CBS’s 48 Hours presents an encore of “Tracker Dakota Black” on Saturday, September 5, 2026, at 10/9c, with correspondent Peter Van Sant examining the murder of Oklahoma woman Makayla Meave and the investigation that led authorities to her husband, Frank Byers.
The episode is built around Lt. Dakota Black of the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, a trained tracker and detective whose work focuses on finding missing people and fugitives. What began for Black as a search for a missing woman in rural Oklahoma became one of the most personal cases of her career.
Makayla disappeared in September 2023 after telling her husband that their marriage was over. Byers claimed she had left with another man. Investigators came to believe that story was a fabrication designed to conceal murder.
Five days after Makayla vanished, her body was found inside a drainage culvert about half a mile from the property where she and Byers lived. She had been shot in the head, wrapped in carpet and hidden beneath a roadway.
Detectives spent more than a month building the case before arresting Byers. Evidence included surveillance images, shell casings, a bullet embedded in a wall, purchases of cleaning supplies, Makayla’s phones, messages sent from her accounts after her death and, at last, Makayla’s blood on Byers’ work boots.
Byers was charged with first-degree murder and faced the possibility of the death penalty. He later pleaded guilty and accepted life in prison without the possibility of parole.
- 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
Makayla Meave Was Known for Caring for Children
Makayla Meave grew up around children.
Her mother, Barbara Harper, operated a daycare, and Makayla developed an attachment to the children who came through it. Her family described her as someone who felt responsible for helping children who needed support.
Makayla could not have biological children of her own, but that did not end her desire to become a mother.
In her 20s, she became a foster parent and later adopted a brother and sister.
Her sister, Andria Meave, recalled that Makayla rearranged her life to complete the classes and certification required to give the children a home.
That willingness to step into difficult family situations would later influence one of the most consequential relationships of Makayla’s life.
Frank Byers Entered Makayla’s Life Through Facebook
Frank Byers was an old high school classmate who contacted Makayla through Facebook.
Byers was divorced and had primary custody of four daughters.
According to Makayla’s family, Byers told her that a girlfriend he was living with was mistreating his daughters.
Makayla responded to the children.
She allowed Byers and the four girls into her home and began caring for them.
Her mother later said the girls appeared to give Makayla a sense of family she had wanted for years.
Makayla and Byers eventually became a couple.
They married in 2022.
The Family Settled in Tiny Macomb, Oklahoma
The family lived on about 10 acres in Macomb, Oklahoma, a small rural community in Pottawatomie County.
Makayla continued pursuing her interest in children and education.
She attended college with the goal of earning a teaching degree and worked as a teacher’s aide at a local elementary school.
Her family said she paid close attention to children who appeared neglected or in need of help.
If she believed a student was not being cared for, she raised the issue with school administrators.
Her work made her well known in the community.
That became clear after she disappeared, when scores of volunteers joined the search.
The Marriage Began to Collapse
Behind the family image, the marriage between Makayla and Byers was deteriorating.
Investigators later learned that Byers had been communicating with other women.
Makayla’s sister described him as someone who created dating profiles and pursued women while travelling for work.
Byers worked for an environmental cleanup company and spent periods away from home.
Lt. Dakota Black later found evidence that he had met women at gas stations and hotels and communicated with women while he was still living with Makayla.
The infidelity became a major source of conflict.
Makayla eventually decided she wanted out.
Makayla Moved Out but Stayed Close to the Children
About three months before her murder, Makayla left the home she shared with Byers.
She stayed with her sister for about a week and cried over the collapse of the marriage.
She did not completely leave the property.
Makayla remained attached to Byers’ daughters and wanted to stay close to them.
She moved into a small shed-like structure on the same 10-acre property while separating her life from her husband.
Byers attempted to reconcile.
He promised to change.
The cheating continued.
Makayla Told Byers Their Marriage Was Over
Two days before her murder, Makayla recorded a conversation with Byers.
In the recording, she told him that she was done with the marriage.
She said she had never been so committed to divorce and told Byers that he had destroyed the final connection keeping her tied to him.
