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Thread: Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman - missing since 1999. Arrest made in April 2018

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    Administrator Olivia's Avatar
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    Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman - missing since 1999. Arrest made in April 2018

    I am surprised we didn't have a thread about this already. I cannot believe some progress has finally been made. Apparently the men showed photos of the girls to others while they were in captivity. So people knew about it!? WTF? And they were kept alive for 'some time'. How utterly terrifying.

    A suspect is in custody in connection to the case of two Oklahoma girls who have been missing since 1999.

    December 30-31, 1999, the bodies of Danny and Kathy Freeman were found inside their burned home near Welch.

    They were shot and killed before their home was set on fire.

    The Freeman?s 16-year-old daughter Ashley and her friend Lauria Bible were missing.

    Lauria, 16, was staying the night at Ashley?s house to celebrate Ashley?s birthday.

    The Craig County sheriff called OSBI special agents to help investigate.

    For years, agents and many other investigators have followed numerous leads, interviewing a multitude of possible witnesses and suspects while searching wells and other possible burial sites.

    However, in December 2017, officials said leads gathered that year could be a turning point in the case.

    An OSBI agent and District 12 District Attorney?s Office investigator have interviewed several people who possess knowledge about the murders and the missing girls.

    In December 2017, Craig County Sheriff Heath Winfrey provided investigators with previously unknown notes and documents he discovered referencing the Freeman/Bible case left from the previous sheriff?s administration.

    Those notes and documents have proven extremely valuable.

    According to Fox 23, a suspect is in custody in connection to the crimes related to the girls? disappearance.

    Authorities said Ronnie Dean Busick, 66, was arrested Sunday.

    Busick is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of arson.

    Two other people who were also possibly involved in the crimes are deceased, Fox 23 reports.

    Authorities identified those people as Warren Phillip Welch II and David A. Pennington.

    Investigators reportedly told family members that they believed the two girls were kept alive, but are likely dead now.

    Authorities are still investigating and are searching for clues about where the victims may be buried.

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    Administrator Olivia's Avatar
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    I wonder why four counts of first-degree murder?

    ETA - Oh, duh. The rest of the family.

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    I was looking for this earlier too. I could have sworn we had a thread, or at least talked about it somewhere, but I couldn't find anything.

    That is terrifying that they were kept alive...and infuriating that people knew. I think anyone that knew should be charged with their murders too.

    So the notes were from the previous administration, and essentially got them to where they were today with an arrest, right? Makes me wonder if LE looked the other way or didn't pursue something they should have?

    ETA: I hate to say it, but if they were kept alive for awhile, you can guarantee that they should probably add rape to the charges.
    Last edited by raisedbywolves; 04-23-2018 at 05:23 PM.

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    Administrator Olivia's Avatar
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    Wow.

    Around midnight or in the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 1999, the three men visited the Freeman home on the outskirts of Welch with plans to sell drugs when the teens walked in unexpectedly, according to the affidavit.

    Other witnesses said the killings was carried out over a drug debt, the affidavit states.

    An accelerant was placed near the wood burning stove and by daybreak the mobile home was engulfed in flames, investigators have said about the crime scene in the early phase of the investigation.

    When the smoked cleared, Lauria’s car was still parked in front of the Freeman mobile home with the keys in the ignition and her purse, containing money, was found in the charred rubble of the Freeman mobile home.

    Danny and Kathy Freeman were both fatally shot in the head, according to autopsy reports.

    The details of the rest of the night have been cloaked in secrecy for almost two decades.

    Welch and Pennington were overheard calling the victims “two little bitches,” several years after the crime, the affidavit states. Witnesses also claimed the men said, “if they wouldn’t have taken off running … they would still be alive”

    Welch had nailed the teens’ missing poster to a wall of his mobile home, witnesses said.

    Welch also had photos depicting the teens “lying on a bed, facing each other, with their hands tied and their mouths gagged,” according to witnesses quoted in the affidavit. In some photos, the affidavit states Welch was lying next to the teens.

    One witness stated “the girls looked ‘emaciated’ and another witness said the girls “appeared to ‘be tied up against their will,’” the affidavit states.

    The Polaroids were kept “like a ‘trophy’” and stored inside a leather briefcase to be passed around the ringleader's circle of drug dealers, the affidavit states.

    Insurance card links Welch
    The photographs of the girls' last days were never found, but multiple witnesses told investigators they'd seen them. They were tied to key evidence found by private investigators that allowed law enforcement to crack the case.

    A day or two after the slayings in 1999, private investigators Joe Dugan and Tom Pryor found an insurance card alongside the road near the scene of the crime. It was a critical discovery, although it took nearly two decades for that to become apparent.

