OK OK - Lauria Bible, 16, & Ashley Freeman, 16, Welch, 30 December 1999 *ARREST*

Welcome to Websleuths!
Click to learn how to make a missing person's thread

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves

New Posts

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jennifer17 said:
Why is it now covered by swamp? Is it covered by water from the tailing ponds? Don't mining companies have to restore the land?
Click to expand...

Here’s a 2015 investigative piece about where all the toxic water is still coming from.

https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahom...ing-up-one-of-oklahomas-most-polluted-places/

From the link:

Water pollution is a long-term hazard at Tar Creek. Runoff from the chat piles picks up harmful metals and leeches into the soil, where it can affect various water sources.

But contaminated groundwater poses a longer term hazard, Nairn says. When the lead and zinc mines were abandoned and their pumps switched off, the caverns filled with water that soaked up harmful metals.

(Photo: Acidic, toxic mine water flows between the baseball field and football field at the high school in Commerce, Okla.)

“All of these discharges contained elevated iron. That’s the orange color that everybody sees,” says Nairn. “But what they don’t see are elevated zinc, cadmium, lead, arsenic.”

Roughly 32 billion gallons of toxic mine water — a small lakes’ worth — is steadily gurgling to the surface and flowing into streams and creeks. The toxic spring could flow for centuries, Nairn says.
 
indicajane said:
Having lived rough, and knowing adult addicts, I can think of no reason why Danny wouldn’t have continued a normal drug deal just because a teenaged girl was spending the night. Dealing is usually discrete unless it’s a huge quantity.

Pot dealing is not normally seen as a moral failings when you live on the edges (from all accounts the Freeman were alternative thinkers)...so there’d really not be a reason to hide pot dealings from their daughter OR her friend, in general.

Meth dealing the item will be smaller, more condensed and less smelly then the weed.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

From all that I have read, I am assuming DF would do anything to keep local LE away. Would someone who has had bad run ins with the local police do a drug deal in front of their daughter and her friend? I wouldn't think so, could they have walked in? Maybe?

I have never heard of any pot growing on their land. And although it's a lot of land, from what I have read it was searched, if not by LE but by others. There would be some kind of record of pot growing. To be honest at that time in this area meth and pills were the big drug here. Usually, if you heard someone was an addict it was just assumed it was meth. I am sure that one could make a living off of growing and selling but I just don't think DF grew there. And the suspects were known as meth drug lords.

I have questioned how exactly the suspects knew the family. I think the trailer is key, Welch was renting the trailer in Picher. I haven't heard who actually owned it. But I have heard things about the person I think owned the trailer. I think the owner is a distant cousin of the Freemans. I cannot be sure of this because there's nothing that has been released on who owns it.
 
Hi all - just got caught up with the latest news! So many "old" case are being solved!

Article in post #722:
Bible spent the night at Freeman's Welch home on December 29, 1999.

and another article post # sorry forgot to get #
In the middle of the night on Dec. 29 or the early-morning hours of Dec. 30, 1999, someone drove down the dirt driveway to the Freeman residence.

How come you have 12/10/99 on the title thread?

interestedincases said:
https://www.oscn.net/dockets/Search.aspx - Oklahoma Court Records
Click to expand...

:gaah: another court site I can't get into. Hoping someone here will keep us updated on court dates. I have July 13th as the next one.


Okay - here's what I have on this case:

Friday, July 13th:
*Prelim Hearing - OK - Danny & Kathy Freeman, their daughter Ashley (16) & her friend Lauria Bible (16) (Dec. 29-30, 1999/girls have not been found) - Ronnie Dean Busick (66/37 @ time of crime) was arrested (4/22/18) & official charged (4/30/18) with 2 counts of first-degree murder with malice aforethought or accessory to 1st degree murder, 2 additional counts of 1st degree murder, 2 counts of kidnapping, and 1 count of first-degree arson or accessory to 1st degree arson. $1M bail. Two other men, Warren Philip "Phil" Welch II (61) died in 2007 & David A. Pennington (56) died in 2015, are implicated in the deaths but have themselves died.
5/11/18: The state is also seeking a hearing seeking the excusing of the endorsements of witnesses, who are only identified by initials in the probable cause affidavit.
he case was continued to July 13, when a preliminary hearing will be set.


