# He Buried His Wife Inside Someone Else’s Grave
The quiet rural community of Broken Bow, Oklahoma, made headlines in 2019 when a woman named Roxi Faezy seemingly vanished from her own home. As a search to find her intensified, no one was prepared for what investigators would uncover.
It was January 26th, a quiet Saturday at the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office, when Broken Bow resident Brian McManaman called in to report a theft. He contacted the Sheriff’s Office and made a report that he had $8,600 missing, and his live-in girlfriend was gone.
Brian’s girlfriend was 56-year-old Roxi Faezy. He told police the last time he saw her was on Friday morning before he left for work. He told us that he got home from work, she wasn’t there, her car wasn’t there, and so he took a shower and then left and went to the gymnasium to referee the ball game.
Came home that night and Roxy’s car was there, but she wasn’t there. Brian said he tried calling her, but she didn’t answer. The next morning he gets up, starts looking around, and discovers this money’s missing.
And then he notices some photographs from the mantle of her children that are gone.
Brian told police he was upset Roxy had taken his money and left. He admitted they had been having issues but were trying to work on it. Officers made a report but didn’t think too much about it.
But then a few days later, a second call came in that changed everything. This time, it was from Roxy’s daughter in Canada who wanted to report her missing. She insisted that her mother would never have just run off and that something was terribly wrong.
She’s like, “I talk to my mom every day. If not every day, it is every other day, no matter what.”
What in her words convinced you that you had to investigate Roxy’s disappearance immediately? The mere circumstances of how she was missing for three or four days, she always talked to her daughter every day, and nothing. It just really filled a lot of red flags for me.
Detective Devon Black quickly sprung into action. I honestly immediately started tapping out search warrants for her residence to look and go see if there’s any signs of foul play.
Investigators searched Roxy and Brian’s home, and although they didn’t find any evidence of a crime, there were certain things that led Detective Black to believe Roxie had not planned on leaving.
So, what did you find in the home that was so troubling? Being married for 15 years, I know what my wife’s going to take if we’re going to go on vacation. That stuff was still there at Roxie’s.
Toothbrushes, deodorant, all that stuff that she would be taking if she was going to be gone for a long time, that stuff was still there.
The house was spotless. I’m talking immaculate. Like there was not a speck of food, not dust anywhere.
It was so precisely clean that the couch had vacuum marks, like vertical vacuum marks in it. And whenever I saw that, that kind of threw up suspicion for me.
And there was more. Roxie’s daughter had told Detective Black to look for a specific pillow that Roxie had from her childhood. She said her mother would never leave home without it.
So, that was actually one of the items I listed in the search warrant to go look for, and we found it. It was there laying on the bed.
Nothing made sense, and detectives got to work trying to create a timeline of Roxie’s last known movements. Her last phone call was to a friend. Their plan was to attend a basketball tournament.
She made plans to meet her friend at the game that night. She asked her friend to save her a seat. Roxie would call her when she had arrived at the gym, just then they would sit together.
But she never arrived at the game.
Detectives caught a big break when Broken Bow police let them know that they had pulled Roxie over for speeding late Friday afternoon, which proved she was alive earlier that day. This is the actual body cam video of that stop.
“I don’t know how I did it. I’m so sorry.”
“Shucks, it’s fine. It’s fine. You do fine.
Have a safe weekend.”
Those words from the officer now seemed haunting. Investigators studied the video and couldn’t find anything that made it seem as if Roxie had been upset or wanting to run away. Roxie was happy.
She was bubbly with the police officer.
In fact, Roxie’s daughter confirmed that her mom was more than happy. She was in love. She loved Brian.
Like, she would do anything for Brian. She was, I don’t want to say obsessed, but man, that was her life was Brian.
Detectives got Roxie’s phone records, which showed that she had arrived home around 4:00 p. m. shortly after being pulled over.
But just an hour later, the phone was turned off and she was never heard from again.
Investigators had more questions than answers, but one thing was clear. Roxie’s sudden disappearance didn’t add up.
Detectives investigating Roxi Faezy’s disappearance were at a loss. It was as if she had faded into thin air. Roxie had a planned trip to Fiji.
She was excited about entertaining. She had a hair appointment scheduled. Whenever you find someone that has future plans, they don’t just leave on their own with no communication with anyone.
As the days and weeks began to pass, investigators turned to the media hoping the publicity might spark some new tips. I got a news crew to come down and get her out on TV, show pictures and kind of connect people with her.
Roxie’s boyfriend, Brian McManaman, gave this interview saying he was completely heartbroken. “We’re making plans to be together for the rest of our lives. I don’t know why she left.”
But during the interview, he also threw out a theory. “I think she met somebody and went away with him.”
Was there anything you found that led you to believe that Roxy had a secret boyfriend? We never found anything like that through any of her cell phone data, her messages, her Facebook, any social media events, communications with anyone where she had met anybody.
In fact, those closest to Roxy told detectives that it was Brian who had strayed from their relationship. She discussed with various friends about she thought he was 𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 on her. But instead of getting upset with Brian, Roxy took it out on the other woman.
Roxy found out about her and contacted her, and it really took the lady by surprise. Brian met her at the library. He was an avid reader.
And Roxy was very jealous. I think she wrote her a letter to tell her, you know, you’re a homewrecker.
And then Roxy sent a final text message to the woman the day before she went missing. The timing seemed almost too coincidental, and investigators wondered if it had led to her disappearance.
Without a body and no evidence, the search expanded. Once we couldn’t locate her anywhere here, we started using border crossing blogs, registration, TSA. Anytime you fly, you go through the airport nowadays, they track everything.
