla Began Trying to Leave Byers
By the summer of 2023, the marriage was breaking apart.
Makayla left their shared residence about three months before her death.
She spent about a week staying with her sister.
She later returned to the same rural property but did not move back into Byers’ house.
Makayla instead lived in a small shed-like structure nearby.
Her connection to Byers’ daughters was one reason she remained close.
According to her family, Makayla loved the girls and did not want ending her marriage to mean abandoning them.
Byers continued trying to repair the relationship.
Makayla had reached a different conclusion.
Makayla Recorded Herself Ending the Marriage
Two days before she was killed, Makayla recorded a conversation with Byers.
She told him that she had never been as determined to divorce him as she was at that point.
Makayla said he had broken the final connection holding her to the marriage.
She told him that he had lost her and had nobody to blame except himself.
Investigators believed she may have made the recording to document his conduct and infidelity.
For detectives, the recording established a significant fact.
Makayla was preparing to leave Byers.
He knew that she was done with the marriage.
Makayla Returned to the Property on September 15
On Friday, September 15, 2023, Makayla went to work.
She had spoken with her sister that morning.
Later in the day, she returned to the property where Byers lived.
Investigators recovered security-camera images showing her entering Byers’ house.
She remained inside for about 14 minutes.
Lt. Dakota Black believed the pair argued.
The camera then captured Makayla leaving the house.
Another image showed Byers at his door.
Black believed the murder occurred within minutes.
Investigators Believe Byers Followed Makayla and Shot Her
Makayla returned toward the small building where she had been living.
Investigators concluded that Byers followed her.
They believed he shot her inside the structure.
Makayla suffered gunshot wounds to the head.
Spent .22-calibre shell casings were found inside the building.
Police later found a projectile embedded in a wooden beam in the wall.
Material believed to be Makayla’s hair was associated with the bullet, although investigators were unable to obtain a genetic confirmation from it.
The scene provided evidence that gunfire had occurred inside the home where Makayla was living.
Byers Had Access to Makayla’s Gun
When Deputy Dustin Richardson entered Makayla’s residence during the missing-person investigation, he saw empty shell casings.
Byers tried to explain them.
He said Makayla sometimes fired at coyotes and other animals from the building.
Richardson asked where she kept her firearm.
Byers said it was in his house.
The deputy recovered it there.
Richardson thought the gun appeared to have been fired in the recent past.
The circumstances increased his suspicion that Makayla’s disappearance involved a crime.
Detectives Believe Byers Left Her Body There for Hours
Investigators placed the likely time of the killing at around 4 p.m.
They believed Makayla’s body remained inside the small residence after the shooting.
Byers then went to pick up his daughters.
He spent time driving them around before returning to the property at about 8 p.m.
The children later told investigators that Byers spent much of that night outside.
Police found fresh tire tracks leading to Makayla’s residence.
Detectives believed a vehicle had been backed toward the building so her body could be loaded.
Byers Wrapped Makayla in Carpet
Investigators concluded that Makayla’s body was wrapped in carpet before being removed from the property.
They later traced the carpet back to Byers.
A neighbour told police that he had given carpet to Byers and Makayla months earlier to use with their dogs.
Detectives believed that was the material Byers used to conceal Makayla.
The body was then transported away from the property.
Police reconstructed a route to a roadside ditch about half a mile away.
At that location was a large drainage culvert beneath the road.
Investigators Believe Byers Dumped Her Into a Ditch
Detectives believed Byers drove Makayla’s body to the edge of the ditch.
The drop to the lower creek area was estimated at around 12 to 15 feet.
Investigators believed the body was removed from the vehicle and allowed to fall down the embankment.
They then believed Byers climbed down and dragged Makayla into the drainage pipe.
The body was pushed far enough inside the culvert to conceal it from the road above.
Makayla remained there for five days.
Byers began constructing a different account of where she had gone.
Byers Told Her Sister She Had Left With a Bald Man
On the morning of September 16, Byers called Makayla’s sister.
He said his wife had not come home.
According to Andria, Byers was crying and claimed Makayla had gone on a date with a bald man driving a white truck.
He described the supposed man’s height, beard and approximate weight.
Byers later repeated the account to law enforcement.
He told Deputy Richardson that Makayla had embraced the man and left with him.
Byers also claimed he and Makayla had agreed to an open marriage.
Her family said that claim made no sense.
Police Issued an Alert for a Man Who Did Not Appear to Exist
Investigators initially had to treat the account as a possible lead.
A lookout was issued for the bald man and white pickup truck.
Tips began coming into the sheriff’s office.
People reported white trucks throughout the rural area.
None of them led police to the man described by Byers.
The more investigators examined the story, the less credible it became.
Richardson said he had been suspicious of Byers from the first day.
His impression was that little about the account seemed true.
Byers Showed Police Messages He Said Came From Makayla
Byers attempted to support his story with electronic evidence.
He showed Deputy Richardson a Facebook message supposedly sent by Makayla after she left.
