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subject to credit approval see store or ashley.com for details [Music] [Music] hours after Laura Bible and Ashley
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Freeman went missing nearly 20 years ago search parties were formed missing person signs were hung up and the
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community of course was on edge and tonight we hear from a close friend of the girls who is still staying hopeful
00:01:54
that their bodies will be found News On 6 is Amy Kaufman is on that story in Venita with the latest
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Amy Craig and Terry Ronnie Buck is sitting in the Craig County jail tonight facing four counts of murder but despite
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the gruesome details of this case one of Laura and Ashley's closest childhood friends tells me that she helps people
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remember who the girls were as opposed to what they went through easy to get lost in the details
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of this but what I hope and wish is that people won't dwell on those things and that they
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will take that energy and remember the girls Sheena ree says she was coming home from basketball at Blue Jacket High
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School when she found out about the fire at the Freeman house she immediately rushed home to call Laura to see if
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Ashley was okay I just wanted to get home to get to a phone you know to call Laura and that's when he told me that
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she was with her that was like a shot to the get 24 hours later after investigators left the home turned crime
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scene family and friends went to make sure nothing was missed they sifted through all the way to the ground to
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make sure those two girls weren't in there and they weren't so we knew we had get a search party going Sheena and her
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family were involved in several different searches and hung up missing posters across the area but says even
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when it was difficult she never gave up hope Laura and Ashley were such Fighters
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and both so full of life and love Sheena says she still thinks about them every day I didn't get a chance to have
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children get married so I hope those of us that are here make something of that for them because ultimately everyone is
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fighting for the same goal to get the girls home knowing that that will give them some closure and peace of mind
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that'll give me closure Sheena tells me that she's still hopeful that Laura and Ashley's bodies will be found so if you
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have any information that could help lead investigators to Laura and Ashley's bodies you're asked to call OSBI live on
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the scene on the story from Craig County Amy Kaufman News on Six [Music] this story will make your blood boil
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back in December of 1999 two people were killed and two girls were taken in May of 2017 True Crime garage covered this
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case in episodes 107 and 108 titled the missing Welch girls our show description
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read something like this in the early morning hours of December 30th 1999 in Welch Oklahoma a trailer home fire is
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reported firefighters arrive and put out the Blaze the dead body of wife and mother Kathy Freeman is discovered her
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husband daughter and family friend are missing law enforcement theorized Cathy's husband Danny shot her set the
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home on fire and abducted his daughter Ashley and their friend Laura the following day to everyone surprise
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Laura's family was looking for Clues at the scene of the fire there and then they find the body of Danny Freeman and
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the description goes on to read Tonight We Gather in the garage and discuss what
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could have possibly happened the night in the trailer we also want to know what happened to Ashley Freeman and Laura
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Bible well today We Gather in the garage once again to discuss the aggravating update we have in this case first let's
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go through a little recap of this story this True Crime Story Now 23 years old it's been 23 years and the families here
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are still seeking answers and truly when you get down to it still Seeking Justice
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because it's sad to say but we have seen it before and I don't ever want to see it again but sometimes unfortunately
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evil wins and here in this case I am hoping that we can all pull together and make sure that evil does not win so
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let's go back in time Captain to the end of 1999 many were bracing themselves for
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the Y2K scare but in the Tiny Town of welo Oklahoma two girls were celebrating something other than the upcoming new
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year and New Millennium they were celebrating a birthday Welch is located in Craig County which is one of the
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northeastern most counties in Oklahoma this case is so well known in this part of the country that if you were to look
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up Welch Oklahoma this case is highlighted on the Welch Wikipedia page 16-year-old Laura Bible spent the
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evening of Wednesday December 29th 1999 at her best friend's house her best friend Ashley Freeman was turning 16
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years old on this day and the two friends along with Ashley's parents and a few other friends were going to have
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some fun for the youngster's birthday these two were the best of friends longtime friends the kind that you are
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so used to seeing them together that they almost start looking alike in some of these pictures cap
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Laura and Ashley almost look like they could be cousins if we start looking alike I I'm going to quit now they're
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celebrating that Ashley's family's house they they own a trailer that was close to Welsh Oklahoma yeah this is a trailer
