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· collected 2026-09-06 · by Peter Van Sant, Liza Finley, Hannah Vair
This article appears to be a first-person account of a detective's experience working on a particularly difficult case. Lt. Dakota Black, a trained tracker and detective with the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office in Shawnee, Oklahoma, recounts her work on a missing persons case involving Makayla Meave, who went missing after leaving for a date on September 15, 2023. The investigation involved multiple searches and ultimately led to a heart-wrenching discovery that will "stay with" Lt. Black forever. The case is reported to have been particularly cruel.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-06,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Detective Lt. Dakota Black and her partner, a therapy dog named Deputy Haven, from the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office in Shawnee, Oklahoma, were working on a heart-wrenching case that will stay with Lt. Black forever. The case involves finding a missing person named Makayla Meave, who was reported missing by her mother, Andria Meave. As a trained tracker and detective, Lt. Black's specialty is locating the missing, whether they are alive or dead. She has found missing people in various locations, including under piles of leaves, in trees, and abandoned homes. This case will be one that Lt. Black always remembers through her whole life due to its cruelty. The search for Makayla Meave is ongoing, but the details of the case are not specified in this article.
Written for “Woman's Cruel Murder Investigation” on 2026-09-07,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
This story originally aired on Nov. 15, 2025.
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story → air → Nov.
The guys at the sheriff's office call her a cool dude with long hair because, they say, she's meaner than any of them -- on the gun range and in the field.
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she → call → field
She's a trained tracker and detective with the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
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She → train → Shawnee
I go out to scenes when there's manhunts or trying to locate individuals.
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I → go → individuals
Her specialty is finding the missing — whether alive or dead.
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specialty → find → missing
I have found them underneath piles of leaves.
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I → find → leaves
I've found them pretty much in any area you can think of.
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you → find → area
For kids and other family members caught in the crossfire of tragedy, Haven provides comfort and consolation -- a consoling presence she herself would rely on in the coming months as she embarked on one of the most heart-wrenching cases of her career.
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she → catch → career
This case will stay with me forever.
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case → stay → me
And it will be one that I always remember through my whole life … Because of how cruel it was.
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it → remember → life
The last thing we said to each other, was "I love you."
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I → say → you
Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, began like most days for Andria Meave: with a 7 a.m. phone call from her best friend and younger sister, Makayla.
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Friday → begin → friend
I wish I would've known I would've said so much more. …
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I → wish → more
At least I said, "I love you."
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I → say → you
The next morning, Saturday the 16th, the phone rang as usual around 7 a.m. —only this time, it wasn't Makayla.
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it → ring → a.m.
He's hysterical, crying, screaming, can barely understand what he's saying.
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he → cry → what
And he says, Makayla didn't come home last night. …
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Makayla → say → ?
He ended up telling me that Makayla went on a date the Friday night before with a bald man in a white truck …
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Makayla → end → truck
They left and she never came home last night.
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she → leave → ?
At the time, Makayla and Frank Byers were headed for divorce, says Andria Meave.
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Meave → head → divorce
They were still living on the same 10-acre property in Macomb, Oklahoma -- but in separate homes.
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They → live → homes
I hope she had fun.
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she → hope → fun
But Meave's mood began to shift when her many calls to Makayla went to voicemail.
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calls → begin → voicemail
Makayla was supposed to help out at the family restaurant that afternoon.
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Makayla → suppose → restaurant
But she didn't show and hadn't called — unheard of for Makayla.
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she → show → Makayla
And the more I prayed about it, the more I realized that something serious had happened.
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something → pray → it
Frank Byers also reported Makayla missing to the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office that afternoon.
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Makayla → report → Office
… my wife's been missing since late last night …
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wife → miss → night
she left … at 5:30ish, roughly 5:40, and the last time that anyone has heard from her has been at 8:00 p.m.
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anyone → leave → p.m.
The deputy on duty, Dustin Richardson, felt he needed to put eyes on the ground.
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he → feel → ground
He got to Macomb around 4 p.m. with his bodycam rolling.
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bodycam → get → Macomb
Deputy Dustin Richardson: … he'd given me the information over the phone, but I just wanted to see where she was coming from and -- and see more of the details.
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she → give → details
Frank Byers made a point of showing the deputy the last Facebook message he said Makayla sent him after she left assuring him she was "fine…" and to "back off…"
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she → make → him
Then he told him the story about Makayla driving off with a bald man in a white truck.
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Makayla → tell → truck
Did you see the guy at all?
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you → see → guy
FRANK BYERS: … I would probably say, 6, 6'1".
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I → say → "
He was completely bald and he had a beard.
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he → have → beard
If I — If I had to guess a weight, I don't know, maybe 200.
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I → have → weight
Richardson then asked if he could see the house where Makayla was temporarily living.
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Makayla → ask → house
Can I go take a look around?
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I → go → look
…and 329 more, not listed.
