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Missing Solved!after 16 Years The Disappearance Of Ashley Freeman And Lauria Bible Gets A New Look By Police

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cubby

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https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/case-of-teen-girls-missing-1351678998765622.html

On the penultimate evening of 1999, Danny and Kathy Freeman were shot to death in their mobile home just outside of Welch, Okla., and their home was set on fire. But when police arrived on the scene, the Freemans’ daughter, Ashley, and her best friend Lauria Bible, both 16 and having a sleepover in the home, were nowhere to be found, reports the Oklahoman.

Now new leads in not just Oklahoma but Kansas and Missouri have Lauria’s mother, Lorene, launching her own campaign for help on Facebook, and investigators asking anyone for any information they may have, reportsFox23.

The case had a few odd details from the get-go. Lauria’s car, for instance, was parked near the charred remains of the home, her keys still in the ignition, and her purse, which contained money, was found among the ruins. Investigators also found an arsenal of weapons—Danny Freeman was said to have dealt marijuana—though his arrowhead collection was never recovered.

Jeremy Jones, a convicted rapist and killer now on death row in Alabama, once confessed to killing the couple and later the girls, but his leads never played out and he has since recanted; the owner of the property was later convicted of murdering another girl, reports the Miami News-Record. “There are still people scared of whoever did this,” Bible says. “I need information that will lead to something good.”
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http://unsolved.com/archives/lauria-bible-ashley-freeman
A link to the original story.
 
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https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-arrested-nearly-20-old-161552513.html

Eighteen years after two girls vanished following a fire that destroyed an Oklahoma home and left one of the girl's parents dead, police have arrested one of the three men they say killed the teens after torturing them for days.

Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible, both 16, were last seen alive on Dec. 29, 1999. The girls planned to celebrate Ashley’s birthday with a sleepover at her Welch home.

But it immediately became clear to emergency responders who rushed to the Freeman home after receiving calls about a fire the next morning that the previous evening had gone horribly wrong.

The bodies of Danny and Kathy Freeman, Ashley’s parents, were discovered in their burned mobile home. An accelerant had been placed near the home’s wood-burning stove. Both Danny and Kathy Freeman had been shot in the head, according to autopsy reports.

Lauria’s car was still parked in front of the Freeman home with her keys in the ignition. Her purse, which contained money, was found in the rubble.

And Ashley and Lauria were gone.

For nearly two decades, mystery surrounded the fates of the girls.

But on Monday, officials announced that they finally had answers to questions that have dogged them for nearly two decades.

“For 18 years the community in Craig County ... have followed the case of the deaths of Danny and Kathy Freeman, the mysterious disappearance of their 16-year-old daughter, Ashley Freeman, and Ashley’s friend, 16-year-old Lauria Bible, and the arson of the Freeman family home. Yesterday, there was an arrest in the case," Craig County District Attorney Matt Ballard said at a press conference Monday.

As he spoke, the parents of Lauria and relatives of Ashley stood nearby.

“They’ve (the Bible and Freeman families) learned these young ladies’ final days were certainly horrific and today’s announcement no doubt comes as little solace to their grief," he continued.

In the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 1999, Ronnie Dean Busick, Warren Philip “Phil” Welch II and David A. Pennington visited the Freeman home either to sell drugs to one of the parents or settle a drug debt when the teens unexpectedly walked in, according to an affidavit filed by the state of Oklahoma.

Witnesses told police the men spoke of what they did to the girls numerous times over the years, calling Ashley and Lauria "two little b*****s" and saying, "Yeah, we got them, didn’t we?" the affidavit said.

Witnesses told police they had been told the girls were kept for several days in a trailer, where they were raped and tortured, the affidavit said. The girls were then strangled and their bodies were dumped in an undisclosed location.

Welch had about 10 to 15 pictures depicting the girls “lying on a bed, facing each other, with their hands tied and their mouths gagged," and duct-taped to chairs, witnesses said.

The girls appeared to be held against their will and emaciated, and in some of the photos, Welch was lying next to the teens, witnesses said.

"Polaroid photos of the girls and their final days were seen by multiple people,” Ballard told reporters.

The photos were kept "like a trophy" and stored inside a leather briefcase, the affidavit said.

Investigators have not found the photos, but numerous people confirmed they saw the disturbing images.