    The insurance card belonged to Welch’s former girlfriend, though she reportedly told the FBI she didn’t know why her card was near the scene, the affidavit states. Witnesses say Welch frequently drove the girlfriend’s dark-blue sedan, which was believed to have been seen traveling near the Freeman residence early the morning of the slayings.

    Witnesses described the suspects as “holy rollers” who cooked methamphetamine, the affidavit states.

    http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagela...3ee3e928a.html

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    Senior Member Words Words's Avatar
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    Holy shit. I never thought that this would be solved after this long...
    Quote Originally Posted by Jolly Roger View Post
    Because they are probably not ghetto and hood like me.

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    Senior Member KimTisha's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by raisedbywolves View Post
    https://tulsaworld.com/news/cellar-t...448a96904.html



    Lots of pics at the link above

    Has anyone watched the HLN series Hell in the Heartland about this case?
    No, but I'd be interested if someone tells me it's worth it. I remember when this happened, can't believe it has been 20 years already. Also, good article, but these bytes had me

    Authorities search the Wyandotte home of a man named Paul Glover based on information from a jailhouse snitch. OSBI removes a patch of blood-stained carpet, however, testing reveals it?s not related to the missing teens.
    Blood stained carpet in his house??? And it didn't belong to Ashley or Lauria. FTR, there is not, and has never been "blood-stained carpet" in my house. Ever.

    After private investigator Joe Dugan died in 2009, his family reportedly attempted to turn over his investigative files to the sheriff's office, which turned them down, an affidavit states. The family destroyed the files.
    Both the sheriff's office and he PI's family are jackholes. Give the files to the Bible family so they can keep them safe. Why would you ever destroy something like that?
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

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    Quote Originally Posted by KimTisha View Post
    No, but I'd be interested if someone tells me it's worth it. I remember when this happened, can't believe it has been 20 years already. Also, good article, but these bytes had me



    Blood stained carpet in his house??? And it didn't belong to Ashley or Lauria. FTR, there is not, and has never been "blood-stained carpet" in my house. Ever.



    Both the sheriff's office and he PI's family are jackholes. Give the files to the Bible family so they can keep them safe. Why would you ever destroy something like that?

    To be fair, I have had blood stained carpet, but that's because I used to have a dog with Erlichia and sometimes she would just randomly bleed from her nose. But not human blood, I promise!

    And yeah, it isn't related to the missing girls, then who the hell is it from???

    Destroying those files makes absolutely no sense. I lived not super close, but not super far, from this when it happened. It really shook the area up. I hope they can find their bodies.

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    Senior Member KimTisha's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by raisedbywolves View Post
    To be fair, I have had blood stained carpet, but that's because I used to have a dog with Erlichia and sometimes she would just randomly bleed from her nose. But not human blood, I promise!

    And yeah, it isn't related to the missing girls, then who the hell is it from???

    Destroying those files makes absolutely no sense. I lived not super close, but not super far, from this when it happened. It really shook the area up. I hope they can find their bodies.
    These nine words wouldn't make sense on any other forum.

    I can't imagine what it must have been like for the people in the surrounding area. And to see 20 years later that these three pieces of filth were responsible... ugh. I'm glad the two are dead, but the one who is still alive shouldn't be. Maybe the Great Architect has a slow painful death planned for him, at least one can hope.
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    https://www.poncacitynow.com/new-sea...-girls-bodies/

    New Search Announced for Long-missing Oklahoma Girls Bodies
    Beverly Cantrell - October 8, 2021 6:47 am


    PICHER, Okla. (AP) ? A new search for the bodies of two northeast Oklahoma girls missing since 1999 will start Friday, according to authorities.

    Investigators will search a cellar on vacant land in the former town of Picher where a suspect in the disappearance of Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible lived at the time, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Craig County District Attorney?s Office.

    The location is based on interviews by investigators of Ronnie Busick, a Wichita, Kansas, man who pleaded guilty in August to being an accessory to murder in the case.

    ?Busick just kept saying over and over ?the root cellar,?? to OSBI and district attorney investigators, according to Michelle Lowry, spokesperson for the district attorney?s office.



    Freeman and Bible, both 16, disappeared from Freeman?s home near Welch on Dec. 30, 1999, and Freeman?s parents were found dead in the burned rubble of the home.

    Investigators believe Busick and two other men shot Ashley?s parents and kidnapped the girls, holding them captive for days, raping them repeatedly then killing them.

    The other two men are now dead.

    The search is on land where a former home of one of the men once stood, and authorities say his stepdaughter told investigators Pennington forbid anyone from going near the cellar.

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