Tommy and Karl

Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot have been in the Oklahoma prison system for a very long time. When I first heard that they had caught the two responsible for the Denice Haraway abduction I thought the Ada Police Department knew what they were doing. I also thought that my sighting of Denice Haraway with two young men on May 6th 1984 must of not have been important to the investigator Dennis Smith. Seeing as we never got a chance to talk. I called the sighting into the Pontotoc County Jail that Sunday afternoon as soon as I got back from Asher Okla. where I filled my car with gas for the week.
I had spent enough time in that county jail all the jailers knew me as Doug. It was kind of wierd to me that there wouldn't be any deputy sheriffs around on Sunday afternoon because all the time I had spent in the county jail, during visiting hours there was always a couple around. But on this Sunday there wasn't. So I told the female jailer that answered the phone, "The girl everyone is looking for is out here at Galey, she is with two men, one blonde headed and one dark headed. They are in a 1950's red Chevy Pickup, and they have a gun." I have to admit that I was a little excited at that time, because I had just seen the young lady's picture on the front page of the news paper at the place in Asher where I got my gas.
I gave the lady a full description of the truck and the two fellows that was with her. I told her exactly where I was my name, everything but no one came out to see me. I did see a sheriff's car drive by a couple of hours later.
The jail ministry was what the Lord had laid on my heart back in March of that year while I was still setting out a bunch of fines that I owed. I was released from the county jail around the first of April 1984 with the promise to the judge to pay fifty dollars a week on the remaining fines.
I was working at Ada Iron and Metal as a welder. I told Dave my co-worker about the sighting the next morning when I got to work. He asked me if was talking about Denice Haraway and I told, "If that is who's picture was on the front page of the news paper ,yes." that was just before we started work.
Tuesday around noon or a little after the sheriff, I think it was, showed up at the shop asking for me. He asked if I would ask to talk to Dennis Smith when I came in to pay on my fines Friday. I said that I sure would.
That Friday I was held up at the bank for about five minutes while this little old lady in front of me in the line looked for six cents of here deposit in the bottom of her handbag. I almost just gave her the nickle and penny! When I got to the county jail to pay on my fines I asked Earnest if Dennis Smith was around? He told me that I had just missed him by about 3 or 4 minutes! So I told him that I would try the next week.
I just never knew just how important it was for me to get to talk to Dennis Smith.