Shivangi Sinha
The father-son duo, Bruce and Chris Willingham, had been working at the McCurtain Gazette-News for years by 2021. The local newspaper was owned by Bruce, who had also worked on a series of criminal cases in their county. They eventually published their investigative piece on some officers from the sheriff’s office, accusing them of mishandling important cases amid other allegations. Peacock’s ‘Kill. Bury. Print.’ features their interviews, in which they speak about what they faced in the aftermath of the reports coming out, as well as the national headline-grabbing incidents that followed.
Bruce and Chris Willingham Claimed to Have Found Alleged Evidence Against Local Officers
Bruce Willingham’s connection with the McCurtain Gazette-News began decades before the newspaper and his family became the focus of a national story. Originally from North Carolina, Bruce moved to Oklahoma in the late 1970s and began reporting on courthouse matters and court cases in 1980. He eventually covered roughly 100 murder trials in McCurtain County. In 1985, he joined The McCurtain Daily Gazette as executive editor, and in 1988, he and his wife, Gwen, bought the Gazette and the Broken Bow News. His son Chris later followed him into journalism. He said that he had always seen the passion his father had for work. It inspired him to join the Gazette as a police beat reporter around 2005. His wife, Angie, also joined the newspaper as a Copy Editor.
By 2021, the father-and-son team had spent years covering law enforcement and criminal cases in the county. Chris’s reporting took a more investigative turn between 2021 and 2022, when he wrote an eight-part series examining the county jail. His article detailed an alleged mishandling of homicide investigations, an alleged affair involving Sheriff Kevin Clardy and investigator Alicia Manning, and other corruption accusations. Chris claimed that from then on, things were not easy for him. He claimed that he was falsely accused of being involved in a pedophilic ring. In March 2023, Chris filed a federal lawsuit alleging retaliation from Clardy and his team over his reporting.
On March 6, 2023, the same day that the lawsuit was filed, Bruce left a voice-activated recorder inside a county commissioners’ meeting room after the meeting ended. He said he suspected county business was continuing in violation of the Open Meeting Act. As has been featured in the documentary, the recording allegedly captured Clardy, Manning, Commissioner Mark Jennings and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix discussing supposed plans of killing Bruce and Chris. The conversation also allegedly included a seeming discussion of harming Chris’s wife, Angie, along with alleged racist remarks and other violent comments. The Gazette released excerpts in April and a few days later, they released the alleged audio recording.
Bruce and Chris Willingham Claimed Their Lives Were Affected After They Released the Audio Recording
Bruce Willingham reported the alleged recording to Idabel police and also submitted a written letter to the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office. The sheriff’s office, in turn, claimed that the recording had been obtained illegally and was allegedly fabricated. The OSBI and FBI investigated the claims, while the Attorney General’s Office concluded that Clardy had committed no crime or act that could legally remove him from office. No one was charged. In the documentary, Chris said that false rumors were allegedly spread about him following the reports, affecting his family life as well. He said these intensified when a man named Farley Grisworld accused him of sexually inappropriate behavior when he was a child. However, no charges were ever filed.
Although Chris said he loved his hometown, he no longer felt safe raising his children there. In 2023, he and his wife, Angie, decided to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with their children. He no longer works for the newspaper and has publicly spoken about the toll the events took on his mental health. Bruce, meanwhile, stayed in the community. He and Gwen continue to publish three editions of the McCurtain Gazette-News each week and also rent several cabins to vacationers in Hochatown, a resort area about three hours away. They have said the cabin business is now their main source of income. Bruce later saw some hope when Clardy received only about 18% of the vote in the 2024 Republican primary, believing the reporting he and his son had done had contributed to at least some change in the community.
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