Oklahoman given 'atomic wedgie' died from asphyxiation, trauma to head

McLOUD — Authorities have arrested a man in the bizarre killing of his stepfather, who was found with his own underwear stretched around his head and neck. The stepson called it an “atomic wedgie.”

Brad Davis, 33, of McLoud, was arrested on a murder complaint Tuesday evening in the death of Denver Lee St. Clair, 58. St. Clair was the husband of Tressia St. Clair, Davis' mother.

McLoud police and Pottawatomie County deputies were called about 10:10 p.m. Dec. 21 to 4 Shadow Lake. Davis said he and St. Clair fought, and he thought St. Clair was dead, according to a probable cause affidavit.

When authorities questioned Davis, he said St. Clair asked him to come over for drinks. The men began arguing and Davis told officers that St. Clair “came at him,” and they began exchanging blows.

Davis told investigators that he hit St. Clair's head, causing him to lose consciousness.

Then, Davis said, he grabbed his stepfather's underwear and gave him an “atomic wedgie” by pulling the underwear over his stepfather's head.

“I'd never seen this before, but when we first looked at our victim seeing the waistband of his underwear was around his neck,” Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth said.

The cause of death has been determined to be from blunt force trauma to the head and asphyxiation. The death has been ruled a homicide, said Amy Elliott, Oklahoma state medical examiner's spokeswoman.

While he was at St. Clair's home, Davis sent a friend a text message saying he was planning to harm Denver, according to the affidavit.

According to court documents, Tressia St. Clair, who was in the hospital during the confrontation, told investigators that Davis lived in a trailer house at 3 Shadow Lake Drive owned by Tressia and Denver St. Clair.

She told investigators that Denver St. Clair thought Davis owed him $7,000 for living in the trailer home.

Brad Davis' brother told investigators that on Dec. 20, Denver St. Clair said “he was going to pull Brad out of that trailer by his throat.”

St. Clair was under a permanent protective order filed in 2008 by his wife, Tressia Ann St. Clair.

She lived in the home where Denver St. Clair was killed.

In the 2008 protective order, Tressia St. Clair claimed she found her husband embraced in a “sexual way,” with a drinking buddy and that he later grabbed her by the neck and threw her through a bathroom door.

A domestic assault and battery misdemeanor case against Denver St. Clair filed in Pottawatomie County District Court that year was dismissed, according to the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network website.

Denver St. Clair filed for divorce on Sept. 30, 2013; this was the third time the couple filed for divorce.

The first two divorce filings were dismissed and were filed in 2004 and 2010 by Tressia St. Clair.

Contributing: Staff Writer LeighAnne Manwarren