The photos were tied to an insurance card found by private investigators along the road near the Freeman home a few days after the 1999 killings. The insurance card belonged to Welch’s ex-girlfriend, whose dark blue sedan was frequently driven by Welch and was believed to have been seen near the Freeman home around the time of the murders and abduction.

Witnesses told police Welch, Pennington and Busick were “holy rollers” who cooked methamphetamine, labeling Welch as the “mastermind” behind the killings.

Welch is believed to have shot Danny and Kathy Freeman, while Pennington and Busick are thought to have set fire to the home, the affidavit said.

Described as "evil," Welch reportedly kept a missing poster of Ashley and Lauria offering a $50,000 reward for information tacked up in his Picher mobile home.

Several witnesses told police they were threatened by Welch to keep quiet about what they may know and said they were afraid for their lives. Both Pennington and Welch were also said to have been abusive toward former girlfriends, whom they also threatened, the affidavit said.
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Welch died in 2007, while Pennington died in 2015.

In several interviews with police in 2017, Busick said he hung out with Pennington and Welch, saying, "We were pretty tight back in those days."

He denied any involvement with the killings or abductions of Ashley and Lauria, oftentimes not responding to the investigators’ questions, according to authorities.

“Much of the time he would just stare at the reward poster," the affidavit said.

In a third interview, Busick said he was scared of what his sister would think if he told the truth, but refused to elaborate, the affidavit claimed.

Busick, 66, was charged on Monday with four counts of first-degree murder and malice aforethought, four counts of accessory to first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, one count of arson and one count of accessory to first-degree arson.

“Although the criminal case against Mr. Busick has commenced, we must stay focused on the recovery of Ashley and Lauria for the sake of the families and our entire community,” Ballard said.

The families of Lauria and Ashley welcomed the arrest years in the making, but also noted there was still much work to be done to get closure.

"Somebody knows where these girls are," Lorene Bible, Lauria’s mother, told reporters. "And for me, I need to bring my daughter home."

Should Busick be convicted, Bible said she wants the death penalty for him, whom she hopes to one day speak with directly.

"Hopefully I’ll get to look at him, right in the eye, and (say), 'You need to tell me,'" Bible said. "'You tell this mother to her face, where my child is.'"

Witnesses told police the suspects said the girls’ bodies were dumped in a mine shaft or cellar that was later covered in concrete.

In his threats to keep others quiet, Welch reportedly told one witness, "Don’t you ever tell anybody or you will end up in a pit in Picher like those two girls.”

Bible said she will not rest until her daughter’s body is found and she and her family have a place to lay their grief.

"Lauria turned 35 on the 18th of April," Bible said. "She’s been gone more than half her life. I need a place that I can go and say, 'That’s where my daughter is.'

"I used to go to the end of the Freeman’s driveway and I’d put up wreaths," she continued. "But it’s just a driveway. When you lose a loved one, you can go to a cemetery. I don’t have that. And that’s what I want."

Busick’s arrest comes after years of investigating by several law enforcement agencies and in spite of roadblocks encountered by many.

Private investigators Joe Dugan and Tom Pryor, who found the insurance card days after the murders and abductions, went on to find the blue sedan linked to the card in a Picher salvage yard.

Pryor was told “the vehicle had gone through too many hands to be processed,” for evidence, according to the affidavit.

Pryor held onto the insurance card and went on to give it to investigators in August 2017. He also gave the car registration and rental receipts naming Welch to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the affidavit said.

Pryor said he and Dugan abandoned their investigation after being told by law enforcement that they were interfering and if they continued their probe, their private investigator licenses “would be canceled,” the affidavit said.

Dugan died in 2009, and his family said they attempted to turn over his files on the investigation to the Craig County Sheriff's Office, which was under the leadership of Sheriff Jimmie Sooter at the time, the affidavit said. The sheriff's office turned them down and the family eventually destroyed the files, according to the affidavit.

Then on Feb. 11, 2017, not long after he assumed office, Craig County Sheriff Heath Winfrey discovered a crate containing reports and files on the Freeman murders and missing girls. He turned over the long-lost investigative notes to the OSBI, which reviewed the files and found critical information not previously known, including the names of people they have since interviewed.

