Preliminary hearing for Pottawatomie County man charged with murder of his wife

The murder case against a Pottawatomie County man is moving forward.

Frank Byers is accused of killing his wife Makayla Meave after her body was found in a culvert.

On Friday, Byers returned to court for a status hearing, where a judge ordered a preliminary hearing. The preliminary hearing will allow the court to review the evidence against Byers and decide whether the case should go to trial. Although her parents, Scott and Barbara Harper, are ready to see justice in this case, they believe there are more suspects involved in their daughter's death. “I want God’s will to be done, whatever that may be,” Barbara Harper, Makayla Meaves’ mother, said outside the Pottawatomie County Courthouse.

The couple attended the hearing where their daughter's alleged killer faced a judge. “When I looked at him, I just thought, 'This is a man we welcomed into our family and walked my daughter down the aisle,'” said Scott Harper, Makayla Meave's father. “The trust we had in him is now broken.” Byers is charged with first-degree murder in his wife's death. Byers reported Makayla missing last September. Investigators say she was found shot to death a week later, her body found wrapped in a carpet and thrown from an embankment into a seven-foot-deep ditch near the couple's Macomb home.

“It's disgusting to know that they disposed of our daughter,” Scott Harper said.

He says “she” because the family believes Byers did not act alone. “We know in our hearts that others were involved, it was not a solo performance,” Scott Harper said. “She's her mother's daughter, I've said it from the start, she was a big girl, the dead weight is even heavier,” Barbara Harper added. “It takes more than one person to take it all in at once.”

Although the case is ongoing, the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office says there are no additional persons of interest unless new evidence proves otherwise. The sheriff's office says it is still waiting for the search warrant to be returned to see if any new evidence is uncovered. However, with a new court date set, the family is hopeful that justice will be done in the case. “We're thankful it's moving so quickly because it just prolongs it,” Barbara Harper said.

“I think what will help us get through this process is the fact that God is in control and will ensure that justice is served in the end,” Scott Harper added.

Byers' preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Pottawatomie County Courthouse. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.