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home this is their residence much of the following is from the Charlie project website which is by far in my humble
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garage opinion the best database of missing persons that's Charlie project.org and I
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know many people spend a lot of time reading all of the cases and profiles on that site just remember to donate a few
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dollars while you are there to make sure that the Charlie project site never goes
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away Kathy Freeman Ashley's mother took the two girls to Big bills Barbecue on North Wilson Street in Vanetta
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Oklahoma the group traveled in Kathy's blue Toyota to pick up feed for the Freeman's livestock as well as water
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from Cathy's mother's house the Freeman's trailer had a wood burning stove in the living room and phone
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service and electricity the Freeman family was described as Avid Hunters an outdoor Enthusiast who enjoyed living in
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the remote location due to the fact that they were Hunters there were numerous Firearms stockpiled inside the home
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Ashley's boyfriend Jeremy Hurst told investigators that he met the women at a local Walmart after their dinner he gave
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Ashley a silver chain with a heart-shaped pendant embedded with her birthstone for her birthday present
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Jeremy Hurst said that he returned to the Freeman's home with both of the girls shortly afterwards he said that
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nothing appeared to be a Miss while he was there and that he departed sometime between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. Ashley's
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father Danny Freeman also had relatives over for the birthday party they left after Jeremy Hurst left the trailer that
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night authorities said that no outgoing telephone calls were made from the family's home during the night Kathy
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planned to take Ashley to her driver's test the following morning Laura had a dental appointment scheduled for the
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following morning and planed to leave the trailer shortly beforehand now Laura is 16 so she's driving age she drove to
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the Freeman residence that evening a passing motorist reported a fire in the facin
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of the Freeman's residents at approximately 6: a.m. this is on the morning of Thursday December 30th
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1999 First Responders arrive on the scene and shortly after authorities discovered Kathy Freeman's remains
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inside the debris during that afternoon search of the trailer in the property investigators initially stated that they
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were positive that no other bodies were inside the home and did not sec cure the
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location during the overnight hours Danny Freeman Ashley's father at the time was considered to be the prime
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suspect in his wife's murder in fact authorities believe that he may have abducted Ashley and Laura and traveled
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elsewhere with them but the problem with this Theory here Captain was that all of
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the Freeman's Vehicles were parked near the home they're found on the property yeah a lot of this initial investigation
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doesn't make a lot of sense but you could see where law enforcement was going with this thought hey we found the
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mother we can't find the father we can't find the kids one could assume father took the kids Laura Bible's car was also
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nearby and one detail that was thought to be odd and strange at the time was that the keys lore's keys were found in
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the car and in the ignition that following day now again this is a very remote area they don't
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don't have any nearby neighbors I can see 16-year-old I could even see myself just leaving the keys in the car she's
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planning on getting up and going to that dental appointment early the next morning later we have Laura Bible's
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family they're at the scene and remember this is an unsecured scene they're trying to figure out what happened to
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their daughter to their loved one they find Laura's purse propped up in inside the trailer and that is the only
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evidence that they found of their daughter at the scene the vehicle parked outside keys in the ignition and Lura
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Bible's purse propped up against the I believe it was uh like a corner in in one of the walls in one of the rooms of
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the trailer the following morning the Bibles returned to the trailer and attempt to gather more evidence as to
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their daughter's whereabouts J Bible is Laura's father this is when J Bible discovers Danny Freeman's body in the
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bedroom of the mobile home so that theory is completely wiped out well it makes you wonder how law enforcement and
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firefighters missed this victim correct and it also makes it extra difficult and upsetting that
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they didn't secure the scene either yeah because one could question if he didn't
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find it that day is it possible that he was taken away from that scene and then brought back later it was determined
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that both Danny and Kathy Freeman had died as the result of gunshot wounds not from the fire dany's body was partially
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covered by debris inside the bedroom this explaining why his remains were overlooked by firefighters and police
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the medical examiner determined that Danny's right collar bone had been fractured prior to the entrance of the
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Fatal gunshot wound so it would appear that there was some kind of scuffle some kind of fight he Dany certainly had
