Blood stain leads to 2 arrests in 1997 cold case

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    Oklahoma (KOCO) — A 1997 cold case was solved decades after an 81-year-old woman was killed in her Seminole County home.

Her niece and great-niece were named suspects in the death of Gerthie Carolina, 27 years after she was found dead. A bloodstain on a show is what led to their arrests.

Carolina, who was known to man as “Granny,” was found dead in her Sasakwa home in Aug. 11, 1997.

Robin Nottage was a Seminole County resident, but she now lives on the East Coast. Nottage spent a lot of time near Carolina’s house growing up.

“She was ornery is what she was,” Nottage said while laughing. “Granny practically raised me. She babysat me a lot, so I grew up around Granny.”

Around the time Carolina was killed, Nottage said she and her sister drove by the 81-year-old’s house.

“It was around 9 o’clock, and I was going to stop by and see her, but I knew it was already after 9 p.m., so I thought she would already be in bed,” Nottage said.

But something was unusual.

“When we got close to the house and came over the hill, I noticed all of the lights, not just a few lights but the whole house was lit up. I thought that was strange, but I had already gone past the driveway,” Nottage said.

Carolyn Foreman, 81, and Dakoda Davis, 45, now face murder and conspiracy charges in the death of Carolina.

“It is a niece and a great-niece of the victim,” Hunter McKee, spokesperson for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said.

New court documents from Seminole County said the OSBI interviewed several witnesses between 1997 and 2005.

“Foreman had a gun, but Dakota had an axe. When they arrived, Dakota threw ammonia on Carolina’s face. Dakota then began hitting Carolina with the axe,” court documents said.

The documents also describe a motive for the murder–money.

On Aug. 25, 1996, Carolina bought a $40,000 certificate of deposit. The next year, that was transferred to a living trust to Foreman.

Carolina was found dead a year later. Just days after her death, that $40,000 CD was cashed out by Foreman.

Nottage said the arrests were a long time coming.

“I know there were people that spoke out and named them like way back when and gave valid reasons as to why,” Nottage said.

The OSBI said a blood stain on one of Davis’ shoes was tested, and Carolina’s blood was on it.

“We were getting consistent leads from that 1997 to mark when that murder occurred until 2005. But from 2005 to 2023, even though agents are still working on talking to witnesses, there just weren’t leads,” McKee said.

Davis was found in Sacramento, California, and Foreman was arrested in Midwest City.

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