Topline: The trio planned the murders by text, buried the mother, and set the father and the house on fire.
Published: July 18, 2025 8:30 am ET
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Three young Fort Towson residents who carried out a grisly double homicide in 2020 were sentenced this week to decades in federal prison, bringing to a close a case that stunned southeast Oklahoma and left two families devastated.
Ashlie Nicole Rose Martin, Chad Jon’Dale Voyles, and Bryson Noel Miller were teenagers when they orchestrated and carried out the murders of Martin’s parents in the days before Christmas nearly five years ago.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge David C. Joseph handed down their sentences in Muskogee federal court. Martin, now 22, received the heaviest punishment — 38 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Voyles, 23, was sentenced to 35 years for murder in Indian Country. Miller, now 19, will serve 25 years on the same charge.
The case was prosecuted in federal court because the crimes occurred within the Choctaw Nation Reservation and involved a tribal member.
According to court records and statements from the U.S. Department of Justice, the trio executed the murders over the course of a single night. On December 22, 2020, Martin — then 17 — let her co-conspirators into the home through a rear window. Her mother, Sherrie Pyron, 47, was sleeping on a couch when she was attacked with baseball bats. Voyles slit her throat after realizing she was still alive. Martin later cooked breakfast for the killers while they buried her mother in a shallow backyard grave.
According to The Oklahoman, Martin had made her intentions clear earlier that day.
“I’m just getting rid of them, and then everything will be okay,” she messaged a friend. “Cause after they gone, I’m free for good.”
She had also texted instructions to Voyles and Miller: “Kill my mother then take out my father then get what u need take one at a time put into the whole then the next one.”
As investigators with the FBI, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and the Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office later discovered, Martin then tried to flee while Voyles and Miller waited for her father, Curtis Lee Martin, to return home the next morning.
When Curtis Martin arrived, Voyles attempted to ambush him with a compound bow, but missed. A struggle followed. Miller struck the 60-year-old in the head with a dumbbell. After he was incapacitated, the pair poured gasoline on the man and set both him and the house ablaze. Curtis Martin, who walked with the aid of a walker and was on probation at the time for a prior conviction of sexually abusing a child, died from thermal burns and smoke inhalation.
All three suspects were arrested within hours. They eventually pleaded guilty to federal charges. Ashlie Martin’s defense attorney had argued for leniency, citing years of alleged sexual abuse by her father and a history of failed protective systems.
“Being in jail is the safest place she has been since the Choctaw Nation took her away from her foster family,” attorney Douglas Smith II said in court. Judge Joseph acknowledged the abuse likely occurred and noted that Martin had been failed at “every level of society,” but concluded her manipulative role warranted a lengthy sentence.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, painted Martin as the driving force behind the killings, motivated in part by her parents’ disapproval of her relationship with Miller. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Traster wrote in a sentencing memo that Martin believed she was pregnant, and convinced Miller the only way they could be together was if her parents were dead. Miller’s attorney revealed in court that a pregnancy test after Martin’s arrest came back negative.
Miller, the youngest of the three and described by the judge as intellectually vulnerable — he had scored a 74 on an IQ test at age 14 — told the court he wished he could undo everything. “I wish I could go back and save those people before it all happened,” he said. Voyles also apologized, saying, “I just wanted Ashlie back.”
Federal officials did not mince words about the brutality of the case.
“The ruthless violence displayed by all three defendants in this case undoubtedly proves they belong behind prison walls,” said FBI Oklahoma City Acting Special Agent in Charge Joe Ogden. U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Wilson echoed the sentiment, saying the sentences “remove three very dangerous people from our community for a very long time.”
Though all three were sentenced for the murder of Curtis Martin in federal court, the investigation into the killing of Sherrie Pyron may not be over. Prosecutors in Choctaw County still have the option to bring charges against Voyles and Miller in state court.
Presumption of Innocence: A presumption of innocence means that any defendant in a criminal trial is presumed to be innocent until they have been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The defendant in this case is only accused of the charges set forth in the criminal complaint. They are innocent until proven guilty.
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38 Years for Teen Who Orchestrated Parents’ Murders in Oklahoma
The trio planned the murders by text, buried the mother, and set the father and the house on fire.
By Jacob Charles
Published: July 18, 2025 8:30 am ET
Three young Fort Towson residents who carried out a grisly double homicide in 2020 were sentenced this week to decades in federal prison, bringing to a close a case that stunned southeast Oklahoma and left two families devastated.