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injuries that took place right before he was killed with that gunshot W well it raises questions why would somebody want
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this couple dead why would they set their place Ablaze and where are these girls and the coroner determined that
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Kathy Freeman died at approximately 500 a.m. on that day and remember the fires reported at approximately 6:00 a.m. that
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morning investigators believe that the fire was intentionally set this as an attempt to destroy evidence of these two
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crimes and and potentially cover them up completely an extensive search for the girls produced no evidence as to their
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wearabouts Lorraine Bible laur's mother told reporters that Ashley her daughter's friend had been saving her
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money to purchase a used vehicle remember she's going to get her driver's test the day after her birthday
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Lorraine said that she believed that Ashley had about $1,200 in her savings Ashley's boyfriend Jeremy Hurst
00:14:08
said that Ashley actually had saved between $3,000 and $4,000 for a vehicle wow she was
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employed at a convenience store in town and was using a lot of that money to purchase her first car the boyfriend
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Jeremy Hurst said that Ashley did not have a bank account and in fact she kept her money sealed in a tupperware
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container in the family's freezer authorities armed with this information were unable to locate any
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evidence of the cash after the fire Lorraine stated that Ashley and Dany had been arguing earlier in the month
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regarding what vehicle she was going to buy she claimed that Ashley wanted to purchase a different car than what Dany
00:14:54
had decided she should be buying Oklahoma law enforcement officer Dave David Haynes shot and killed the
00:15:01
Freeman's son Shane the year before in 1998 Shane was found on a country road in possession of a stolen vehicle when
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the officer encountered him Shane Freeman allegedly reached behind his back and pulled a gun on the officer
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prompting officer Hayes to fire at him right the incident was investigated and Hayes's actions were found to be
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justified he and his brother who was also a law enforcement officer said that they both were required to take
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polygraph exams after the girls disappearances in 1999 neither of them though however were ever considered to
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be suspects in the investigation well this is a strange case strange scenario and then a fractured relationship
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between the Freemans and law enforcement so a lot of the family started believing
00:15:52
that maybe law enforcement was Behind These murders yeah local law enforcement possibly involved in the murders and
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then The Disappearance of the girls as well of course we're being told by law enforcement that there's no evidence
00:16:07
that seemed to support that theory at the time but as you can imagine Captain that's going to be difficult for several
00:16:15
of the Freeman Family to agree with that statement there was speculation that Ashley and
00:16:22
Laura may have been involved in the Freeman's murders after the searches failed to produce evidence as to their
00:16:30
whereabouts investigators stated that there was nothing in either girl's background to suggest at all that they
00:16:37
could be capable of such a horrible crime Ashley was a member of the Welch high school basketball team Laura was a
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cheerleader who planned to become a cosmetologist after her high school graduation both girls were very much the
00:16:52
girl next door they were they were good kids both girls were viewed as well- behaved teenagers
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well with such a heinous crime and there's obviously so much confusion so we're going to have so many suspects and
00:17:07
so many different angles that law enfor enforcement is going to have to dive into that's right Captain several
00:17:13
suspects were looked at and investigated over the years this includes serial killers Tommy Lind cels and Jeremy Brian
00:17:23
Jones both who we discussed briefly in our original coverage of this case we talked about both of those serial
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killers and that's because both of these guys confessed on separate occasions these two didn't know each other uh
00:17:39
confess to having committed the murders police pursued both possibilities but neither killer could
00:17:46
offer up solid proof that they were involved and neither killer could lead the authorities to the missing girls as
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well right so the case dragged on throughout the years and as we said at the top of today's show it's 23 years
00:18:01
now and we have families that are still looking for answers and still looking for justice now it appears to me Captain
00:18:09
in reviewing this case that it was never what I would call a cold case so it was
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never really a cold case it seems like new leads and tips were constantly coming in over the years but as it were
00:18:23
for a large part of the investigation the police were having no luck solving the case well there's so many local
00:18:30
rumors and speculation and then you have these killers that are confessing and it
00:18:35
makes you wonder are they just are they're so mentally deranged that they're confessing to these crimes or is
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it that law enforcement is just so good at getting a confession detectives said that things started coming together for
00:18:49
the case in 2016 and 2017 there was a major break in the case according to the media uh this in April
00:18:59
of 2018 so now we're 18 years after the two teens vanished and after the murders in
00:19:07
April 2018 this is when police announced that they had made a serious break in the case so authorities are saying that
00:19:16
they identified Warren Phillip Phil Welch II uh his real name is his legal name would be Warren Philip Welch II but he
00:19:26
goes by Phil and David a Pennington and Ronnie Dean busck as all having been involved in the
00:19:35
murders the arson and the Abduction of the two girls police say that the three of these guys Welch Pennington and busck
00:19:45
all went to the Freeman trailer in the middle of the night on the night in question they killed Danny and Kathy
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they set the trailer home on fire and left taking the girls with them but because this is 18 years
00:20:03
later after the crimes Pennington and Welch were deceased by the time that they were named as suspects in the case