Investigators believed Makayla recorded the conversation because she wanted evidence of his infidelity and the problems between them.
The recording became significant because it established the state of the marriage in the final days of her life.
Makayla was preparing to leave.
Byers knew it.
Makayla Spoke to Her Sister on the Morning of September 15
Friday, September 15, 2023, began with a routine between Makayla and her older sister.
Andria said the two women spoke every morning around 7 a.m.
Their final conversation ended with each telling the other, “I love you.”
Andria later said she was grateful those were the last words they exchanged.
Makayla went to work that day.
Investigators believe she later returned to the property to collect her belongings and leave the marriage.
Security-camera images recovered from Byers’ phone helped detectives reconstruct what happened after she arrived.
Security Images Captured Makayla Entering Byers’ Home
A home security camera showed Makayla walking through the front door of Byers’ residence.
Investigators determined she remained inside for about 14 minutes.
Black believed Makayla and Byers were arguing.
The camera then captured Makayla leaving.
Another image showed Byers standing at his doorway.
Black came to believe that the murder occurred within minutes of those final images.
In the detective’s reconstruction, Byers followed Makayla to the small building where she was staying and shot her.
Makayla Was Shot in the Head
The medical evidence showed that Makayla had suffered multiple gunshot injuries.
Black described wounds to the front and left side of Makayla’s head, along with a graze wound.
Investigators believed a rifle was used.
When Deputy Dustin Richardson entered Makayla’s small residence on the first day she was reported missing, he saw spent .22-calibre shell casings.
Byers claimed Makayla sometimes fired at coyotes and other animals from the building.
Richardson then asked where her gun was.
Byers said it was inside his own house.
The deputy recovered the firearm and thought it appeared to have been fired in the recent past.
The discovery increased his concern that he was not dealing with an ordinary missing-person case.
Byers Told Makayla’s Family She Had Gone on a Date
On the morning of September 16, Andria’s phone rang around the time she would normally hear from her sister.
The caller was Frank Byers.
He was crying and said Makayla had not returned home the previous night.
Byers claimed Makayla had gone on a date with a bald man who drove a white truck.
He said the man had a beard and described his approximate height and weight.
Byers also said the marriage had become “open” and that Makayla had been seeing other people.
At first, Andria did not panic because she knew her sister and Byers were separating.
As hours passed without any contact from Makayla, that changed.
Makayla Failed to Show Up at Her Family’s Restaurant
Makayla was expected to help at her family’s restaurant that Saturday afternoon.
She never arrived.
She did not call.
Her family said that was out of character.
By noon, Andria was worried.
By early afternoon, the concern had become fear.
Their mother, Barbara Harper, said she began to believe that something serious had happened.
Byers contacted the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office and reported his wife missing.
Deputy Dustin Richardson was sent to the property.
A Deputy Became Suspicious of Byers’ Story
Richardson arrived in Macomb at about 4 p.m. with his body camera recording.
Byers repeated the story about Makayla leaving with a bald man in a white truck.
He also showed Richardson a Facebook message that he claimed Makayla sent after leaving.
The message said she was fine and told him to back off.
Richardson asked to see the building where Makayla had been living.
It was locked.
Byers said he did not have a key.
Later, he broke the lock with a hammer so deputies could enter.
Inside, Richardson saw the shell casings.
His suspicions increased.
The Missing-Person Case Became a Possible Homicide Investigation
Richardson briefly drove to the school where Makayla worked to see whether she might have gone there.
As he spoke with another deputy, he described Byers as suspicious.
He later said the story did not feel truthful.
When he returned to the property, more deputies had arrived.
The discovery of the shell casings, the location of Makayla’s firearm and Byers’ inconsistent presentation caused authorities to call in criminal investigators.
The property was secured.
Family members and volunteers were moved away.
The case was now being treated with the possibility that Makayla had been the victim of a crime.
Lt. Dakota Black was called.
Dakota Black Took Over the Search
Black’s first task was simple in description but difficult in practice.
