Selby Minner, a pioneering musician and founder of Oklahoma's Down Home Blues Club, was killed last week in her Rentiesville home. Police arrested her brother, Louis Carl Guenther, 68, the following day on suspicion of first-degree murder.
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Deputies from the McIntosh County Sheriff's Office located Guenther at a historic battlefield after witnesses reported a man sitting there for hours, according to The Oklahoman. Officers found him holding a hammer and visibly covered in what appeared to be blood. When questioned, Guenther admitted to killing Minner and directed police to her nearby home.
Investigators later confirmed the residence as the site of both the Down Home Blues Club and the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame. They found Minner's body inside.
Lifelong Champion of the Blues
Minner spent decades preserving blues music and educating new generations. She co-founded the Dusk 'til Dawn Blues Festival in 1991 with her late husband, D.C. Minner. The pair also toured nationally as the duo Blues on the Move.
Their work extended into schools through the "Blues in the Schools" program. That initiative earned them the International Blues Foundation's "Keeping the Blues Alive" award in education.
"She was a blues legend and tireless champion of music in her community," the OKPOP Museum wrote in an Instagram tribute. "Her passion and devotion to Oklahoma music will never be forgotten."
Family Reacts
Selby's granddaughter, Micaela Minner, posted an emotional statement online, calling her grandmother a "trailblazer" and "guardian of music history." She also announced the launch of a GoFundMe to help cover legal costs and maintain the club Selby built from the ground up.
"Her club wasn't just a stage," Micaela wrote. "It was a sanctuary. A piece of living Black history. Now that she's gone, violently taken from us, we're doing everything we can to keep her legacy alive."
She urged the public to share Selby's story, tag musicians, journalists, and historians, and donate if possible. "If you can't give, amplify," she wrote.
Local and National Loss
Fans quickly shared memories. One recalled how Selby brought free festival passes while buying beer for the event. "A sincerely nice human being," the individual wrote.
Minner began her music career in the 1960s and never stopped giving back. She opened her home to young musicians, welcomed travelers, and made her club a beacon of cultural preservation.