00:20:11
identified as suspects in the case yeah I'd like to dig up their dead bones and kill them again but Ronnie Dean busic
00:20:18
was alive and so he was arrested in charg with four counts of first-degree murder two counts of kidnapping and one
00:20:26
count of arson Phil well one of the deceased members of this group of losers was described as evil
00:20:36
and said by witnesses to be thought of as The Mastermind in the killings of Ashley Laura and Ashley's
00:20:46
parents he died in 2007 David Pennington died in 2015 so in 2018 once the police figured
00:20:57
out what happened and how a lot of this went down there was only one man left standing only one guy to to arrest in
00:21:06
charge here in this case all three of these dudes had criminal histories and both Welch and
00:21:13
Pennington had documented histories of violence against women right one strange tidbit here in this case Captain was
00:21:22
that an auto insurance card was found near the crime scene this was a few days after the murders in
00:21:28
1999 so after the the two murders are discovered the arson and now with both parents dead
00:21:38
it's believed that the two girls were abducted a few days after this they find an auto insurance card near the crime
00:21:46
scene and we say near the crime scene it it sounds like police didn't do their job when you just say near the crime
00:21:54
scene but keep in mind I believe that they're nearest neighbor at the time lived like a mile away so near the crime
00:22:02
scene could mean could mean 3/4 of a mile away from the home right but this card shouldn't be out there it doesn't
00:22:11
it doesn't get there just old old willy-nilly the insurance card belonged to Welch's then
00:22:19
girlfriend who said that she did not know the Freeman family and had never been to their home had never been to
00:22:26
their property and had no idea why her insurance card was there though she did admit that
00:22:34
Welch Phil Welch knew Danny Freeman yeah and maybe he took her vehicle correct and up until a few months before Dany
00:22:43
and Kathy were killed Phil Welch was their nearest neighbor he was living in a house that
00:22:49
is stated to be less than a mile to the south of the Freeman's trailer so still living a good distance away the
00:22:59
insurance card was not given much significance early on in this investigation by police uh not given
00:23:05
much significance at the time by police so a private investigator working for one of the families kept this insurance
00:23:12
card instead the same private investigator found the blue Mercury Topaz vehicle that was linked
00:23:21
to the insurance card it had been sent to a salvage yard the investigator told police about this vehicle but said that
00:23:29
the police wouldn't take the car into evidence in fact they called for revoking the private investigator state
00:23:37
license from the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training for quote interfering in their investigation
00:23:45
into the Freeman and Bible case but what we do know now Captain all of these years later is that that insurance card
00:23:55
later turned out to be a very important clue in in this case yes very important indeed my friend all three of these
00:24:02
scumbags had um a lengthy criminal history that's correct and Phil Welch was known as a quote cooker of
00:24:13
methamphetamine and Pennington his friend one of these other guys was also involved with the drug meth as well
00:24:20
definitely no Heisenberg or Pinkman after Ashley and Laura's disappearance Welch broke up with his
00:24:28
girlfriend the one that had the vehicle and the insurance card but he kept her vehicle that Mercury Topaz he began
00:24:36
dating another woman shortly afterwards and it said that she moved in with him in the spring of
00:24:44
200000 this girlfriend later told police that Welch had Ashley and Laura's missing persons poster nailed to a wall
00:24:54
in his home and he lived in pitcher Oklahoma now while she's staying there and living with him she says that she
00:25:05
overheard Phil Welch talking with the other two suspects Pennington and busck about the Freeman in Bible
00:25:15
case she said that the three men implied that they had murdered the Freeman parents over a drug debt and then taken
00:25:23
Ashley and Laura with them and eventually killed the girls as well she went on to tell police that Phil
00:25:30
Welch had several Polaroid photos of the two girls and his girlfriend that she had seen these
00:25:36
photos the the photos showed the two girls bound and lying on a bed that bed in the picture matched the one in Phil
00:25:45
Welch's bedroom yeah there was a longstanding rumor by locals that there was this party that took place and that
00:25:53
some men had these Polaroids of the girls and that was a long-standing rumor that we eventually figure out is true in
00:26:02
February 2017 the Craig County Sheriff found some previously unknown notes in documents about the Freeman and Bible
00:26:11
case this included notes about the case but also notes from that private investigator the one who had the
00:26:18
insurance card in his possession the papers had been left over from a previous Sheriff Administration and had
00:26:25
apparently been misplaced now acting on the information in those notes investigators received additional
00:26:33
leads this linking Phil Welch uh Pennington and Ronnie busic to the case and they started to locate and question
00:26:45
other Witnesses one witness was a former girlfriend of Pennington's who said that
00:26:51
Pennington had physically abused her and threatened her life she said that he had
00:26:56
bragged to her on more more than one occasion about killing the Freeman during a quote bad drug deal according
00:27:03
to this witness Pennington told her one of the Freeman's parents was buying drugs when Ashley and Laura suddenly
00:27:10
walked into the room they were using Phil Welch's girlfriend's vehicle that Mercury Topaz that night Pennington told
00:27:18
his girlfriend that he and the other men decided to take the girls from the crime
00:27:21
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[Music] difference all right cheers mates to the windows to the walls cheers to everybody
00:30:19
in the back cheers to you Colonel cheers to you Captain so normally when we have a
00:30:25
update it's normally a good thing but this is not an update that we are that thrilled about but if you want more
00:30:32
information about this case again we covered this episode 107 and 108 yeah and we go through the Tommy Lind cells
00:30:42
and the other serial killer Jones we go through those theories a little more extensively than we did here today as
00:30:50
well as covering some other theories about the case and what was interesting in our coverage about the case we didn't
00:30:58
know how active the case was at the time and we didn't know that all of these things were kind of Brewing behind the
00:31:04
scenes but some of the theories we reviewed were similar to what we would learn all of these years later in 2018
00:31:12
when they said that they made an arrest and they were charging Ronnie busic with
00:31:17
murder abduction and arson now leading up to that arrest we still have police working on this case
00:31:26
and they're rounding up these additional Witnesses and collecting statements that
00:31:30
will help them build a case against busic and the other two deceased persons that were involved in this case as well
00:31:39
