Never been to the Ozarks myself, I'm up in Cumbria, but we've had black cat sightings here for years around the fells so I find these reports really interesting to follow. People dismiss them constantly but the sheer number of credible witness accounts across different countries suggests something is genuinely out there.
What strikes me about your sightings is the frequency - three times in a single month from presumably different people is significant. That's not misidentification of a domestic cat or a fox, people know what big looks like.
Has anyone managed to get any footage or even a decent photo? Also worth noting the rough size estimate if you can, whether it was more panther-sized or something smaller but still clearly not a regular cat. Terrain and time of day would help build a picture too.
I'd love to hear from others in that area who've seen something similar, even if they haven't reported it anywhere yet. These things often go unreported because people dont want to sound daft, which means the actual frequency is probably much higher than what gets documented.