Wife of slain Nichols Hills fire chief is charged

The wife of slain Nichols Hills Fire Chief Keith Bryan was charged Friday with first-degree murder and appeared in court for her initial arraignment. She was arrested Sept. 23 in the shooting death of her husband in their Mustang home at 1320 W Rose Hill Drive.

Bryan's attorney, Gary James, entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.

“They've got to prove we did it,” James said after the hearing. “You've probably seen 2 percent of the evidence in this case. Reserve judgment.”

Prosecutor Paul Hesse asked that Bryan be held in the Canadian County jail without bail. James said he will file a bond request. Bryan's next court date is set for 9 a.m. Nov. 4.

Hesse declined to comment on the case.

Keith Bryan, 52, died of a gunshot wound to the head on Sept. 20.

Rebecca Bryan, 52, claimed an intruder shot her husband and fled in a pickup.

She told a 911 dispatcher a man 25 or 26 years old, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, shot her husband and then apologized and said the fire chief should have hired him.

She was arrested at an Oklahoma City hotel after investigators said they found a .380-caliber handgun, a spent shell casing and a glove in a clothes dryer in her house. Ammunition and a handgun box were found between the mattress and box springs on what appeared to be her side of the bed, they said.