now multiple other Witnesses connected the three men Pennington Welch and busck to the case and these Witnesses are
00:31:49
giving similar stories about these guys boasting and bragging about their involvement in the Freeman and Bible
00:31:57
case some of them said that they had seen the Polaroids of Ashley and Laura and some of the photos the two girls
00:32:05
were bound and gagged lying on a bed and in others they were duct taped to chairs
00:32:11
by the time investigators learned about the photos these photos had all seemed to have disappeared as well and may have
00:32:18
been destroyed by one or all of the suspects but Witnesses said they had seen them and they could describe in
00:32:26
great detail to authorities what these Polaroids were what they were of and and what were seen
00:32:34
in the photographs there were approximately 10 to 15 photos of the girls is the rumor
00:32:42
the Witnesses were able to identify the bed that was seen in one of the at least
00:32:47
one of the photos a blanket on that bed and these Witnesses were able to identify the bed and the blanket as
00:32:55
belonging to Phil well and some of the photos showed Phil Welch lying next to the girls Ronnie bus told
00:33:04
one witness the girls had been kept alive for days perhaps as long as two weeks in a trailer in pitcher
00:33:13
Oklahoma where they were raped tortured and eventually strangled to death Ronnie
00:33:20
busic said that Phil Welch had shot Kathy and Danny Freeman and that he and the other as salent Pennington stayed
00:33:29
behind at the scene at the murder scene to set the fire to the trailer to cover up the
00:33:36
crimes to cover up the evidence and right when they stayed behind this is when Phil Welch took the two teenage
00:33:43
girls away from the scene Pennington and Welch had both threatened Witnesses saying that Ashley and Laura were in a
00:33:51
quote pit and that Witnesses might end up in the same pit if they tell what they may know or or have overheard
00:33:59
from these men now because of these threats none of the witnesses would come forward this changed in
00:34:09
2017 when they discovered those lost notes investigative notes in the case and law enforcement were circling back
00:34:20
and going to these people and asking them for statements or things that they have known is probably help too loosen
00:34:29
the the grip on these Witnesses a bit because we know that by 2017 two of these three terrible people
00:34:39
had passed away so these Witnesses probably felt a little safer and a little more
00:34:46
secure in being able to give statements to law enforcement after two of these guys were already dead well think about
00:34:53
that for a second I mean you have information you want to go to police but there's three killers out
00:35:01
there you know what they're being accused of you you believe you know who did it you've heard the other rumors
00:35:10
there would be a part of you that would be afraid that if the cops don't get them or the information you give the
00:35:17
police if it's not enough what are they going to do to you and if you're local and if you're keeping your ear to the
00:35:24
ground you're hearing whispers from the bush is you're you're paying attention to the
00:35:30
investigation and paying attention to local rumor and local scuttlebutt you may know that there's
00:35:37
been some I'm using air quotes here evidence this stuff turned out later to be evidence at the time they didn't know
00:35:44
what they had but you may know that hey here's this private investigator here's these other people that have provided
00:35:50
law enforcement with leads and they've turned away from them so if I drop a dime here and try to call in one of
00:35:56
these guys who one dude is known by many to be quote Evil all three of them are known to have a criminal
00:36:05
background and at least two of them A History of Violence if you're going to drop a dime and call one or all three of
00:36:13
these guys into authorities what are you going to do then after you hang up the phone are you going to hope and pray
00:36:18
that they follow up on that lead and arrest all of them so that no harm will come your way uh it's a it's a very
00:36:26
dicey situ situation after all of this news comes out in 2018 of course we learn that Ronnie
00:36:34
busic the only person of the three still alive the only suspect that is still alive out of three suspects he's
00:36:43
arrested for quadruple homicide he tells police and uh this will make its way to the media that he suffers from
00:36:55
memory loss and didn't remember what happened on the night of the murders he doesn't remember
00:37:02
the arson or where Laura and Ashley are he it's reported that he has a low IQ and has sustained brain damage from
00:37:14
extensive drug use and from an incident that took place in 1978 when he was shot
00:37:19
in the head nonetheless he was found legally competent to stand trial so they move forward with court
00:37:30
proceedings in July of 2020 Ronnie busck plad guilty to accessory to second degree murder so you can see it's
00:37:40
originally first-degree murder quadruple homicide arson abduction kidnapping you know all of
00:37:48
these charges look what it's reduced to pled guilty to accessory to second degree murder well it becomes difficult
00:37:55
for law enforcement cuz is maybe you can prove that he's involved but because there's so many people involved you
00:38:02
can't prove that he's the trigger man so you have to take what you can get sometimes so they make a deal with him
00:38:10
so maybe the in the b in the best case scenario you end up having to make a deal with this monster right you're
00:38:17
making a deal with the devil here you don't want to but you're hoping that with him being the only one left of the
00:38:23
three you can't leverage each other against one another right each one of these guys against one another to to to
00:38:31
draw out information because if it's true that this guy has severe memory loss and does not know the information
00:38:39
that you're seeking you could likely get it from one of the other guys but that's
00:38:44
not going to work today because they're dead and gone and what and what is he charged with I what is his
00:38:53
sentence well his sentence is supposed to be 10 years prison time which I believe the families were originally
00:39:01
told it was going to be 15 years and then when he does get out he's going to get five years of probation but keep in
00:39:09
mind he does not plead guilty until July of 202 they announced the arrest in April of 2018 so two of those years he
00:39:19
spent in jail his sentence while it's handed down in 2020 and would start in 2020 he does get credited with that two
00:39:29
years that he did in jail leading up to what was supposed to be a trial which turns out to be a plea agreement yeah
00:39:36
this guy's a real douche Taco so in that plea agreement he said that Ashley and Laura's bodies had been put in The Root
00:39:45
Cellar of a residence near sixth in Ethel in pitcher Oklahoma however searches of that area
00:39:54
turned up nothing Ronnie bu was sentenced to as we said 10 years in prison and 5 years of probation
00:40:02
authorities still hope to recover the girls bodies and that's what the families want as well it's been 23 years
00:40:09
captain and I know the families feel like no one has helped them there have been six or seven major Digs at least
00:40:17
what uh local law enforcement the Sheriff's Office are calling major digs in this case over the years uh all of