Ashlie Nicole Rose Martin, Chad Jon’Dale Voyles, and Bryson Noel Miller were teenagers when they orchestrated and carried out the murders of Martin’s parents in the days before Christmas nearly five years ago.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge David C. Joseph handed down their sentences in Muskogee federal court. Martin, now 22, received the heaviest punishment — 38 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Voyles, 23, was sentenced to 35 years for murder in Indian Country. Miller, now 19, will serve 25 years on the same charge.
The case was prosecuted in federal court because the crimes occurred within the Choctaw Nation Reservation and involved a tribal member.
According to court records and statements from the U.S. Department of Justice, the trio executed the murders over the course of a single night. On December 22, 2020, Martin — then 17 — let her co-conspirators into the home through a rear window. Her mother, Sherrie Pyron, 47, was sleeping on a couch when she was attacked with baseball bats. Voyles slit her throat after realizing she was still alive. Martin later cooked breakfast for the killers while they buried her mother in a shallow backyard grave.
According to The Oklahoman, Martin had made her intentions clear earlier that day.
“I’m just getting rid of them, and then everything will be okay,” she messaged a friend. “Cause after they gone, I’m free for good.”
She had also texted instructions to Voyles and Miller: “Kill my mother then take out my father then get what u need take one at a time put into the whole then the next one.”
As investigators with the FBI, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and the Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office later discovered, Martin then tried to flee while Voyles and Miller waited for her father, Curtis Lee Martin, to return home the next morning.
When Curtis Martin arrived, Voyles attempted to ambush him with a compound bow, but missed. A struggle followed. Miller struck the 60-year-old in the head with a dumbbell. After he was incapacitated, the pair poured gasoline on the man and set both him and the house ablaze. Curtis Martin, who walked with the aid of a walker and was on probation at the time for a prior conviction of sexually abusing a child, died from thermal burns and smoke inhalation.
All three suspects were arrested within hours. They eventually pleaded guilty to federal charges. Ashlie Martin’s defense attorney had argued for leniency, citing years of alleged sexual abuse by her father and a history of failed protective systems.
“Being in jail is the safest place she has been since the Choctaw Nation took her away from her foster family,” attorney Douglas Smith II said in court. Judge Joseph acknowledged the abuse likely occurred and noted that Martin had been failed at “every level of society,” but concluded her manipulative role warranted a lengthy sentence.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, painted Martin as the driving force behind the killings, motivated in part by her parents’ disapproval of her relationship with Miller. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Traster wrote in a sentencing memo that Martin believed she was pregnant, and convinced Miller the only way they could be together was if her parents were dead. Miller’s attorney revealed in court that a pregnancy test after Martin’s arrest came back negative.
Miller, the youngest of the three and described by the judge as intellectually vulnerable — he had scored a 74 on an IQ test at age 14 — told the court he wished he could undo everything. “I wish I could go back and save those people before it all happened,” he said. Voyles also apologized, saying, “I just wanted Ashlie back.”
Federal officials did not mince words about the brutality of the case.
“The ruthless violence displayed by all three defendants in this case undoubtedly proves they belong behind prison walls,” said FBI Oklahoma City Acting Special Agent in Charge Joe Ogden. U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Wilson echoed the sentiment, saying the sentences “remove three very dangerous people from our community for a very long time.”
Though all three were sentenced for the murder of Curtis Martin in federal court, the investigation into the killing of Sherrie Pyron may not be over. Prosecutors in Choctaw County still have the option to bring charges against Voyles and Miller in state court.
Presumption of Innocence: A presumption of innocence means that any defendant in a criminal trial is presumed to be innocent until they have been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The defendant in this case is only accused of the charges set forth in the criminal complaint. They are innocent until proven guilty.
Editor's Note: ThePo makes every effort to accurately transcribe the contents of affidavits of probable cause contained in criminal complaints. Often, the complaints themselves are copies of copies of faxed copies, and are difficult to read. To confirm the accuracy of our transcription, contact the Magisterial District Court listed above and request a copy of the criminal complaint. It's a public record to which you are entitled.
Must Read
Editor Picks
Latest Articles
38 Years for Teen Who Orchestrated Parents’ Murders in Oklahoma
The trio planned the murders by text, buried the mother, and set the father and the house on fire.
