On the evening of April 10th, 2001, fifty-four-year-old Marsha Carol Carson was found dead in the swimming pool at her home in Altus, Oklahoma. What initially appeared possibly accidental quickly became classified as a homicide, sparking a long-running investigation that remains unsolved more than two decades later.
Marsha’s husband, Steven Kirk Carson (often referred to as Kirk Carson), a vocal music professor at Western Oklahoma State College, reported finding his wife floating in the shallow end of their backyard pool around eleven p.m. She was fully clothed. Her keys and camera were later recovered from the bottom of the pool.
Kirk Carson told authorities he discovered the body upon returning home that night. He removed her from the water and attempted to revive her before contacting emergency services.
The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s autopsy determined that Marsha Carson died from strangulation. Her body showed numerous scratches and bruises, along with a broken bone in her neck (likely the hyoid bone), consistent with manual strangulation. Investigators concluded she was either strangled to death before entering the pool or strangled until unconscious and then placed or fell into the water, leading to drowning. The official ruling was homicide.
Marsha worked as a real estate agent in Altus, a small city in southwestern Oklahoma’s Jackson County. She was remembered by family as a devoted mother to three grown children from a previous marriage: Patrick Cash, Dawn Yvette Craven, and Babette Yvonne Rivera. At the time of her death, she had been married to Kirk Carson for several years.
Altus police initially investigated the death, but the case drew significant attention due to its circumstances and the family’s advocacy. Marsha’s children publicly pressed for a thorough investigation, believing the evidence pointed toward foul play inside the home.
In 2003, her children filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against their stepfather, alleging that Kirk Carson strangled Marsha, dragged her body outside, and placed her in the pool.
A multicounty grand jury examined the case in 2004, but no charges resulted. In 2006, a jury in a civil trial found Kirk Carson not liable for his wife’s death. Despite the civil verdict, he remained a person of interest in the criminal case, though no criminal charges were ever filed against him or anyone else.
The murder of Marsha Carol Carson is still an active cold case handled by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) in cooperation with local authorities. As of the latest available information in April 2026, no arrests have been made.
Crime Immemorial 