OK OK - Girl Scout Murders, Lori Farmer, 8, Michelle Guse, 9, Doris Milner, 10, 1977

[Ven]

Sometime after the 3 girls were killed, white tennis shoes with the name " Denise Milner" written on the tops of the shoes and a pair of pink socks were found in a plastic bag on the steps of one of the camp buildings. Obviously, they were meant to be found and associated with this victim.
Denise's mother believed at the time that items of this type ( white tennis shoes and pink socks) were among a list of missing items she had been asked to compile from the clothing returned to her.
The shoes and socks found in the bag were soaking wet. It has not been said if they were washed, rained on, or soaked with another type of liquid.
It has also not been established that the items belonged to Denise Milner, only that her mother believed that similar items were missing from her belongings when they were returned to the family.

Denise Milner was the largest and oldest of the 3 victims. ( Have you seen photos? Much more mature appearing compared to the other two girls, although still so young).
I think it is quite possible that her probably more mature body may have been more attractive to a sexual sadistic killer. She was still a child, but definitely more mature looking in the face than the other two girls.

While the 2 younger girls were found bound in the fetal position inside their sleeping bags, Denise's body was left out in the open beside the two bundled bodies, unclothed from the waist up, we are told. There MAY have been a racial motive involved in her postmortem staging and posing, which was degrading in nature compared to the other two girls'. It has been speculated.

The only official reason given for the moving of the bodies from the tent was that " he attempted to clean up the crime scene with their sheets and towels". No explanation has ever been given for what I and anyone else familiar with the facts of the crime consider to be staging/ posing of the bodies, nor did LE ever refer to the finding of the girls on or near Cookie Trail to be staging or posing. Obviously, moving 3 corpses and placing 2 inside sleeping bags and duct taping them into the fetal position is staging and posing. Also, wiping the blood from their bodies with their own sheets is part of the criminology. Less is known about exactly what was found on or with Denise Milner's body, except that she was found out in the open, partially unclothed. This indicates a deeper rage or lack of ' respect' for this particular victim compared to the postmortem posing of the other two. The two younger girls were also not victims of strangulation, which is usually viewed as a rage- filled method of murder.( Not that bludgeoning all 3 isn't indicative of rage.) The killer used unsophisticated, hands on methods to kill. He took considerable risk to return to the tent at least once to remove the two younger girls' bodies and their sleeping bags.

The most remarkable thing about the bodies as photographed in the sleeping bags is the lack of blood. They were obviously moved post mortem as the cloth sleeping bags show no blood at all, yet the wooden floor of their tent was extremely bloody and was removed on June 14, 1977, intact, in order to try to obtain forensic evidence. ( the two adult- sized footprints left in the girls' blood are known to the public).

The Guse and Farmer families have worked as crime victim advocates. Both families are well known and do speak with the media on occasion, when doing so could help bring justice to their daughters or other victims of crime.
As far as I know, the Milner family does not mention Denise's murder other than the one occasion to address the possible link with the tennis shoes and pink socks. One sister, who was born after Denise was murdered, has said that her life was restrictive because of what happened to her sister.
There was an unsuccessful civil suit filed by 2 of the families against the Girl Scouts for lack of proper security and supervision at Camp Scott. I don't know if the Milner family was one of the 2 families.
Perhaps the family's privacy has added to someone's sense of mystery about her?

All accounts I have read state that Denise was taken out of the tent alive. Then raped, bludgeoned and strangled somewhere on the camp grounds while the other campers slept. A low moaning sound was heard around 1:30 AM, which I believe was Denise,gagged and probably bound. I believe the method of her death was different in part, if not totally, because she was larger/ stronger and perhaps was the only girl who was awake when the attacks began. She may have also been the only girl to struggle, or if the first girl to be taken, assaulted and killed, thus the one who had to be kept quiet. The other two little girls were killed by blows to the head in their tent, where they lay. All 3 were raped, although it has not been said whether all 3 rapes were antemortem.
There are SOME differences in M.O. but not enough to lead me to believe that 2 perps. were involved. Definitely not to believe that a female was involved, as has been speculated from time to time due to DNA on a pillowcase which finally was ruled " Not excluded from belonging to one of the victims".

Not only was Hart on the run ( in the area) for years for the brutal rapes of 2 pregnant women in 1966, it should be noted that the 2 women he abducted and raped were teenagers, and only 3 months pregnant or less when they were attacked.
Thus, the victimology was not strikingly different nor was his methodology ( taking multiple victims at once).
JMO, and working from memory. I apologize in advance if there are any inaccuracies.

If there were multiple killers, as many of us suspect, it's possible they had different degrees of sadistic tendencies or experience. The leader of the group may have been a true sadist and strangled and SA the most mature victim. He also may have been to the point where he wanted a keepsake of his crime and took things from his victim, such as the socks and shoes which he later returned. On the other hand, the other killers may have been hangers-on, and doing this more for the thrill. Hence the bludgeoning and no trophies taken from the other girls.

Also the three different murder weapons lead me to believe that there were at least 3 different perpetrators who all SA and murdered at the same time.