00:40:24
these major digs were based off of what they believe to be credible information coming into them about the possible
00:40:31
location of the two girls or evidence leading them to the two girls and unfortunately of those digs that took
00:40:40
place over the years they've really turned up nothing well it's a tough situation because somebody that's this
00:40:47
evil you wouldn't put it past them that they would lie to law enforcement or lie
00:40:52
to the families but in his case you don't know if he's lying or if he's telling you the truth and he just can't
00:40:59
remember so here we sit now and it's like either Ronnie busck either does not know where Ashley and Laura are or he
00:41:11
simply refuses to to tell police where the girls can be found and keep in mind that was part of the deal that he
00:41:20
was offered Ronnie busic received a lighter sentence in trade for information of where the girls are and
00:41:28
as said he either does not know or refuses to give up that information so I Ask of all of you why in the hell should
00:41:36
this guy get that lighter sentence when he did not uphold his end of this baret I 100% agree with you and it's and what
00:41:45
they should be doing is saying hey we're not going to let you out until you give
00:41:50
us this information until we can confirm that what you're telling us is the truth
00:41:55
until we get until we can recover the bodies of these victims so whatever your sentence was
00:42:02
supposed to be that's the sentence that you're going to serve and the reason why
00:42:06
we're having this update today here in the garage we're almost treating this like it's an emergency podcast it is we
00:42:15
have to get this information out we have to get this there needs to be a a great
00:42:20
deal of media attention made and a strong eort efor made in this case because these people
00:42:29
were wronged four people were murdered two girls were abducted and tortured for what could have been days or even up to
00:42:38
two weeks yeah these criminals they should have been tortured themselves we're doing this emergency podcast
00:42:45
because we sit here May 9th 2023 and this guy the only guy that's still alive of the three Ronnie busck is
00:42:59
going to be walking out of prison un less than two weeks time from now he is scheduled to be
00:43:08
released Friday May 19th 2023 so if you live in this area if you live in the great state of
00:43:16
Oklahoma lock your guess who your next neighbor yes guess who your next neighbor could be it could be a guy who
00:43:23
is guilty of quadruple hom side arson he's been involved in drugs and other crimes throughout his adult life killed
00:43:34
four people and was involved and participated in the rape and torture of I they're teenage girls
00:43:45
their children kidnapped them tortured them raped them then murdered them and he's the only one that's alive who's to
00:43:54
say that he wasn't The Mastermind mind who's to say that he is not the most evil of these three we don't have the
00:44:01
other two guys to talk to to confirm or refute his statements of the the memories he chooses to have about
00:44:12
that night and the days afterward yeah and and where is the protection for the family four of their family members are
00:44:20
dead where's the protection for them where's the justice for the victims right again if you make a deal and you
00:44:28
can't provide the information to law enforcement there should be no deal revoke the deal take the deal back he
00:44:34
didn't hold up his end of the bargain you didn't want to make a deal with the devil to begin with you felt that you
00:44:40
were backed into a corner and you had to and then sadly and shamefully this is the result
00:44:49
this guy was locked up in jail waiting trial in 2018 get gets this really major deal in his benefit in
00:45:04
2020 and here we're sitting here that was July of 2020 it's not even been three years and
00:45:13
they're going to release this guy so even if you're going to give him credit for his two years in
00:45:21
jail we're talking about this guy kills four people abducts and rapes people and gets basically a 5year prison
00:45:31
sentence well this is what pisses me off so much too is when they go well it's good behavior again you're locked in
00:45:37
with other animals if you step out of line they might kill you but on top of that a lot of these a lot of these [ __ ]
00:45:44
princesses they're they're they're drug addicts and so well when they're not on drugs they're not killing and raping
00:45:53
people so this guy gets out I don't care what age he's at or what health level he's at he gets back on drugs watch out
00:46:03
he's 71 years old many are saying well he's too old he's not a danger anymore that's not what this is about I mean
00:46:10
that's part of it but but the big part of it is supposed to be that he receives a some type of punishment on this planet
00:46:20
that is I I was going to say worthy of the crimes he committed but I mean nothing nothing can bring these people
00:46:27
back mhm and but but still 5 years is absolutely shameful and appalling and I hope that the people of Oklahoma it's
00:46:37
horseshit catch wind of this because this this is news this wasn't something that the families were told five years
00:46:43
ago oh he'll be out in 2023 no this was news to the families and to to the people of this area as well just within
00:46:52
the past couple of weeks and so so now they're they're scurrying there they're trying to figure out is there anything
00:46:59
that we can do to keep this guy behind bars but again 71 years old I would argue somebody that that participated in
00:47:09
these types of crimes if he's breathing he's a danger and and not only that he did this In Cahoots with two others
00:47:16
who's to say how far his tentacles can or cannot reach who who else is he in in communication with or relationship with
00:47:27
that that could get to to some of these people or what other crimes will he commit once he gets back out yeah and if
00:47:35
there's a uproar as far as the public is concerned as far as media local news covering this national news covering
00:47:44
this the argument here is pretty simple he did not supply law enforcement with the information that he claimed that he
00:47:52
had so the deal should be off the table so okay uh he was a model citizen he he he
00:48:03
had no problems in prison well he should be spending a longer amount of time in prison because that information that he
00:48:10
gave didn't work out so until he can give that information they should not even be considering him uh reducing his
00:48:19
time at all and typically good behavior results in you serving 80% % of your sentence here he's serving 50% or
00:48:30
slightly less than 50% yeah and keep in mind this makes the justice system look like a joke yeah he's older
00:48:38
but these crimes were committed 23 years ago they weren't committed 55 years ago he would have been in his 40s and in
00:48:47
fact both Laura B and Ashley Freeman have been missing since that night the night of December 30th 1999 they were
00:48:56
both just 16 years old in fact Ashley Freeman had been 16 for one day when they were abducted and then subjected to
00:49:05
torture today Laura would be just 40 years old and Ashley just 39 yeah I don't care if you're tired of me saying
00:49:15
it he made a deal he didn't live up to his end of the deal and until he does he needs to spend more time in prison this
00:49:23