The message said she was fine and told him to back off.
If genuine, it could have suggested she remained alive after leaving the property.
Investigators later discovered that the phone evidence pointed in the opposite direction.
One of Makayla’s phones was found inside Byers’ bedroom.
That created an immediate contradiction.
If Makayla had taken her phone when she left, how had it ended up with her husband?
Byers Had Both of Makayla’s Phones
Detectives learned that Makayla owned two phones.
One was an iPhone.
The other was an older Moto G that she had not been using.
Investigators said Byers had both devices.
They concluded that he removed Makayla’s SIM card from her iPhone and placed it into the older phone.
That gave him access to her accounts.
Detectives believed Byers then sent messages while pretending to be Makayla.
In effect, investigators said he was messaging himself.
The supposed proof that Makayla was alive became evidence of an attempted cover-up.
Byers Bought Cleaning Supplies the Next Day
Investigators also reconstructed Byers’ shopping activity.
A Walmart receipt found on the property allowed Lt. Black to locate security footage from September 16.
The video showed Byers shopping with bleach, ammonia and a mop in his cart.
Black viewed the purchase as evidence of crime-scene cleanup.
The timing was important.
Makayla had disappeared the previous day.
Investigators believed she had been killed inside the small home.
Byers was now buying products associated with cleaning.
Police also identified signs at the property consistent with an effort to clean up evidence.
Byers Reported Makayla Missing
Byers contacted authorities and reported his wife missing.
He continued presenting the story about the unknown man.
During the first deputy’s visit, he allowed law enforcement to inspect parts of the property.
He broke the lock to Makayla’s small residence with a hammer after saying he did not have a key.
Inside, deputies saw shell casings.
Richardson became concerned enough to call criminal investigators.
Byers was still not arrested.
Police needed evidence linking him to the killing rather than only a suspicious story.
Byers Did Not Search for His Wife
Makayla’s disappearance triggered a major community search.
Family members, friends, teachers and residents searched through rain, mud, brush and woodland.
Flyers were distributed.
Social media posts circulated.
Byers did not join the searches.
Lt. Black said he did not participate in a single search party.
Detectives also said he seemed more interested in finding out what police knew than in finding Makayla.
Marcus May described a lack of emotion that increased investigators’ suspicions.
Byers remained a free man as police worked on the case.
Makayla’s Body Was Found Five Days Later
Searchers found Makayla inside a drainage culvert.
She was wrapped in carpet.
Her shirt had been pulled over her face.
One of her feet still had a teddy-bear sock on it.
Her mother and sister were kept away from the crime scene while investigators processed the area.
Barbara Harper later described chasing after the medical examiner’s van carrying her daughter.
The discovery confirmed that the missing-person investigation was a murder case.
Lt. Black wanted Byers arrested.
She chose to wait.
Black Wanted Evidence That Would Keep Byers in Jail
Black said investigators knew Byers was lying and believed he was responsible.
But belief was not enough.
She wanted a piece of physical evidence capable of supporting an arrest and prosecution.
The team continued working long hours.
They examined surveillance records, phones, receipts, firearms, vehicle tracks and physical evidence from Makayla’s home.
Byers used the period to insist publicly that he was innocent.
He appeared in local media and continued posting on social media.
Investigators continued building the case in silence.
Byers Continued Contacting Women After Makayla’s Death
Black examined Byers’ communications during this period.
She found him talking with other women after Makayla was dead.
For Black, the contrast between his public statements and private conduct was striking.
He presented himself as someone mourning a missing or murdered wife.
At the same time, investigators found evidence that he continued pursuing relationships.
That information did not prove murder.
It helped detectives understand the marriage, his conduct and his credibility.
The forensic evidence was still being processed.
Makayla’s Blood Was Found on Byers’ Boots
Police had seized a pair of Byers’ work boots from his bedroom during the early investigation.
A suspicious substance was visible on them.
Byers worked with chemicals, so detectives could not identify it based on appearance.
The boots were sent to a forensic laboratory.
Thirty-eight days after Makayla was reported missing, investigators received the result they had been waiting for.
The substance was blood.
It belonged to Makayla.
Black and May considered it the physical link they needed.
Frank Byers Was Arrested After 38 Days
Police organised a tactical arrest late at night.
Black, Richardson and members of a special operations team moved in.
Byers was placed in handcuffs.
He continued denying that he had killed his wife.
Detective May called Makayla’s family to tell them Byers was in custody.
During interrogation, investigators confronted him with the blood evidence.
They asked why Makayla’s blood was on his boots.
Byers said he could not explain it.
He was charged with first-degree murder.
Byers Faced Several Charges
The case involved the killing and the treatment of Makayla’s body after her death.
Byers was charged with first-degree murder, unauthorized removal of a dead body and desecration of a human corpse.
Prosecutors alleged that he shot his wife, moved her remains and hid her inside the culvert.
The Pottawatomie County district attorney later announced that the state would seek the death penalty.
Byers faced the possibility of execution if convicted and sentenced after a capital trial.
