Suspect was at park month before killing
Suspect was at Sapulpa paintball park month before killing

By Larry Levy

Published: March 28, 2008

SAPULPA — The owner of a paintball park where the skull of 13-year-old Cori Baker of Tulsa was found last week confirmed Thursday that the victim, her family and the suspect had been there less than a month before she disappeared.

Lee Miller, owner of Paintball Adventure Games, said Marquis Bullock, 19, who is facing a first-degree murder charge, was at the park with members of Cori's family on Oct. 14. Cori disappeared from a Tulsa school Nov. 9.

Witnesses at Bullock's preliminary hearing earlier this month testified that Bullock picked up the girl in his red sports car at school in east Tulsa the afternoon of Nov. 9. A car matching the description of the one Bullock drove was seen in the vicinity of S Riverside Drive in Tulsa, and its occupants appeared to be scuffling.

A skull found March 21 at the paintball facility was confirmed through dental records this week as Cori's. Additional parts of Cori's body were found this week scattered over the five acres that encompass the paintball park, Miller said.

Miller said authorities have told him they think animals scattered Cori's remains over a five-acre area. Tulsa police and Creek County sheriff's deputies searched the area Monday and Tuesday and found "a few bone particles and some hair,” the paintball park owner said.

The medical examiner's office in Tulsa said a cause of death likely would not be determined until next week.

Bullock is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in district court. He is being held in the Tulsa County jail in lieu of $1 million bail after being ordered to stand trial in Cori's death.

"This is not a dump site,” said Miller, who has operated this paintball park since April 1998. "People don't come out here and dump freaking bodies out here,” on the property of about 36 acres.

Cori's older sister, Courtney, testified at a March 17 preliminary hearing that Bullock is her boyfriend. They had been together about four years and have a son, who will be 2 in April.

Miller said Friday, the day the skull was found, was a day "when all the spring breakers were here,” using one of the nine football-field-size playing fields. One of the players notified authorities after finding the skull.

"This is not a dump site. People don't come out here and dump ... bodies out here.”

Lee Miller, owner of Paintball Adventure Games