Oh - from all the articles I've read no where was the ages of Danny & Kathy - anyone know?

TIA!
 
EuTuCroquet? said:
Here’s a 2015 investigative piece about where all the toxic water is still coming from.

https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahom...ing-up-one-of-oklahomas-most-polluted-places/

From the link:

Water pollution is a long-term hazard at Tar Creek. Runoff from the chat piles picks up harmful metals and leeches into the soil, where it can affect various water sources.

But contaminated groundwater poses a longer term hazard, Nairn says. When the lead and zinc mines were abandoned and their pumps switched off, the caverns filled with water that soaked up harmful metals.

(Photo: Acidic, toxic mine water flows between the baseball field and football field at the high school in Commerce, Okla.)

“All of these discharges contained elevated iron. That’s the orange color that everybody sees,” says Nairn. “But what they don’t see are elevated zinc, cadmium, lead, arsenic.”

Roughly 32 billion gallons of toxic mine water — a small lakes’ worth — is steadily gurgling to the surface and flowing into streams and creeks. The toxic spring could flow for centuries, Nairn says.
Click to expand...

I agree with what you said. The government fully knew that we were drinking and inhaling lead, but by then all the mining companies had declared bankruptcy so there was that. The Superfund was set in place because the citizens were meant to be paid to relocate/ However due to the OK Senator (Republican) who was put in charge of the fund, he kept it on the back burner so he could collect hundreds of thousands of dollars, while the citizens were being poisoned. So when he was forced to do something he wasted millions of dollars to dig up the land just to be back in the same issues. The government let us all down. I live there for 18 years, and never received a dollar. I had moved away before then. I suffer from diagnosed ADHD that has been linked to lead poisoning but I didn't matter. All of this really wasn't made available to us while it was going on, seeing it was pre-internet days and all.
 
July 13th is the next court appearance.

I hope LE is able to put enough pressure on Busick to insure that he reveals any knowledge, no matter how tenuous, of the resting place of the girls.

I suppose there is every chance that he might not have been with Welch / Pennington when the bodies were hidden. But if they were as close as the affidavit and if Welch talked as much as the affidavit suggests then surely he at least has a good indication of the area.

At least part of the story still has to be the complete and utter uselessness of the initial enquiries under the sheriff at the time. It makes me personally bitter and angry that despite the insurance card being found LE at the time did not consider a visit to Welch in Pilcher was worth making. In fact I would suggest the level of incompetence is so high that it makes one wonder if active corruption existed in that local police department at that time, the case seemed to be buried when they had such an obvious lead / piece of evidence in the insurance card. Even when Welchs girlfriend told investigators that Phil Welch knew Danny Freeman, even then police did not consider a visit to Welchs trailer where these girls were being held and actively tortured. Keystone cops.
 
Friday, July 13th:
*Prelim Hearing - OK – Danny (40) & Kathy Freeman (37), their daughter Ashley (16) & her friend Lauria Bible (16) (Dec. 29-30, 1999; girls have not been found) - Ronnie Dean Busick (66/37 @ time of crime) was arrested (4/22/18) & official charged (4/30/18) with 2 counts of first-degree murder with malice aforethought or accessory to 1st degree murder, 2 additional counts of 1st degree murder, 2 counts of kidnapping, and 1 count of first-degree arson or accessory to 1st degree arson. $1M bail.
Two other men, Warren Philip "Phil" Welch II (61) died in 2007 & David A. Pennington (56) died in 2015, are implicated in the deaths but have themselves died.
5/11/18: The state is also seeking a hearing seeking the excusing of the endorsements of witnesses, who are only identified by initials in the probable cause affidavit. The case was continued to July 13, when a preliminary hearing will be set.
 