In the decades since the murders, countless tips and areas have been investigated, divers have explored Grand Lake, cadaver dogs and drones have been utilized and cameras have been dropped down mineshafts to search for Lauria and Ashley, officials said.

“We will not rest until Ashley and Lauria are brought home to their families," said Aungela Spurlock, OSBI Assistant Special Agent in charge of the northeast regional office.

Officials and family members urged anyone with information to come forward. They can contact the OSBI at 1-800-522-8017 or email tips@osbi.ok.gov. A $50,000 reward still remains.

"There are people out there... that are afraid to talk, because they’re fearful for their lives," Lorene Bible said. "They can remain anonymous."

She and Lauria’s father, Jay Bible, remain steadfast that their daughter will be brought home.

“We’ve missed her for a long time, but were going to bring her home and we’re going to hold on to that,” Jay Bible said, his voice cracking.

"We might as well be up at the Freeman farm, digging through the ashes right now again," he later said. “That’s kind of what it feels like. At least we’re doing something and we’re making some progress now. We weren’t back then."
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Sorry mom but your girl did not and cannot turn 35.
She is forever locked as a teen and immortal.

Horrible story.
Perhaps having the girls sleep over at the non druggie home would have been better.

Cue the lifetime of regret.
 
Disappearance of two Okla. girls stumped police for 18 years. Then they learned about the Polaroids.

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Then there were the Polaroids.

The girlfriend told police she discovered them after Welch was jailed for beating her a few months after the Freeman murders. Welch kept the photos in a leather briefcase, she told police. She “was certain the girls in the Polaroids were the same two girls identified in the reward poster,” according to the affidavit. The photos showed the girls bound and gagged and lying on a bed. According to the police affidavit, Welch’s girlfriend “reported she recognized the bed as being the one that was in her and Welch’s bedroom.”

The Bibles refused to take apart their Christmas tree after Lauria went missing, hoping one day she would return home and the family could pull down the holiday decorations together. In 2006, the tree fell apart.
th
That will put a crack in your heart.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...laroids/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bfadcf8032f9
 
Witnesses told police they had been told the girls were kept for several days in a trailer, where they were raped and tortured, the affidavit said. The girls were then strangled and their bodies were dumped in an undisclosed location.

In the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 1999, Ronnie Dean Busick, Warren Philip “Phil” Welch II and David A. Pennington visited the Freeman home either to sell drugs to one of the parents or settle a drug debt when the teens unexpectedly walked in, according to an affidavit filed by the state of Oklahoma.
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That by it's self speaks volumes. Killers don't keep trophies and torture pics (evidence) unless they're sexual sadomasochist. I don't think the parents were killed over a drug deal, dead parents can't report their kids missing I think the girls were the original targets what teen girl leaves her purse in the car and what meth dealer leaves money. If it was just a wrong place wrong time they'd have shot them quick and burnt up with the parents. I doubt the killers tell the parents where the girls are, they probably get off on the parents begging in agony. There's probably more bodies to find.

I could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.
 
^^^
It is not beyond ANY drug addict or dealer to kidnap/rape a child. These people are the lowest of the low. It doesnt take some Silence of the Lamb caliber creepo to do shit like this. This is commonplace, expected behavior for your run of the mill street trash, unfortunately.

It's unfortunate these witnesses who supposedly saw these pics cant be charged or at least publically named/shamed. Why would you not report such things to authorities.

Sejanus said:
She is forever locked as a teen and immortal.
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Huh? Uh no, she's the exact opposite. She's dead. She's nothing. Are you insane?
 
JackBurton said:
^^^

Huh? Uh no, she's the exact opposite. She's dead. She's nothing. Are you insane?
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It means she is frozen at that age. to those who knew her.
Obviously you have zero experience with murder or loss of a young person, so shut up about it..
You need to stop thinking you know anything, when you consistently prove that you really are just that clueless.

Now quick come back with another personal attack.
Afterall that's the best you ever have to offer,
and that isn't much.
 
