Source: Office of United States Attorneys
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Robert William Rainford, age 51, of Muskogee, Oklahoma, was sentenced to life in prison for one count of First Degree Murder in Indian Country. Rainford also received a consecutive sentence of 10 years for using a firearm to commit the offense.
The charges arose from investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office.
On May 5, 2023, Rainford was found guilty at trial by a federal jury. According to investigators, on December 12, 2021, Rainford intentionally shot his neighbor multiple times in the head and torso, killing him. Law enforcement officers responding to the 911 emergency call encountered a bloodied Rainford, who directed them where to find the weapon. The crime occurred in Muskogee County, within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
The Honorable David C. Joseph, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing in Muskogee. Rainford was remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.
Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin Gross and Ryan Bondura represented the United States.