Dressed in deep blue jail clothing, Busick shuffled into the courtroom last Friday slowly, using a cane to walk. During this court hearing, Busick was seated with other inmates in the jury box during his appearance.

Busick searched the courtroom with his eyes, saw the Bible and Freeman family members present, and took in a deep breath while waiting for the court proceedings to begin.

Related Stories
‘It’s like day one’ - Arrest made in missing Welch girls case

Affidavit reveals shocking details in missing Welch girls case – Insurance card key to arrest

Busick back in Craig County to face charges

At one point it appeared Busick asked another inmate to shield him from being videoed from a television reporter aiming a camera at him through the courtroom door window.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and Craig County Sheriff’s Office investigators continue to follow any new leads and ask anyone with any further information of the crimes to come forward. A $50,000 reward is offered for information that may help solve the crimes.




 
Well none of those articles you sloane7777 are showing up for me. I'm guessing it's the miamiok.com.

But at least I have a date for the next hearing.
 
Niner said:
got a google alert but can not access this article.

Busick murder trial legal process continued - Victims' families still waiting for answers


a 10% synopsis would be nice - if there is anything "new" in this article!

TIA!
Click to expand...
Busick, 66, of Wichita, Kansas, is facing four counts of first degree murder, first degree arson, and kidnapping charges for the 1999 disappearance and murders of Lauria Bible, Ashley Freeman.

VINITA – They wait, and wait and wait. Waiting is something the families of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman are wishing would end, but their families and friends say they will never stop their pursuit for answers and justice.

On Friday, July 13, Craig County District Court Special Judge Rebecca Gore continued Ronnie Dean Busick’s case again until 9 a.m. on Sept. 14 on the Preliminary Hearing Docket in the next step in the legal process to set a preliminary hearing in the case.

<modsnip: snipped to comply with the 10% copyright rule>
 
Last edited by a moderator:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...murder-trial-for-1999-oklahoma-case-continues

Ronnie Dean Busick faces four counts of first-degree murder, first-degree arson and kidnapping charges for the 1999 disappearance and murders of 16-year-olds Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman, and the murders of Ashley's parents Danny and Kathy Freeman.

Busick is the lone surviving suspect in the long-running case. Two other men suspected to be involved in the case, Warren Welch and David Pennington, died in 2007 and 2015 respectively.
 
Friday, Sept. 14th:
*Prelim Hearing (@ 9am CT) - OK – Danny (40) & Kathy Freeman (37), their daughter Ashley (16) & her friend Lauria Bible (16) (Dec. 29-30, 1999; girls have not been found) - Ronnie Dean Busick (66/37 @ time of crime) was arrested (4/22/18) & official charged (4/30/18) with 2 counts of first-degree murder with malice aforethought or accessory to 1st degree murder, 2 additional counts of 1st degree murder, 2 counts of kidnapping, and 1 count of first-degree arson or accessory to 1st degree arson. $1M bail.
Two other men, Warren Philip "Phil" Welch II (61) died in 2007 & David A. Pennington (56) died in 2015, are implicated in the deaths but have themselves died.
5/11/18: The state is also seeking a hearing seeking the excusing of the endorsements of witnesses, who are only identified by initials in the probable cause affidavit. The case was continued to July 13, when a preliminary hearing will be set.
7/13/18 Update: A preliminary hearing for Busick has been set for 9/14.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

DNASolves

Who is DeKalb County John Doe (2022)?

Members online

... and 187 more.
Total: 4,035 (members: 188, guests: 3,847)

Online statistics

Members online
188
Guests online
3,847
Total visitors
4,035
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
604,582
Messages
18,173,965
Members
232,697
Latest member
Rose2024
Back
Top