This wasn't about drugs or money, it was about low life scum that saw a couple young girls come in while they were in the middle of a deal at most or just hanging out, one of them said something, parents got upset, then they started something real fast killing the parents and snatching the girls to hold captive, rape and who knows what else. These freaks might have already had their sites on the daughter and then friend was the icing on the cake. The parents of the other girl naturally aren't going to truly accept she is dead until there is a body or at least now the solid evidence of so, that is just the way people are. The pervs were n a hurry and am surprised that they didn't take the guns, money etc but shows the level of their real intent which is probably the daughter of the people murdered. This case reminds me of the Holly Bobo one where the gloves should have come off immediately and the sheriff at the time obviously wasn't trying too hard in this case or wanted too much turned over. Those girls were probably alive for a while like Bobo and if handled corrected could still be both cases they had pretty solid leads over who the perps probably were and should have storm trooped it
 
did any one catch or see this? bad blood between sheriff and murdered parents a deputy had shot and killed their son:
http://www.koamtv.com/story/11748364/court-uphold-death-sentence-for-murderer-jeremy-jones


Court uphold death sentence for murderer, Jeremy Jones
Updated: Dec 24, 2010 5:32 PM CST



Updated Feb 22, 2010 - 8:22 PM CST
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Alabama's appeals courts have upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man convicted of the 2004 murder of a woman in Mobile and believed linked to other killings.
Attorney General Troy King says the Alabama Supreme Court on Friday declined to hear Jeremy Jones' appeal. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals instead issued a final certificate of judgment, affirming the conviction and death sentence that Jones received in 2005.
Jones was accused of raping and shooting Lisa Marie Nichols, then setting her home on fire.
Two years later, Jones pleaded guilty to arson in the burning of Nichols' home.
Jones, a drifter from Miami, Okla., told Mobile County Sheriff's Office detectives that he had killed several women in Mobile County, including 3 prostitutes.
Information from: Press-Register - http://www.al.com/mobileregister
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Updated December 30, 2009 - 7:00 PM CST

By JORDAN AUBEY
CRAIG COUNTY, OKLAHOMA - It has been ten years since Lorene Bible last saw or heard from her daughter. But she has not given up hope someone will come forward and provide her family closure.
On December 30, 1999 a mother and father were murdered in Welch, Oklahoma, and two teenage girls also in the house vanished with no signs or evidence of them ever found.
And even though one suspect claimed to have vital information, the Bible family is still looking for answers.
"There's somebody out there and somebody knows something," Lorene Bible told us.
But a decade after police first canvassed the crime scene and a number of searches both on the ground and in the air, the double murder and the disappearance of 16-year old's Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible remains a mystery.
According to Lorene Bible, Danny and Kathy Freeman had the worst relationship with sheriff deputies in Craig County, Oklahoma.
In 1998 a deputy shot and killed the Freeman's son, Shane, when deputies say he pulled a gun on them.
"For a year the Freeman's and the county had like stalked one another," Bible told us. "Danny found out who the gentleman was that they county deputy that shot his son, where he lived, and then the county would harass the Freeman's. They would follow them for miles."
The morning of December 30, 1999 a fire was seen at the Freeman's home.
Danny Freeman and two sixteen year old girl's staying at the home were nowhere to be found. The Freeman's daughter, Ashley, was celebrating her 16th birthday with her friend Lauria Bible.
Lorene Bible says because of the Freeman's history with local law enforcement, when Craig County deputies saw the Freeman's home on fire and found the body of Kathy inside they turned the scene over to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations.
Within one hour the home was released back to the Freeman family according to Bible.
Despite being told there was only one body inside the home the next morning Lorene and her husband found another body - Danny Freeman. But Ashley Freeman and Lorene's daughter, Lauria, were still missing.
"In walks a separate entity that should have done it's job," Bible says. "There's a body, should be three other bodies, you can take that trailer to the floor. I mean I've seen it take days to do a one room motel room."
Five years after the Freeman killings a man from Miami, Oklahoma claimed to have picked up the girls outside the burning house - Jeremy Jones.
Jones is on death row in Alabama for rape and murder, and is considered the prime suspect in killings in three other states. Jones' m.o. - shooting his victims then burning down their homes.
Interviews with Four State deputies led to the search of mine shafts in Galena, Kansas but turned up nothing.
Jones then recanted having anything to do with the girls.