Find Makayla.
Black worked with Detective Marcus May, who later became undersheriff.
They issued a BOLO for the man and truck described by Byers.
The description spread through surrounding law-enforcement agencies.
Tips flooded into the sheriff’s office.
White pickup trucks with tinted windows were reported across the area.
None of the tips led to the supposed man Byers claimed had left with Makayla.
Investigators became more suspicious that the man did not exist.
The Community Joined the Search
Makayla’s disappearance produced a large response in the rural community.
Volunteers searched through woods, mud and brush despite cold rain and difficult conditions.
Flyers appeared across the area.
Social media spread her photograph.
People who knew Makayla from the school, her family or the community wanted her found.
One person did not take part in the searches.
Frank Byers.
Black later said he did not participate in a single organised search and did not volunteer to look for his missing wife.
Investigators also noticed that his focus appeared to be on what police knew rather than on where Makayla might be.
Detectives Interviewed Byers for More Than Two Hours
Three days after Makayla was reported missing, Byers agreed to go to the sheriff’s office for an interview.
Black questioned him for about two and a half hours.
She adopted a conversational approach designed to keep him talking.
Byers repeated the story about Makayla’s date.
He claimed she had refused to tell him the man’s name or explain how she knew him.
Black did not arrest him.
She believed investigators needed more evidence.
Byers returned home.
The search continued.
Makayla’s Mother Had a Chilling Premonition
Barbara Harper searched for her daughter with other volunteers.
At one point, she said she experienced what felt to her like a message from Makayla.
The phrase that entered her mind was that Makayla was “in a tin horn.”
In rural Oklahoma, a tin horn can mean a pipe or culvert used to move water beneath a roadway.
Harper began looking at culverts.
Nothing was found at that moment.
Two days later, on the fifth day of the search, relatives searching near Hamilton Road detected a strong smell from a ditch.
One of them followed it to a culvert.
A hand was visible.
Makayla’s Body Was Found Inside a Culvert
Makayla’s body was found about half a mile from the property.
She had been dragged into the middle of a large drainage pipe beneath the road.
Her body was wrapped in carpet.
Her shirt had been pulled up over her face.
Black later recalled seeing one sock on Makayla’s foot decorated with teddy bears.
The discovery devastated the investigators and family.
Black remained beside Makayla while the crime scene was processed.
The emotional impact was intensified by personal details.
Black and Makayla had been born one day apart in the same year.
Black also said her own history with abusive relationships made her identify with Makayla.
She said she understood that she could have suffered a similar fate.
Makayla’s Family Was Kept Away From the Crime Scene
Barbara Harper and other relatives gathered near the culvert after Makayla was found.
They wanted to see her.
Police could not allow family members into the active crime scene.
Harper pleaded to be allowed closer and said she felt that her daughter had been alone for five days.
When Makayla’s body was placed into the medical examiner’s vehicle, Harper followed it down the road.
She later said she could not bear the thought that her daughter was leaving without her.
For Black, the discovery sharpened the urgency of the case.
She wanted to arrest Byers.
She also knew that moving before the evidence was ready could jeopardise the prosecution.
Detectives Rejected the Story About an Open Marriage
Byers had told Richardson that he and Makayla had agreed to an open marriage.
Makayla’s family rejected that claim.
Investigators then examined the couple’s communications and Byers’ own conduct.
What they found suggested that Byers, not Makayla, had been pursuing other relationships.
Black tracked down women Byers had contacted.
Detectives learned he had been communicating with women on the day Makayla was killed and after her death.
Andria said he sent photographs of himself to women on the day of Makayla’s funeral and asked how he looked in his tuxedo.
The evidence of his infidelity helped investigators understand the failing marriage and the conflict that preceded the murder.
A Former Girlfriend Described Byers as Controlling
Black also located Crystal Cantrell, a woman who had dated Byers before Makayla.
Cantrell said Byers had used a familiar story when they began their relationship.
He told her that his daughters were being mistreated by his current girlfriend.