is not the first time that we've done an update in this case in the missing Welch
00:49:28
girls case in fact we did an update after busic was arrested and then convicted after he pled guilty on our
00:49:40
other show off the Record OTR if you're nasty and big news if you haven't already
00:49:46
heard off the Record is coming back in a big way and it's back and it's better than ever yeah cup of coffee in the big
00:49:55
time good coffee of the big time yeah you can get uh off the Record if you're nasty you just go to Apple podcast and
00:50:07
you'll see a subscription sign up on the subscription you get the first 50 episodes that we've ever put out of True
00:50:14
Crime garage we just released our two bonus episodes on off the Record Tony MSY bonus episode and also uh the brick
00:50:24
of family murder and then this Sunday will be the first new OTR if you're nasty and we got a lot
00:50:33
of stuff already recorded for off the Record that we're super excited for you guys to check out it's going to be
00:50:40
awesome but it's also a great way to support the show because there's no middleman now all of our bonus content
00:50:47
before was through Stitcher premium now off the Record is completely independent
00:50:54
it's just me and Nick's show so thanks for the support so we often do these case updates on off the Record and dive
00:51:03
a little deeper and take a different weird angle sometimes in these cases on off the Record now sad news and another
00:51:10
missing person's case not related to this case but a case that we covered on True Crime Garage in fact we covered
00:51:18
this case February 2023 February of this year in episode 650 and that is the missing person's case of
00:51:29
Bo man and I can see here there's sad news coming from help find Bow Man on Twitter and help find Bow Man the
00:51:38
Facebook group they are saying friends we have difficult news here's a statement from our entire family we were
00:51:45
notified by the Santa Monica California police that boow man's remains were found in a grassy area about a mile from
00:51:54
where an Uber dropped him off on November 30 2021 his identity was confirmed through
00:52:02
dental records at this point we have no further details on what led to his death
00:52:08
we want to thank all of those who helped us search for him and who prayed for Bo's safe return over the past year and
00:52:15
a half Bo was a beautiful soul who spent the better part of his life helping others we miss his infectious smile and
00:52:23
positive attitude every today we know his spirit will live on through his company and passion sober grid as it
00:52:31
continues to help those struggling with the grip of addiction so certainly our thoughts and prayers uh and feelings go
00:52:40
out to B Man's family and friends and all those who were searching for him over the last year and a half again that
00:52:49
was our episode number 650 from February of this year sad news I want to give go through this article
00:52:58
Captain if you will allow me because this is gives an interesting perspective on the Welch girls case in the current
00:53:09
state of the case and this is an article an online article from Fox 23 News right
00:53:17
that came out just earlier this month on May 2nd and the headline reads family of
00:53:24
19 99 missing Welch girl Laura Bible says Henrietta tragedy hits close to home and the article reads the family of
00:53:33
Laura Bible a teenage girl from Green county who disappeared and investigators believe was likely murdered along with
00:53:40
her friend Ashley Freeman say the tragedy in Henrietta strikes close to their hearts Laura Bible and Ashley
00:53:48
Freeman were kidnapped and murdered after a sleepover for Ashley's birthday in 1999 the Bible family family says
00:53:55
their hearts go out to the families involved in the Henrietta tra tragedy Laura's mom Loren and her cousin Lisa
00:54:03
say they were shocked when they heard about the missing girls in the tragedy in Henrietta quote when it came through
00:54:10
and it said there were two missing girls they were missing and you find out they
00:54:15
went to a sleepover exact same thing with Laura and Ashley lorine said quote I just couldn't even read it
00:54:25
because it was just too real and too close to home Lisa added Lisa and Loren say the deaths of 14-year-old Ivy
00:54:34
Webster and 16-year-old Britney Brewer along with five other people including three other teens brought memories
00:54:41
flooding back and they want to help quote it's a very sad place to have to be but it does help to know that you're
00:54:51
not alone and that other people have went through and in our case still going through what they went through just
00:54:58
yesterday said Lisa they need to know that they can pick up a phone or go to our page where they can text us just
00:55:07
talk to somebody that knows the shoes that they are in last week the Bible family was told Ronnie busic the only
00:55:15
suspect still alive in Lura and Ashley's disappearance is getting out of prison early for good behavior meanwhile in
00:55:23
Henrietta convicted rap IST Jesse mcfaden was believed to be one of the bodies found with the children in this
00:55:31
week's tragedy this was only hours after he missed a scheduled court appearance accused of sexting an underage girl
00:55:40
while he was in prison Lisa says the Henrietta tragedy highlights the Need For Justice Reform in Oklahoma quote why
00:55:50
was he released had there been different laws had they have held him accountable
00:55:55
for what he was doing while he was in prison there are six people that would have been alive still today these two
00:56:04
girls that would have went to a sleepover and come home like they should have so that is the Bible family
00:56:13
immediate and extended voicing their opinions on this this case that just broke not too long ago down in Henrietta
00:56:23
where similar situation un fortunately Captain where we have somebody who is a a criminal uh somebody that deserves and
00:56:32
should be behind bars he's let out he's released and then he is set free to kill
00:56:38
again and that's exactly what we're talking about with Ronnie bus's case and Lura Bible and Ashley Freeman this guy I
00:56:49
don't care how old he is I don't care that he's 71 years old he's getting out he's he's admitted to his involvement
00:56:55
his direct involvement and participation in killing four people setting a fire to cover up these
00:57:04
crimes and torturing children it's [ __ ] appalling uh for for more than more than a day or two maybe even up to
00:57:12
two weeks it's despicable he's getting out he's served five years basically of a month shy of a 5-year prison sentence
00:57:21
for good behavior and he's going to get a a very limited probation period this guy is dangerous this guy should this
00:57:31
should be of a major concern not just to the Bible family and to the Freeman family but to All Families in this area
00:57:39
in regard to this very dangerous individual being released number one and number two their treatment and
00:57:47
punishments and sentences that they hand out for these very violent very dangerous criminals going forward in
00:57:53
their state the until this gets fixed the people in Oklahoma aren't safe and here's the thing this story of Ronnie
00:58:02
getting out early this story of this Jesse mcfaden who gets out and then kills again these are the stories that
00:58:12
everybody needs to tell somebody to pay attention to listen to this podcast pass along an article this great