But Lorene Bible is not buying it.
"There were things that they came back and told us that he told them that you had to either have been at the Freeman's when Danny and Kathy were shot and the girls were taken or you had to have first-hand knowledge," Bible says. "He described the actual shot gun, what they were actually shot with. People knew it was one type of shotgun because my husband and I found Danny so we knew it was something close range and it was enough to blow the man's face off. But it had never been released. He knew that Kathy was laying face down on the waterbed."
The KOAM-FOX 14 assignment desk obtained an arrest report from December 30, 1999, the same morning as the Freeman murders.
It shows Jeremy Jones was arrested at 4 a.m. that morning almost 18 miles from the crime scene.
The fire at the Freeman house was reported at 6 a.m. and Jones was not released from jail until after 10 a.m.
Despite the timeline, Lorene believes that Jones was an accomplice in the Freeman murders and knows what happened to her daughter, Lauria, and Ashley Freeman.
"They found him walking like he was out of his head, like he was totally out of his nine either by alcohol or drugs, overdose on drugs," Bible told us. "Which means he could have been at the home of the Freeman's, with whomever was there, as they left there with the girls, he could have been so spaced out that they just kicked him out of the vehicle."

But Jones has never been charged in the death of the Freeman's or the disappearance of the girls.
It has left Lorene Bible frustrated and hurt.
"I envy families that get to bury their loved ones," she says. "I want to bring her home and if that means she's dead, then I will bring her home dead."
Without answers, family and friends take solace in one another at the annual remembrance service for the two girls as another anniversary passes.
 
ChaosKitty said:
Lorene Bible says because of the Freeman's history with local law enforcement, when Craig County deputies saw the Freeman's home on fire and found the body of Kathy inside they turned the scene over to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations.
Within one hour the home was released back to the Freeman family according to Bible.
Despite being told there was only one body inside the home the next morning Lorene and her husband found another body - Danny Freeman. But Ashley Freeman and Lorene's daughter, Lauria, were still missing.
"In walks a separate entity that should have done it's job," Bible says. "There's a body, should be three other bodies, you can take that trailer to the floor. I mean I've seen it take days to do a one room motel room."
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I'd be inclined to agree with her that this was shoddy work by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations. And hats off to Craig County for realising they would not be the right authority to oversee the investigation under those circumstances. Too bad the OSBI(?) was in such a hurry .....

This on the other hand was moronic of Mrs Bible:

ChaosKitty said:
"There were things that they came back and told us that he told them that you had to either have been at the Freeman's when Danny and Kathy were shot and the girls were taken or you had to have first-hand knowledge," Bible says. "He described the actual shot gun, what they were actually shot with. People knew it was one type of shotgun because my husband and I found Danny so we knew it was something close range and it was enough to blow the man's face off. But it had never been released. He knew that Kathy was laying face down on the waterbed."
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And now so does everybody who has read this. I guess she gave up hoping this could be used in a court of law? 'Cause it certainly will not be now.
 
I blame the sheriff for not actuallu investigating. Completely wrote it off because of the shooting with the son.

I am sad that all but one suspect is dead. They just want to bury the girls
 
A plea agreement is pending for the last living defendant in the murder of two missing teens from Welch, Oklahoma, according to the Craig County District Attorney's Office.

Craig Co. DA said Ronnie Busick waved his preliminary hearing and an agreement is pending between the state and Busick.

The agreement involves Busick spending a certain about of time in prison and cooperation in the investigation, said the DA. If Busick's information leads to the recovery of Lauria and Ashley's bodies, the DA says Busick's prson time could be reduced by a certain amount of years.

Craig Co. DA says other agreement details are not part of the public record at this time.

Busick was arrested and charged back in 2018 for the 1999 murders of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman. The 16-year-old best friends were taken Dec. 30, 1999 and believed to be murdered. The bodies of Ashley's parents were found after a house fire, but the girls were never found.

Investigators say three men, Ronnie Busick, Phillip Welch, and David Pennington killed Freeman's parents, set their house on fire, kidnapped the two girls, and later killed them.

Busick is scheduled to appear in court again on July 15, 2020. Craig Co. DA says Busick will plea on that date, as well.
www.kjrh.com

Craig Co. DA: Pending plea agreement for suspect in missing Welch girls case

A plea agreement is pending for the last living defendant in the murder of two missing teens from Welch, Oklahoma, according to the Craig County District Attorney's Office.
www.kjrh.com www.kjrh.com
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