By Jacob Charles
Published: July 18, 2025 8:30 am ET
Three young Fort Towson residents who carried out a grisly double homicide in 2020 were sentenced this week to decades in federal prison, bringing to a close a case that stunned southeast Oklahoma and left two families devastated.
Ashlie Nicole Rose Martin, Chad Jon’Dale Voyles, and Bryson Noel Miller were teenagers when they orchestrated and carried out the murders of Martin’s parents in the days before Christmas nearly five years ago.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge David C. Joseph handed down their sentences in Muskogee federal court. Martin, now 22, received the heaviest punishment — 38 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Voyles, 23, was sentenced to 35 years for murder in Indian Country. Miller, now 19, will serve 25 years on the same charge.
The case was prosecuted in federal court because the crimes occurred within the Choctaw Nation Reservation and involved a tribal member.
According to court records and statements from the U.S. Department of Justice, the trio executed the murders over the course of a single night. On December 22, 2020, Martin — then 17 — let her co-conspirators into the home through a rear window. Her mother, Sherrie Pyron, 47, was sleeping on a couch when she was attacked with baseball bats. Voyles slit her throat after realizing she was still alive. Martin later cooked breakfast for the killers while they buried her mother in a shallow backyard grave.
According to The Oklahoman, Martin had made her intentions clear earlier that day.
“I’m just getting rid of them, and then everything will be okay,” she messaged a friend. “Cause after they gone, I’m free for good.”
She had also texted instructions to Voyles and Miller: “Kill my mother then take out my father then get what u need take one at a time put into the whole then the next one.”
As investigators with the FBI, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and the Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office later discovered, Martin then tried to flee while Voyles and Miller waited for her father, Curtis Lee Martin, to return home the next morning.
When Curtis Martin arrived, Voyles attempted to ambush him with a compound bow, but missed. A struggle followed. Miller struck the 60-year-old in the head with a dumbbell. After he was incapacitated, the pair poured gasoline on the man and set both him and the house ablaze. Curtis Martin, who walked with the aid of a walker and was on probation at the time for a prior conviction of sexually abusing a child, died from thermal burns and smoke inhalation.
All three suspects were arrested within hours. They eventually pleaded guilty to federal charges. Ashlie Martin’s defense attorney had argued for leniency, citing years of alleged sexual abuse by her father and a history of failed protective systems.
“Being in jail is the safest place she has been since the Choctaw Nation took her away from her foster family,” attorney Douglas Smith II said in court. Judge Joseph acknowledged the abuse likely occurred and noted that Martin had been failed at “every level of society,” but concluded her manipulative role warranted a lengthy sentence.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, painted Martin as the driving force behind the killings, motivated in part by her parents’ disapproval of her relationship with Miller. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Traster wrote in a sentencing memo that Martin believed she was pregnant, and convinced Miller the only way they could be together was if her parents were dead. Miller’s attorney revealed in court that a pregnancy test after Martin’s arrest came back negative.
Miller, the youngest of the three and described by the judge as intellectually vulnerable — he had scored a 74 on an IQ test at age 14 — told the court he wished he could undo everything. “I wish I could go back and save those people before it all happened,” he said. Voyles also apologized, saying, “I just wanted Ashlie back.”
Federal officials did not mince words about the brutality of the case.
“The ruthless violence displayed by all three defendants in this case undoubtedly proves they belong behind prison walls,” said FBI Oklahoma City Acting Special Agent in Charge Joe Ogden. U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Wilson echoed the sentiment, saying the sentences “remove three very dangerous people from our community for a very long time.”
Though all three were sentenced for the murder of Curtis Martin in federal court, the investigation into the killing of Sherrie Pyron may not be over. Prosecutors in Choctaw County still have the option to bring charges against Voyles and Miller in state court.
Presumption of Innocence: A presumption of innocence means that any defendant in a criminal trial is presumed to be innocent until they have been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The defendant in this case is only accused of the charges set forth in the criminal complaint. They are innocent until proven guilty.
Editor's Note: ThePo makes every effort to accurately transcribe the contents of affidavits of probable cause contained in criminal complaints. Often, the complaints themselves are copies of copies of faxed copies, and are difficult to read. To confirm the accuracy of our transcription, contact the Magisterial District Court listed above and request a copy of the criminal complaint. It's a public record to which you are entitled.
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