 

[adeedra]

Sorry for stupid question but I can't find it... - was there any girl scout whitness who saw a stranger that night but didn't said anything for many years?

Some time ago I saw somewhere one of these "scary stories" except this time author said that she actually was there and finally went to the police as she realised that wasn't a dream.

Is that true? Or just some sick, cruel use of this tragedy?

 

[MaryG12]

Betty:

Thank you so much for those 2 photos especially the bottom one designating where the bodies were found in relation to the Kiowa unit layout. It is hard for me to tell, where were they located in relation to the kitchen/storage/shower building: east, west, north, south?

 

[Betty P]

Betty:

Thank you so much for those 2 photos especially the bottom one designating where the bodies were found in relation to the Kiowa unit layout. It is hard for me to tell, where were they located in relation to the kitchen/storage/shower building: east, west, north, south?

It looks like they were kind of south of the kitchen/storage building, near the back gate to the property. It wasn't far off one of the paths that went to the main area of the camp. Carla W got up at 6 am to walk to the Staff Building for a shower (there was hot water at that location). She saw the bodies at the "Y" in the path on her way there. She only thought there was 1 body at first, as DM was the only one outside her sleeping bag. The other two girls were zipped up inside theirs. She turned right around and went back to the other counselors and said "something is wrong, girls are missing, search all the tents". After finding Tent #7 empty, they ran to the Camp Director's house.

 

[Betty P]

Sorry for stupid question but I can't find it... - was there any girl scout whitness who saw a stranger that night but didn't said anything for many years?

Some time ago I saw somewhere one of these "scary stories" except this time author said that she actually was there and finally went to the police as she realised that wasn't a dream.

Is that true? Or just some sick, cruel use of this tragedy?

Don't know. I've read a lot of different stories over the years, many are just rumor. At the time of the trial, there weren't a whole lot of reports from campers.

 

[MaryG12]

The crowbar was taken from a nearby rancher's property and IIRC that size 7 shoeprint was found not only in Tent #7 but also on the rancher's property where the crowbar was stored.

I have to wonder, if there was more than one person involved with these murders - and I believe there were - it is also very possible that more than one person took part in acquiring the items needed to commit these murders. Items collected by a number of people, perhaps in part to avoid suspicion. And these people had to know: 1. the layout of the camp, 2. where to find the crowbar, 3. the caves (a newspaper article at girlscoutmurders.com states there were at least 3 caves nearby Camp Scott).

 

[Hatfield]

Respectfully snipped by me

I found a couple at Newspapers.com, not much information, but dreadfully tragic information about the father of the boy who was arrested for shooting Jimmy Bryan. Both are from The Lawton Constitution:

Left one, dated August 4, 1977
Right one, dated September 3, 1977

JMO
I question whether the father's death was a suicide. Not many people choose to shoot themselves with a 30-30 rifle in the chest.

I wonder if he was killed to prevent the testimony. A 30-30 is a rifle. And in the chest is not too common I dont think for suicide. Normally we hear of shooting ones self in the head and with a handgun if suicide.
I think its possible someone shot him to prevent his testimony.

 

[Betty P]

The crowbar was taken from a nearby rancher's property and IIRC that size 7 shoeprint was found not only in Tent #7 but also on the rancher's property where the crowbar was stored.

I have to wonder, if there was more than one person involved with these murders - and I believe there were - it is also very possible that more than one person took part in acquiring the items needed to commit these murders. Items collected by a number of people, perhaps in part to avoid suspicion. And these people had to know: 1. the layout of the camp, 2. where to find the crowbar, 3. the caves (a newspaper article at girlscoutmurders.com states there were at least 3 caves nearby Camp Scott).

Yes, the crowbar was found out by the fence line IIRC, and that's why it wasn't submitted as evidence. But it was likely used in the killings. I still haven't seen a link to any evidence saying the shoe was a size 7. There's photo of the partial print of it online, I think at girlscoutmurders.com. I also noted in the video of interview with the Bryan boy's dad, he mentions the teen who was hanging out with his son had sandals/shoes with unusual soles made of tire material (those were fashionable for guys in the late 60's & 70's). They looked like this on the bottom. Not sure if this is what Mr Bryan was referring to, but its a suggestion.



The shoe prints described in the pre-trial transcripts have a circular pattern on them and were described by LE as coming from a Red Wing athletic shoe, sold at Payless Shoes. MaryG12, I think you're right. LE thought they found a similar print on the porch of Mr. Schroff's farm house. His house had been broken into several times, including just before the murders. The crowbar and black tape found at/near the crime scene were stolen from his house, as were 3 PBR beers. The empty beer bottles were found in the woods near the crime scene.

This is an old case, so there are a ton of rumors and false information on the internet and old news media stories. In 2014, the pre-trial case documents became publicly available. They contain a lot of very helpful information and they clear up some of the factual information that was missing or wrong. I strongly suggest people read them (if you haven't already) to get the most accurate information. Actually, we should consider asking mods to set up a separate forum for this case where we could add an outline of the pre-trial testimony info. as well as later media reports of GS camper stories.


