John A. Williams
EDMOND — As law enforcement officials try to sort out why a Washington man allegedly kidnapped and murdered an Edmond resident, those closest to the victim want others to know more about the life of their good friend.
Charlotte Nichols was not only Steven Domer’s boss at one time, but she said they also were good friends from the moment they met.
“We hit it right off. He was very friendly, very personable and a very intelligent man,” Nichols said.
She said she remembers Domer, 62, telling her why he liked her from the start. “He said, ‘the first time I heard you say Wal-Mart, while most people say Wal-Marts, let me know you were OK.’”
She said Domer was her right-hand man. “He worked as hard as he could. Anything that needed to be done he would do.”
Wyatt Morgan remembers the first day he met Domer. The two were working together making deliveries for an Edmond workshop.
“I got thrown in with him my very first day at work and when he opened his mouth and cracked his first joke it was all good.”
Morgan said while he was taking treatment for cancer Domer made a special effort to visit him at home.
“When I was diagnosed with cancer the first time, no matter what he had going on he would make it a point to come by my house, pick me up and get me out of it. So for a few hours I would forget that I was sick,” he said.
Nichols said a day never goes by that she doesn’t think of her friend. She said Christmas always will be a time she will pause to remember.
“I have a Santa Claus collection and he was always looking for Santa Clauses for me,” she said. “He found a real old, cloth one that he carried out of some old building for me. I was out in the building the other day and saw it and it makes me think of him.”
Police reports have said Domer was either the victim of a white supremacists’ gang initiation or was targeted because he was last seen around the 39th and Penn area of Oklahoma City — the home to several gay bars and a hotel. He was last seen alive Oct. 26. His body and his vehicle was found four days later in McClain County.
“That’s what surprised me about those bars,” Morgan said. “That wasn’t his scene. It’s really not like him to be out there. He really didn’t believe in labels. He didn’t believe in labeling people, gay or straight.”
Now that someone has been charged with Domer’s death, his friends have said they are having to deal with their emotions.
“He went missing the day before my son’s birthday and I didn’t know it for a week,” Nichols said. “Now it’s been on my mind every day. It makes me wonder how someone can be that disturbed.”
Morgan said he has trouble believing someone could murder a person they’ve never met.
“You hear about it and you read about it and it never happens to you or anybody close to you and you just can’t imagine someone taking your best friend’s life,” he said.
DETAILS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Steven Domer (pronounced Daw-mer) was last seen alive Oct. 26 in Oklahoma City. His body was found next to his burned car four days later in McClain County.
Police investigating his death later searched a home in McClain County owned by Darrell Madden. Law officials believed Madden and his friend Bradley Qualls to be suspects in Domer’s death.
In early November, Madden allegedly shot and killed Qualls in Ardmore.
The Carter County District Attorney has filed formal murder charges against Madden.
Oklahoma County prosecutors filed charges against Madden on Wednesday in Domer’s death.
jwilliams@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 108