Since Roxie’s daughter lived in Canada, they reached out to Canadian Mounted Police to observe her daughter’s home. They actually went and sat on that house and watched it for a short time to make sure. It turned from a missing person in Oklahoma to a North American missing person.
I mean, we looked all over the northern continent.
As they were exploring all possibilities, the case suddenly took a dramatic turn. Police got a call from some local property owners whose son had made a grizzly discovery.
Tell me about the call that came in on March 18th. Their college-age son had and his girlfriend had been walking near the water mill and they thought they saw a dead body. So, we get there and the body is laying face down in this creek and it’s probably 3 ft deep.
We don’t really suspect that it’s Roxie, but anytime you have an unidentified body and we have somebody missing, we’re curious.
56-year-old Roxi Faezy had been missing for almost 2 months when investigators were told that a body had surfaced in a creek about 45 minutes away from Broken Bow. When detectives arrived, they could see the body floating face down in the creek. We could tell it was a female, but she was in some stages of decomposition at that point.
You really couldn’t make out facial features or anything.
Once a body gets into latter stages of decomposition, there’s certain things that you lose. Things like strangulation, suffocation, those indicators go away once decomposition sets in.
As detectives removed the body from the water, they were horrified by what they saw. As we’re pulling the body up, it’s wrapped in a logging chain. The chain’s crisscrossed around her body and actually zip tied back into itself around her wrist.
And we were like, this is a homicide.
The body was taken to the medical examiner’s office, where a tattoo on her leg revealed that the victim was Roxi Faezy.
What were some of the questions you had about the location where Roxy’s body was discovered? What’s the tie to the dump site where the body’s found? How did she get there?
Who would have put her there?
Police spoke with the woman who owned the property. She didn’t recognize Roxy’s photo, but she did recognize one person in Roxy’s life who had been to her home multiple times. It was Roxy’s boyfriend, Brian McManaman.
He owned a landscaping company and had worked on her property.
So, we start talking to his employees and asking about chains and their equipment. And one of them was like, yeah, he said, we used to have a chain. He said, we only used it for one thing because it had a missing hook on it.
The chain that had been wrapped around Roxy’s body also had a missing hook.
Investigators went to speak with McManaman without telling him he was now their prime suspect. I wanted to see if I could arouse an emotional response out of him. And I said, Brian, we found Roxy.
She’s dead. Just like that. Very cold.
Brian just dropped his head for 30 seconds, looked up, and this is the weird response he had. “Was she in Oklahoma?”
Not how did it happen? Where did you find her? Oh my god.
Not a tear, not a sob, not anything. Obviously, that spoke volumes to me. If I came up to you right now and said your dog’s dead, you’re going to at least say, are you sure?
How? Where? Why?
Those kind of questions. Unless you already know the answer to them.
Investigators got McManaman’s phone records, which showed he had been lying about what time he was home on January the 25th, the last day Roxy was seen alive. GPS data showed that not only did he get to his house at about 2:00, he was there until a little after 6:00 that evening. So, they were actually there at the same time.
In fact, her phone got turned off, was never turned on again while he’s at home, based on his location data.
McManaman’s phone also revealed that he visited the location where the body was discovered the day after investigators interviewed him about Roxy’s disappearance. I believe he went to see if her body had popped up or see if it was still hidden.
Detectives then interviewed the woman who Roxy believed Brian was having an 𝒶𝒻𝒻𝒶𝒾𝓇 with. She told police she had no idea he had a live-in girlfriend, and that she had cut all ties with him after finding out. But shortly after Roxy disappeared, she heard from Brian again.
Brian calls her and tells her that Roxy had left him. And she was never coming back.
The evidence against Brian McManaman was overwhelming. It all added up. No one thought he could have done it.
McManaman was arrested and charged for the murder of Roxi Faezy.
But investigators still had one more question they wanted to answer. Why did he do it?
Investigators believe it was all about money. It turned out McManaman had started over in Oklahoma after getting a divorce in Pennsylvania. He owed her about 65,000, 68,000 somewhere dollars in alimony.
The week she was murdered, Roxie had told family she thought McManaman was 𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 on her again.
Oklahoma is a common law state, which means a couple living together is treated as a married couple, particularly when it comes to splitting finances. Detectives theorized that Roxie confronted Brian about this and demanded a large amount of his assets. Down here he had a pretty successful business of mowing lawns.
Accumulated some property, some items, some equity in his home and vehicles.
Police believe the argument over money led to murder.
On June 3rd, 2022, a jury found Brian McManaman guilty of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. I was glad that the jury saw what I saw and understood the evidence and was able to get it. It’s one of the most gratifying parts of the job.
And now, it’s time for today’s safety spotlight.
Roxi Faezy’s gruesome murder left a hole in the hearts of her family. The case highlights the extreme consequences that can arise from domestic conflict. While no advice can assure that you will be safe 100% of the time, here are a few tips that could help.
If you suspect any form of 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮, prioritize your safety. Avoid confrontations that could escalate into violence. If you choose to address the issue, do so calmly and in a safe environment.
Of course, open communication can sometimes resolve issues or at least provide clarity.
It’s also important to lean on friends, family, and support groups. They can offer emotional support and practical advice. Seek the support of therapists or counselors who can provide guidance on managing relationship issues and personal safety.
And if the relationship becomes hostile or unsafe, it may be necessary to leave. Create a plan with the help of professionals to ensure your exit is as safe as possible.
And if you are in immediate danger, contact local authorities or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE.
I’m Nancy O’Dell. For all of us here at Crime Watch Daily, please join us next time and stay safe.