Like Makayla, Cantrell cared about children and responded to the story.
She moved in with Byers.
Cantrell said his behaviour changed.
She described isolation, control and violence.
On one occasion, she said she woke to find Byers standing over her with handcuffs.
She closed the cuffs so he could not use them, after which she said he got on top of her and choked her.
Cantrell escaped the relationship.
She later said she believed she could have been killed.
Makayla’s Family Had Seen Bruises
Makayla did not tell her mother and sister that Byers had abused her.
They had seen bruises.
Makayla explained them as the result of roughhousing with the children.
After her murder, those memories became painful for the family.
Andria questioned whether challenging the explanation might have changed the outcome.
Barbara later said there had been signs of abuse, manipulation and threats that the family did not understand at the time.
The family began using Makayla’s story to encourage others to pay attention to signs of domestic violence.
Investigators Found Byers Buying Cleaning Supplies
Black and her team continued reconstructing Byers’ movements after the murder.
A Walmart receipt found on the property gave them a date and time to investigate.
They obtained store surveillance footage.
The images showed Byers buying bleach, ammonia and a mop on September 16, the day after Makayla was last seen.
To Black, the combination suggested an attempt to clean a crime scene.
The evidence fit with the theory that Makayla had been shot inside the small building where she was living.
Police also found signs they believed were consistent with cleanup activity.
The Carpet Around Makayla’s Body Came From the Property
Detectives traced the carpet used to wrap Makayla.
A neighbour told investigators that he had given carpet to Byers and Makayla months earlier for use with their dogs.
Investigators believed Byers took that carpet and used it to wrap his wife’s body after killing her.
That linked another item from the disposal site back to the property.
The prosecution’s case was developing as a reconstruction of steps taken after the shooting.
Kill Makayla.
Clean the scene.
Wrap the body.
Move it.
Hide it.
Then create a story explaining her disappearance.
Detectives Reconstructed How the Body Was Moved
Investigators believed Byers killed Makayla at around 4 p.m. on September 15.
They believed her body remained in the small residence while Byers left to pick up his daughters.
He drove the children around and returned to the property around 8 p.m.
Statements from the children indicated Byers spent much of the night outside rather than in bed.
Detectives found fresh tire tracks leading toward Makayla’s residence.
They believed a vehicle had been backed up to the building so the body could be loaded.
Their reconstruction was that Byers drove to the ditch, removed Makayla’s body and allowed it to fall down a drop of about 12 to 15 feet.
They believed he then climbed down and dragged her into the drainage pipe.
Makayla’s Phone Exposed a Major Lie
Byers told Deputy Richardson that Makayla had taken her phone when she left.
He also claimed she later messaged him.
Investigators found one of Makayla’s phones inside Byers’ bedroom.
Detective May confronted him.
Byers had no explanation for how Makayla could have left with the phone, communicated with him through it and then had the device end up in his bedroom.
The investigation revealed that Makayla had two phones.
One was an iPhone.
The other was an older Moto G.
Detectives said Byers had both.
Investigators Believe Byers Pretended to Be Makayla Online
According to investigators, Byers took the SIM card from Makayla’s iPhone and placed it into the older device.
That allowed him to access her accounts.
Detectives concluded that messages supposedly sent by Makayla after her death were created by Byers.
He had been communicating with himself while pretending to be his wife.
The messages became part of the alleged cover story.
Byers wanted police and Makayla’s family to believe she was alive after leaving the property.
Instead, the phone evidence helped show that the story was manufactured.
A Bullet Was Found Embedded in the Wall
Investigators discovered another crucial piece of physical evidence inside Makayla’s residence.
A projectile was embedded in a two-by-four in the wall.
Material believed to be Makayla’s hair was wrapped around it.
Combined with the shell casings found on the floor, the bullet supported the conclusion that gunfire had occurred inside the residence.
Investigators hoped DNA testing would provide a definitive match.
They were unable to obtain genetic confirmation from the hair.
The evidence was important, but Black still wanted something she considered strong enough to guarantee that Byers would remain in custody once arrested.