00:58:20
article from Fox 23 News tell your friends tell your family this is no good and you don't have to be
00:58:28
in the state of Oklahoma to make a difference here this is something that everyone everywhere should care about
00:58:37
their own personal safety the safety of their children this is ridiculous oh yeah and Society in
00:58:44
general sometimes seems like such a freaking joke and we act like that we can't do anything about it well we can
00:58:51
thank you Captain and I want to um discuss before we wrap up here today because I think this is pretty powerful
00:58:58
stuff and it and it really leaves a lot to think about when we talk about this case but a letter that fell into our
00:59:06
hands here Captain um and it it needs to be communicated and everybody needs to know about this
00:59:15
so this is a letter from the attorney general in Oklahoma his name is gner Drummond so Mr Drummond and uh the
00:59:29
attorney general for the the state of Oklahoma says and he's talking to the the Freeman
00:59:36
and Bible fam he addressing the families here of these these victims of these child
00:59:43
victims and his letter says I understand and share your frustrations regarding Ronnie bus's scheduled release from
00:59:50
prison the murders of Laura Bible and Ashley Freeman and the murders of d Annie and Kathy Freeman were horrific
00:59:58
and deserving of the harshest punishment Allowed by law okay he's got some things
01:00:05
right so far the letter goes on to say unfortunately after thoroughly examining examining my office's statutory
01:00:15
Authority and Consulting with district attorney Matt Ballard it is evident that neither the Attorney General nor the
01:00:23
district attorney possesses the legal authority to delay bus's release from prison I am extremely sorry that I
01:00:31
cannot provide any relief to you your family's willingness to speak out about this unjust outcome demonstrates that
01:00:40
those convicted of accessory to murder should be required to serve at least 85% of the sentence imposed I stand ready to
01:00:50
assist any legislator who might wish to draft the the bill addressing this clear
01:00:56
problem please know however that this law will apply only to Future cases given constitutional limit
01:01:04
limitations I hope knowing that I can join the citizens of Oklahoma who see and share your pain and disappointment
01:01:14
can give you some amount of comfort I am suggesting in a separate letter to Representative Steve
01:01:23
bashor that any Bill introduced to change the accessory to murder law be named after Laura and the Freeman
01:01:32
family as a testament to the power of your voices and to ensure that your loved ones names live on your families
01:01:43
will remain in my thoughts please know that I am inspired by your fight to seek Justice for your loved ones and that's
01:01:51
right here at the garage we are inspired by their fight as as well to continue to
01:01:57
stick up for and fight for justice for their loved ones so our hats and our thoughts and uh prayers our hats go off
01:02:05
to the the Freeman family and the and the Bible family and our thoughts go out to them and we certainly
01:02:13
wish them the best of luck in this very difficult aggravating situation and hear
01:02:19
what the the Attorney General is saying there everyone this is not just say one isolated incident type
01:02:30
problem this is something that needs to be changed in the state of Oklahoma Ronnie bus's getting out early and it
01:02:37
looks like we're all handcuffed and there's very little that we can do to change that he's getting out May 19th
01:02:45
lock up your lock up the women and children any husband too uh keep your family safe the best you can when you
01:02:51
have a quadruple murderer out walking on the streets and out roaming the streets
01:02:59
of your good neighborhoods share the story tell somebody you know tell other people
01:03:06
about this story this story needs to be the best chance to get change in Oklahoma is to put a lot of earballs and
01:03:14
a lot of eyeballs on this case and we know that our listeners are really good at doing that the important thing also
01:03:21
to remember here is that this is still an ongoing case right we have some of the story we
01:03:31
have one guy who remains that has told us what he says happened I don't know how much we can believe him again he
01:03:39
could have be he could be the Mastermind of all this for all we know but at the end of the
01:03:45
day even if we can get some good positive change this is still a missing person's case remember you they made a
01:03:52
deal with the devil and the devil do DED them right the devil duped them it tricked all of us Bamboozled all of us
01:04:00
he didn't give up the location of Laura Bible and Ashley Freeman they are still missing both Laura Bible and Ashley
01:04:08
Freeman have been missing since the night of December 30th 1999 they were both just 16 years old
01:04:16
today Laura would be just 40 years old and Ashley 39 Laura is Native American she is Ed at 5' 5 in tall with brown
01:04:28
hair and hazel eyes she may have been wearing a blue shirt jeans white sneakers or black boots and she was
01:04:36
wearing a silver heart-shaped earrings with embedded diamonds Ashley Freeman is Caucasian 5' 7 in tall she has blonde
01:04:46
hair and blue eyes Ashley had an athletic build back in 1999 she may have been wearing a t-shirt
01:04:52
jeans a baseball cap white sneakers a windbreaker and a class ring inscribed with the phrase Blue Jacket High School
01:05:01
class of 2000 very important stuff right here if you have any information that could help
01:05:07
to find Laura Andor Ashley or if you have any further information about the suspects that we've been
01:05:16
talking about Ronnie busic Warren Phil Welch or David Pennington or any other criminal
01:05:24
activity that any or all of these guys have been involved in please contact the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
01:05:33
and notice the descriptions make mental note of those descriptions of Laura and Ashley if you have seen any of these
01:05:41
items that they may have been wearing there's some very specific items here too these are clues that could help lead
01:05:50
us to finding to finally finding Ashley Freeman and low Bible we talk about silver heart-shaped
01:05:59
earrings with embedded diamonds very unique we talk about a windbreaker and a class ring inscribed with the phrase
01:06:08
Blue Jacket High School class of 2000 these are key items very specific items that may help lead to finding one
01:06:18
or both of these girls we need to bring them home to their loved ones and and if
01:06:25
what we believe happened took place we need to get them a a proper resting place if you have any information at all
01:06:34
or know somebody that does please do not hesitate please please call reach out to
01:06:39
the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation their phone number is 800522 817 and their number will be listed in
01:06:50
today's show notes [Music] that wraps up things for today make sure you join us back here in the garage next
01:07:04
week and until then be good be kind and don't [Music] [Applause] litter is it possible to predict the
01:07:48
unpredictable can 3D printed life-size organ models help to map out complex surgeries ahead of time is it possible
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it already is right here Mayo Clinic you know where to go