Bethany police contact woman thought to have video of Carina Saunders' killing

Police on July 3 searched a south Oklahoma City motel room where the woman — identified as Mindy Cottier — was staying. Police recovered a laptop computer, two zip drives, two cameras and four mobile phones.

Bethany Police Chief Phil Cole declined to comment on whether the video was found.

“Anything I release could hinder our investigation,” Cole said.

Cottier, 24, identifies herself on the Internet as an exotic dancer and professional escort. She goes by the alias, Michelle Foxx. She has a record that includes three arrests in 2009 and 2010 on prostitution complaints in the Dallas area, court documents show.

“I'm a stripper/escort and I love my job!” she wrote on Facebook. “I make more than 90% of the college graduates out there.”

She also wrote she now works at Little Darlings, a strip club in Valley Brook.

Reached by phone, she declined to comment Tuesday. Her attorney, Scott Adams, said he also could not comment because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

The victim's body was found dismembered and stuffed in a duffel bag behind a Homeland grocery store on Oct. 13, 2011. The Mustang resident was 19.

Police have identified some suspects in the case and arrested a man last week on a murder complaint in the case. No one has been charged with first-degree murder yet.

Since Saunders' death, detectives have interviewed more than 80 witnesses and followed hundreds of leads, according to the affidavit.

“For the past several months, we have learned from various sources that a digital video recording exists of the murder of Saunders, but to date, no one in law enforcement has been able to confirm the existence of this video,” Detective Angelo Orefice wrote in the affidavit.

According to the document, Cottier has a copy of the video and agreed to come to the police station for an interview on July 2 but changed her mind.

A local attorney told police he had been contacted by a woman “who supposedly had a video of a murder” but was scared to come forward, Orefice wrote.

According to the affidavit, police located Cottier the next day walking in front of the Studio 6 Motel at 3850 S Prospect. She was staying at the motel and took detectives to her room.