Then the laboratory results arrived on his boots.
Makayla’s Blood Was Found on Byers’ Work Boots
Investigators seized a pair of Byers’ work boots from his bedroom on the night Makayla was reported missing.
They noticed a substance that looked like blood.
Because Byers worked around chemicals, detectives could not assume that appearance proved anything.
The boots were sent for forensic testing.
Thirty-eight days after Makayla disappeared, the results came back.
The substance was blood.
It was Makayla’s blood.
For Black and May, that was the break they had been waiting for.
They moved to arrest Byers.
Frank Byers Was Arrested 38 Days After Makayla Vanished
Black organised the arrest with a special operations team.
Police went to the property near midnight.
Byers was taken into custody in handcuffs.
He maintained that he had not killed Makayla.
Detective May called the family to tell them the arrest had been made.
Barbara described it as a moment of relief because Byers was no longer free.
Investigators then confronted him with the evidence they had spent weeks gathering.
When asked why Makayla’s blood was on his boots, Byers said he could not explain it.
He was charged with first-degree murder.
Byers Also Faced Charges Related to Makayla’s Body
The case involved more than the killing itself.
Authorities accused Byers of moving and concealing Makayla after her death.
He was charged with first-degree murder as well as unauthorised removal of a dead body and desecration of a corpse.
The circumstances of the crime supported those additional allegations.
Makayla had been wrapped in carpet.
Her body had been transported away from the property.
It had been dropped into a ditch and dragged inside a culvert.
Those acts formed part of the prosecution’s case about what Byers did after the shooting.
Prosecutors Sought the Death Penalty
The Pottawatomie County district attorney elected to pursue the death penalty.
That meant Byers faced the possibility of execution if convicted at trial and sentenced to death.
A capital trial would have required prosecutors to present the full evidence before a jury.
Makayla’s family would have faced testimony about her death, the crime scene and the disposal of her body.
The defense sought a resolution that would remove the possibility of execution.
A plea agreement was reached.
The case did not go to a murder trial.
Frank Byers Pleaded Guilty
On January 31, 2025, Byers appeared in court and accepted a plea agreement.
He pleaded guilty to killing Makayla.
The plea spared him a death-penalty trial.
In exchange, he received life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The sentence means Byers will never be released through parole.
He will spend the remainder of his life in prison.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff Freeland Wood said the agreement provided justice even if it could not repair the loss suffered by Makayla’s family.
For investigators, it closed the prosecution against the man they had pursued from the first days of the case.
For Makayla’s mother, the result was more complicated.
Makayla’s Mother Opposed the Plea Agreement
Barbara Harper did not consider the plea agreement enough.
She wanted Byers to face trial and the punishment prosecutors had been prepared to seek.
She described the plea as a “cop out.”
Her frustration centred on the fact that Byers had made the decision to kill Makayla and was then able to make another decision that spared him the possibility of a death sentence.
The plea provided certainty.
There would be no acquittal.
There would be no parole.
But there would also be no capital trial and no jury determination over whether Byers should receive the death penalty.
The family had to live with that outcome.
The Family Believes Byers May Have Had Help
One question remained unresolved after the guilty plea.
Did Frank Byers act alone?
Barbara Harper said she was convinced someone helped him.
Andria also questioned whether Byers could have moved Makayla’s body by himself.
Makayla’s body had been wrapped, loaded, transported, moved down a steep embankment and dragged into the culvert.
The family believed those actions may have required an accomplice.
Investigators did not dismiss the possibility.
Marcus May said the family’s concerns were not unreasonable and that authorities would pursue evidence if it emerged.
Black noted that extreme circumstances can allow people to perform difficult physical tasks.
As of the reporting surrounding the 48 Hours episode, no accomplice had been charged.
Investigators Continued Examining One of Byers’ Phones
The investigation did not stop with Byers’ guilty plea.
News 9 reported in November 2025 that authorities were still trying to extract information from one of Byers’ phones.
The U.S. Secret Service was involved in efforts to access the device.
