LOCUST GROVE, Okla. — It’s been 25 years since she last saw her son, David Crabtree, and the pain of losing a child forever weighs on the heart of Brenda Miller.
“I never got to tell him goodbye, and I never got to tell him that I loved him,” said Miller.
WATCH: Family decries Stitt vetoing funds for missing, murdered Indigenous people
It’s a heavy burden no parent should ever have to bear, and adding salt to the wound, she said, is the Governor’s recent veto of House Bill 1137.
The bill would have amended the existing Ida’s Law, which the governor signed in 2021. In its current state, Ida’s Law requires federal funding to fully establish the Office of Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons.
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House Bill 1137 would have removed those requirements and provided state funding for the office.
Miller’s son, David Crabtree went missing in 2000 after sneaking out of his bedroom window in Locust Grove.
He hasn’t been seen or heard from since April of 2000.
“You can’t sleep at night, you can’t eat, the thoughts are you ok, did somebody hurt you, do you have food to eat? Are you sleeping on the street?,” she said.
Governor Stitt said this in his veto message:
“While I support efforts to solve missing persons and homicide cases, I cannot endorse legislation that singles out victims based solely on their race. House Bill 1137 requires the creation of a unit within the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) that focuses exclusively on missing and murdered Indigenous persons. But every missing person— regardless of race or background—deserves equal attention and urgency. Oklahoma already has both the Missing Persons Clearing House and the Cold Case Unit within OSBI, which are tasked with investigating disappearances and unsolved cases across all communities. Creating a separate office that prioritizes cases based on race undermines the principle of equal protection under the law and risks sending the message that some lives are more worthy of government attention than others. Justice must be blind to race. Our resources and investigative efforts should be deployed based on the needs of the case, not the identity of the victim. For these reasons, I have vetoed Enrolled House Bill 1137.”
House Bill 1137 passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers.
Miller hopes the state legislature will override Stitt’s veto. An override would require a supermajority vote in each chamber of the legislature.
If you have any information about the disappearance of David Crabtree, you are asked to contact the OSBI.
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