Oklahoma woman confesses to killing roommate over food stamps, tried to set victim’s body on fire

An Oklahoma woman told federal authorities she strangled a woman with whom she shared a home and attempted to set fire to the victim’s body and home over a ration card.

Jessica McBride, 30, of Tulsa, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and attempted arson in Indian country late last month for the March 2019 murder.

Tracy Russell allowed McBride and her boyfriend to stay at her Tulsa home in exchange for help with shopping, but she later asked the couple to leave. McBride said she strangled Russell in a heated argument because she believed the roommate had stolen her ration card.

“Jessica McBride stayed at the victim’s home and took her own life in exchange for missing food stamps,” US Attorney Clint Johnson said. “My office and our law enforcement partners at the Tulsa Police Department and the FBI will continue to hold offenders like McBride accountable for their criminal actions.”

Reports show Russell McBride, 49, asked to leave three days before the altercation. McBride returned to retrieve some of her personal belongings and became “upset” when her former roommate refused to take possession of her purse. She held Russell in a choke hold for 10 seconds.

“McBride did not verify that Russell was still breathing before she retrieved her purse and other belongings and left the apartment,” according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

McBride returned the next day, covered the victim with a blanket and “set two corners of the blanket on fire before she left the house,” she told detectives. She asked a friend to come back with her a second time to help set the house on fire. However, McBride’s friend alerted authorities and an undercover cop picked McBride up and drove her to Russell’s home.

Authorities found McBride with a plastic bag containing gasoline and lighter fluid as they led her out of the home and arrested her.

A federal grand jury indicted McBride for second-degree murder in Indian Country, arson in Indian Country, corrupt attempt to alter, destroy, mutilate, and conceal an object to interfere with its use in an official proceeding, and attempted, to commit arson in Indian Country last April, but she pleaded guilty to lower charges in September.

Prosecutors have ordered McBride to serve the maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison, plus supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.