Lauria Jaylene Bible and Ashley Renae Freeman.
Lauria was born on April 18th,1983 in Claremore, Rogers County, Oklahoma to Stanley "Jay" & Lorene (LeForce) Bible.
They were teenagers who disappeared between the evening of December 29 and early morning hours of December 30, 1999, from Freeman's home in Welch, Oklahoma. It was Ashley's birthday on the 29th.They were celebrating her birthday with her parents. Firefighters arrived at the Freeman home shortly after 5:30 am on December 30. A passerby reported a fire at the residence. After the fire had been extinguished, the bodies of Freeman's parents, Danny and Kathy, were recovered. Kathy was discovered first. She was shot in the head.
On December 31, Lauria's parents Lorene and Jay returned to the scene, hoping to find additional clues law enforcement may have missed. While walking around the rubble, they discovered what appeared to be another body and called police. It was Danny's body.
He was also shot in the head. The police were unable to find any trace of Lauria or Ashley in the rubble of the home.
Locals said that the Craig County Police Department had been feuding with the Freemans at the time over the death of their son.
Their son Shane, was shot by a deputy after stealing a car. His death was ruled justifiable, but the Freemans had threatened to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Dan's brother, Dwayne, claimed that Dan had confided that deputies had tried to intimidate him.
Two convicted killer,Tommy Lynn Sells and Jeremy Jones, confessed to murdering them, but subsequently recanted their claims.
In April 2018, it was reported that Ronald "Ronnie" James Busick, had been arrested and charged with four counts first-degree murder for the deaths of Lauria and the Freeman family. Two other suspects, Warren Phillip “Phil” Welch II and David Pennington, were also identified. Warren and David passed away a few years before. According to The Washington Post, "at least a dozen" witnesses claimed all three men bragged about raping and murdering Lauria and Ashley. Supposedly they even took Polaroid photographs of them. Several witnesses alleged that the three men killed the Freemans over drug money, and that the girls were held captive in Welch's trailer for several days before being murdered.
He was also shot in the head. The police were unable to find any trace of Lauria or Ashley in the rubble of the home.
Their son Shane, was shot by a deputy after stealing a car. His death was ruled justifiable, but the Freemans had threatened to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Dan's brother, Dwayne, claimed that Dan had confided that deputies had tried to intimidate him.
A female witness who lived with Welch provided a sworn affidavit that "she heard conversations between the three men where they disclosed that the murder victims had owed them money," and that Welch kept a briefcase containing the Polaroid photos showed both girls "bound and gagged with duct tape and lying on a bed," with Welch lying next to the girls in some of the photographs. She said Pennington, and Busick had claimed to have raped and tortured the girls before disposing of their remains "in a pit" or mine shaft in Picher, Oklahoma.The police stated they believed the girls' remains could have been "dumped in a cellar that was later covered in concrete."
"At this time all focus is on finding Lauria and Ashley. We welcome all information leading to their recovery. Until they are home with us, this will never be over."
No comments:
Post a Comment