GUTHRIE, Okla. (KFOR) – The jury trial for a former City of Guthrie Councilman accused of murder began Monday. Dan Triplett is facing charges for the killing death of his employee and burying the victim with a septic tank.

The Logan County District Court chose the jury on Monday.

“To finally be at this point, it’s a relief,” said Troy Franklin-Smith, brother of the 50-year-old victim Brent Mack.

Mack was reported missing to the Guthrie Police Department on Sept. 29, 2021 after his daughter said that no one had seen or heard from him since Sept. 20.

Mack’s daughter told detectives when she couldn’t reach her father, she messaged his boss, Dan Triplett.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Triplett told her that he fired Mack and dropped him off in front of a laundromat. He also said that he gave Mack $1,000 as a severance.

The affidavit states that detectives obtained surveillance footage from the area, but they say Triplett never stopped to drop Mack off at the laundromat.

Although Triplett insisted that the last place the pair worked together was in Crescent, investigators were able to determine that was not the case.

Instead, they learned that Mack and Triplett worked together at a home in Mulhall on Sept. 20, which is the day he stopped responding to phone calls and text messages.

After watching surveillance footage from the home, “it was apparent that two people arrive at the job site on 09/20/2021 in Dan’s vehicle, but only one person is seen leaving.”

The affidavit states that the video showed Mack getting into a hole that was dug for a septic tank, but he is never seen again on the camera footage.

On Oct. 21, authorities removed the septic tank and found the remains of Brent Mack.

As a result of the investigation, Triplett was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and desecration of a human corpse.

An autopsy by the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office states that Mack died from a gunshot wound to the upper back. His death was ruled as a homicide.

At Monday’s jury selection, the family of Mack described closure as feeling nearer.

“I feel like the people that are sitting on the jury stand now are trustworthy people,” said son Brendon Mack. “They seem unbiased and are definitely seeing that we’re going to get maybe some justice in this case, most definitely.”

Brother Franklin Smith is hoping to finally get definitive answers.

“A motive now would be something that I’ve been wanting to know the whole time,” he said “So, I’m just like everybody else. I want to know myself. We’re all hoping to find out what the motive was.”

KFOR spoke with Triplett’s legal team from The Wallace Law Firm at trial Monday and they declined to provide any comment.