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Last Updated: Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 04:02 PM
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Missing teenager, alleged abductor found dead

A teenager who was abducted as she left school last week was found dead Saturday along with a man her mother had once dated. Authorities said it appeared to be a murder-suicide.
WOOTEN
Caitlin Elizabeth Wooten, 16, was found shot to death Saturday along with a man who authorities said called the Wooten's family and threatened to harm her.AP file

A teenager who was abducted as she left school last week was found shot to death Saturday along with a man her mother had once dated. Authorities said it appeared to be a murder-suicide.

The bodies of Caitlin Elizabeth Wooten, 16, and Jerry Don Savage, 47, were spotted from an Oklahoma Highway Patrol helicopter, said city spokesman Mark Bratcher.

Savage, who had dated the girl’s mother, Donna Wooten, reportedly called the girl’s grandmother Friday afternoon and threatened to harm Caitlin, Bratcher said.

He said Savage was recently arrested on charges of attempting to kidnap Donna Wooten. Wooten obtained a protective order against Savage on Aug. 30, court records show, but he was out of jail on bond when Caitlin disappeared.

SAVAGE
This August 2005 photo provided by the City of Ada, Okla., shows Jerry Don Savage, 47, of Latta, Okla. The bodies of Savage and of the Ada High School cheerleader Caitlin Elizabeth Wooten, 16 were found shot to death Saturday, Sept. 24, 2005, by troopers in an Oklahoma Highway Patrol helicopter. (AP Photo/City of Ada, Okla.)CITY OF ADA

Caitlin was last seen Friday getting into a dark green pickup truck after classes ended at Ada High School. Bratcher said the pickup was found on a street in Ada, about 80 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.

The deaths appear to be murder-suicide, said Jessica Brown, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Savage had previously lived in the area and knew the owner of the land where the bodies were found, authorities said. The landowner, Saye Sliger, was arrested as a possible accessory to the crime, Brown said.