His lawyers sought another resolution.
Prosecutors Were Prepared to Seek His Execution
The death-penalty decision raised the stakes of the case.
A jury would have been asked first to determine whether Byers was guilty.
If convicted of capital murder, a separate sentencing process could have determined whether he should be executed.
Makayla’s family was prepared for the case to proceed.
Byers instead agreed to plead guilty.
The agreement guaranteed that he would never leave prison but spared him from a possible death sentence.
That outcome divided the meaning of the case for Makayla’s family.
Frank Byers Pleaded Guilty
On January 31, 2025, Byers appeared in court and pleaded guilty to the crimes connected with Makayla’s death.
The plea meant there would be no murder trial.
Prosecutors did not have to call witnesses and present every piece of evidence before a jury.
Byers did not have to risk a death sentence.
He received life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The sentence means there is no conventional parole date waiting for him.
Under the sentence imposed, Byers is expected to remain imprisoned for the rest of his life.
Makayla’s Mother Wanted a Trial
Barbara Harper was unhappy with the plea agreement.
She believed Byers should have faced the death-penalty prosecution.
Her objection was rooted in the choices available to him after the murder.
Makayla had not been given a choice about whether she lived.
Byers, in her view, was allowed to negotiate a punishment that spared his own life.
The plea ensured permanent imprisonment but prevented the trial Makayla’s mother wanted.
The sheriff’s office described the sentence as justice, while acknowledging that no legal outcome could repair the family’s loss.
The Question of an Accomplice Has Not Completely Disappeared
Makayla’s family has questioned whether Byers moved and disposed of her body without assistance.
They point to the physical work involved.
Her body had to be wrapped in carpet, moved into a vehicle, transported, taken down an embankment and dragged into the drainage pipe.
Barbara has said she believes another person helped him.
Andria has expressed similar doubts.
Investigators have not established publicly that an accomplice took part.
They have said they would pursue credible evidence if it emerged.
News 9 reported in late 2025 that authorities were still attempting to obtain information from one of Byers’ phones as they explored whether anyone else may have been involved.
Where Is Frank Byers Now?
Frank Byers is in prison in Oklahoma.
He is serving life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for murdering Makayla Meave.
Current reporting places Byers at Red Rock Correctional Center in Lawton, Oklahoma, a medium- and maximum-security state prison.
Other current reporting confirms that he remains in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections under the life-without-parole sentence.
That means Byers does not have a scheduled release date.
He avoided the death penalty, but he did not obtain the possibility of returning to ordinary life.
Frank Byers Will Not Receive Parole Under His Sentence
The distinction between a life sentence and life without parole matters.
Byers’ punishment was structured to ensure that the murder conviction does not lead to a future parole release.
He avoided the execution prosecutors had been prepared to seek.
In exchange, he accepted a sentence designed to keep him incarcerated for the remainder of his natural life.
There was also no trial verdict to appeal in the same way that would follow a contested jury conviction because the central resolution came through his guilty plea.
The legal outcome supplied certainty.
Byers admitted guilt.
Makayla’s family did not have to face the risk of an acquittal.
Byers surrendered his freedom for life.
Frank Byers Went From Denying the Crime to Admitting It
One of the defining aspects of the case is the distance between Byers’ first account and its legal conclusion.
He began by claiming Makayla left with another man.
He claimed she communicated with him after leaving.
He spoke publicly about his innocence.
He could not explain why her phone was in his bedroom.
He could not explain why her blood was on his boots.
Investigators concluded that he fabricated communications, attempted to clean the crime scene and constructed a false story around the disappearance.
After prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty, the denial ended in a guilty plea.
What Happened to Frank Byers?
Frank Byers murdered his wife as she was trying to leave their marriage.
Investigators concluded that he shot Makayla inside the separate residence where she was staying on September 15, 2023.
He wrapped her body in carpet.
He transported it away from the property.
He concealed her inside a drainage culvert.
He then attempted to persuade family and police that Makayla had left voluntarily with another man.
Detectives dismantled that story piece by piece.
The phones showed manipulation.
The security images established Makayla’s final movements.
The shopping records documented the purchase of cleaning supplies.
The shell casings and projectile supported the crime-scene reconstruction.
The carpet connected the disposal site with the property.
Makayla’s blood on Byers’ boots supplied the forensic link investigators had been waiting for.
Byers was arrested 38 days after his wife disappeared.
He pleaded guilty in January 2025.
He is now serving life without parole in Oklahoma state custody.
The story he originally gave police ended with a legal admission of the truth he had tried to conceal: Frank Byers killed Makayla Meave.
More “Tracker Dakota Black”
- “Tracker Dakota Black”: 48 Hours Reports on Makayla Meave Homicide September 5 2026
- Who Was Makayla Meave & What Happened to Her? 2026 Update & Profile
- Who Is Frank Byers & Where Is He Now? 2026 Update & Profile
- Who Is Tracker Dakota Black & Where Is She Now? 2026 Update & Profile
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