Oklahoma Governor To Appoint Replacement For Slain Labor Commissioner

More than a dozen reporters crowded the judge’s office to witness the arraignment, some filming and others clicking photos of the 15-inch monitor showing Christian Costello. They say he stabbed his father to death at an Oklahoma City fast food restaurant on Sunday. He told Special Judge Russell Hall his name and remained silent for the remainder of the appearance. His son, Christian Costello, was arrested in connection with the killing.

In a statement issued Monday through family spokesman Joshua Harlow, Mark Costello’s family says it can’t adequately express the “shock and sadness” it has experienced since his stabbing death Sunday.

“Christian, like thousands of Oklahomans, struggles with a mental health disease and like many families we did our best to support him”, they said. Costello’s adult son is being held on a first-degree murder complaint in the case. Police have yet to say what may have caused the altercation that led to the attack. “I am stunned and saddened by the tragic loss of Mark Costello”, Cole said. The governor ordered all flags on state property to be flown at half-staff.

In a probable cause affidavit filed late Monday, police inspector Lyndell Easley said authorities interviewed at least 17 witnesses who said they saw Christian Costello attack his father, who was in his second term as labor commissioner and was considered a rising star in the state’s Republican Party.

Last October, the younger Costello was accused of outraging public decency.

Balderrama said Cathy Costello, who was the victim’s wife and is the suspect’s mother, was waiting outside the restaurant while the two men met inside, and that she tried to intervene when the fight spilled into the parking lot.