A former Oklahoma City councilman and businessman was sentenced to life in prison on June 16 after being found guilty of killing his Black employee and burying him under a septic tank.
Daniel Triplett was sentenced to life in prison without parole for first-degree murder with an additional seven years for desecration of a corpse.
Investigators say that Triplett fired Brent Mack on Sept. 20, 2021, and gave him a $1,o00 severance before dropping him off at a laundromat. Mack was then reported missing and Triplett was determined to be the last person that saw him alive.
Police reviewed footage from outside of the laundromat and saw Triplett’s truck drive by but never stop, which made them question the last job that he and Mack did together. Authorities issued a search warrant for Triplett’s home and vehicle, and during the search, they found a logbook of job locations.
It was discovered that they installed a septic tank at a home on the same day that Mack was reported missing.
The people who Triplett and Mack installed the septic system for had surveillance footage of them working on the site. The footage showed Mack going into a hole they dug to install the system but he never came back out. Also, the footage showed Triplett only leaving the site, not Mack.
On Oct. 21, 2o21, investigators dug up the septic tank and found the body. They found a wallet with Mack’s ID and found that Triplett shot Mack in the back when he was in the hole.
Triplett claimed self-defense during the trial, saying that Mack got angry after he told him it was his last day on the job.