Investigators hoped the phone might answer questions about whether anyone else had participated in the crime or helped Byers afterward.
Authorities continued asking anyone with information about a possible accomplice to contact the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office.
The criminal case against Byers had ended.
The broader investigation into whether another person played a role remained open.
Dakota Black Said the Case Would Stay With Her Forever
The title “Tracker Dakota Black” reflects the unusual way 48 Hours approaches the story.
The episode is not only about the victim and killer.
It also follows the emotional burden carried by the investigator.
Black described the case as one that would remain with her for the rest of her life because of its cruelty.
She worked 18-hour days as the investigation developed.
Her therapy-dog partner, Haven, who normally helped comfort families affected by tragedy, became a source of comfort for Black.
The detective said she lost weight, became exhausted and refused to step away until the case was solved.
Black’s Own History Shaped Her Connection to Makayla
Black said the discovery of Makayla affected her because she saw part of herself in the victim.
She had experienced bad relationships in her own past.
She said there had been moments when her own life could have ended differently.
That history intensified her reaction to finding a woman of almost the same age murdered after trying to leave a troubled marriage.
Black was born one day apart from Makayla in the same year.
The similarities gave the investigation a personal dimension.
She could not bring Makayla back.
She could ensure that the case against her killer was built with enough evidence to keep him behind bars.
Makayla’s Family Turned Her Story Toward Domestic Violence Awareness
Barbara Harper began work on Makayla’s Purple Butterfly, an initiative intended to raise awareness about domestic violence.
The project reflects what the family says Makayla valued during her life.
She wanted to help people who were vulnerable.
She cared for foster children.
She advocated for students.
She tried to create stable homes for children who needed them.
Her family now uses her death to encourage people to recognise signs of abusive relationships before violence escalates.
Barbara has spoken about the bruises and warning signs that the family did not understand at the time.
She hopes other families will ask questions sooner.
Makayla’s Children Lost the Mother Who Chose Them
The murder affected more than Makayla’s mother and sister.
Her adopted children lost the mother who had chosen to build a family with them.
Byers’ daughters also lost the woman who had cared for them and remained on the property in part because she wanted to stay close to them.
That adds another layer to the crime.
Makayla was preparing to leave Byers.
She did not stop caring about the children connected to the marriage.
Her family said that attachment was one reason she remained near him even after moving out of their shared home.
The choice kept her close to a relationship that had become dangerous.
Frank Byers Will Spend the Rest of His Life in Prison
The legal outcome is final in its central respect.
Frank Byers admitted killing Makayla.
He received life in prison without parole.
There will be no release date.
There will be no parole hearing that could return him to the community.
The plea also means there was no full murder trial.
Jurors never heard the complete case.
They never decided guilt.
They never considered the death penalty.
Byers resolved the charges by admitting the murder and accepting permanent imprisonment.
For Makayla’s family, that punishment brought accountability without the trial they wanted.
“Tracker Dakota Black” Returns to 48 Hours
48 Hours originally aired “Tracker Dakota Black” on November 15, 2025.
CBS is presenting the episode again on Saturday, September 5, 2026, at 10/9c.
Peter Van Sant’s report traces the case from the first missing-person call through the search, discovery of Makayla’s body and the detailed investigative work that broke apart Byers’ story.
The evidence revealed a crime followed by an effort to create an alternate reality.
Byers told police his wife had gone on a date.
Investigators found her phones in his possession.
He said she sent him messages.
Detectives determined he had access to her accounts.
He claimed she had left with another man.
Security images showed her at the property before her death.
He presented himself as a concerned husband.
Investigators found Makayla’s blood on his boots.
The final outcome was not the death-penalty trial prosecutors had anticipated.
It was a guilty plea and a sentence ensuring that Frank Byers will spend the rest of his life in prison.
The remaining question is whether he spent the night of September 15, 2023, covering up Makayla Meave’s murder alone.
48 Hours: “Tracker Dakota Black” airs Saturday, September 5, 2026, at 10/9c on CBS and streams on Paramount+.
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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