Re another post above, there wasn't a case of groups of girls meeting each other on the path to the latrine that night, one telling a story about seeing a red light in the woods. That's a combination of two different events. Girls from a Kiowa tent got up about 1:30 am to go to the latrine. They were making noise, Carla W got up and met them on the path coming back from the latrine, escorted them to their tent. There was a girl who reported seeing a red light in the woods that night, but it was in a different unit.

As for posing of DM's body, some LE thought that was the case. Early witnesses (camp nurse, Carla W, camp director & husband, first LE on scene, etc.) described her laying it a way that could be interpreted as posing. One of them partially covered her with her sleeping bag (she was laying on top of the bag) to protect her dignity. Many years ago, I saw one of the LE photos on a web site that showed her uncovered. It was later removed from the site. It did look posed, poor girl. Anyone wanting more details about that should read the pre-trial transcripts, Vol 1 and 2 at girlscoutmurders.com or campscottmurders.com. They have the details.

 

[Betty P]

Respectfully snipped by me

I found a couple at Newspapers.com, not much information, but dreadfully tragic information about the father of the boy who was arrested for shooting Jimmy Bryan. Both are from The Lawton Constitution:

Left one, dated August 4, 1977
Right one, dated September 3, 1977

Thanks so much MaryG12! What a tragic story. Poor father. I also felt so sad for Mr Bryan in his interview. He seemed so sad, but very committed to doing the right thing.

 

[Hatfield]

I think these are the biggest clues to the case. If you were an adult organizing this mass campsite, why would you place one of the tents 50 feet away from all of the others next to heavy brush? And if by some chance you had to because the rest of the campsite was out of space, and you had enough adults to chaperone most but not all of the tents, why would you choose to leave this isolated tent unsupervised, rather than ones that have adults close by?

The only explanation can be that one of the adult supervisors was the killer, or complicit in the killings and made those sleeping arrangements.

This is a good theory. I agree its a possibility.

Unless the layout of the land forced that last tent to be that far away to get level ground or something. Or were those platforms always there from years ago and maybe they just put the tents where the platforms were already positioned.

Wonder if the platforms were setup just before that camp season or if they had been in place from the last year.

ETA Betty P answered my question about the platforms in next post. Thanks Betty.

 

[Hatfield]

No, they weren't. That was asked and answered during the pre-trial hearings. They were considered permanent and were left in place all year round, from year to year. IIRC, the wooden posts for the platforms were sunk into the ground. The tents themselves were rolled up and stored away during the off season, inside the kitchen/storage building located in each unit.

This answered one of my questions. Thanks.

Reading back now to catch up.

 

[Betty P]

This is a good theory. I agree its a possibility.

Unless the layout of the land forced that last tent to be that far away to get level ground or something. Or were those platforms always there from years ago and maybe they just put the tents where the platforms were already positioned.

Wonder if the platforms were setup just before that camp season or if they had been in place from the last year.

Please see my previous post with diagram and photo of the Kiowa unit. Tent #7 was not 50 feet away from the other tents. It was about 10 ft away from Tent #6 and not far from the latrine and kitchen storage area. Testimony from the Camp Ranger in pre-trial testimony said the tent platforms were not easily moved. They were permanent where they were, with posts buried in the ground for stability/safety.

Trying to be helpful here, not cranky, :seeya:

 

[Hatfield]

Please see my previous post with diagram and photo of the Kiowa unit. Tent #7 was not 50 feet away from the other tents. It was about 10 ft away from Tent #6 and not far from the latrine and kitchen storage area. Testimony from the Camp Ranger in pre-trial testimony said the tent platforms were not easily moved. They were permanent where they were, with posts buried in the ground for stability/safety.

Trying to be helpful here, not cranky, :seeya:

yes, thank you. I need to always remember to read all the way back before posting. I see where you answered the question.

So now we know the tents were not prepositioned on purpose.

I do think its possible more than one killer was involved.

Right now I am flip flopping between the boys discussed by the father OR someone involved with the camp's organization and camping.

The crime scene and way things happened were very sloppy and immateur to me which is why I keep thinking about those boys that were mentioned.

The boys would have known each year when camp season arrived and I could see where the boys may have planned this too. If they hung out together and practically lived in those woods like the father said then they would have a lot of knowledge of the camping schedule and the layout of the campground.

I think what makes this case so hard for investigation is I think we are dealing with previous thefts and vandalism that occurred by others and then the killings. I think its very possible that some of the previous thefts and vandalism type things may have been other people and it confuses who the killers really were. Or it could have been some of the same people doing both.

The amateur way the killings happened is hinting to me a younger immateur killer or killers.

And to make it more confusing if someone like Hart befriended the boys then he could have been involved too.

This case is amazingly complex.

 

[Hatfield]

Regarding screams. There's a big difference between girls who scream and giggle and screech when they are excited and can't settle down, and screams of truly frightened girls being attacked. The second type would have gotten the counselors running to the girls.

JMO
I want to politely and totally disagree with this.
Maybe its just me because I have never had children but I have heard many kids screaming and thought they were hurt badly or being attacked by something and all it was was young kids having fun.

 

[Betty P]

The crime scene and way things happened were very sloppy and immateur to me which is why I keep thinking about those boys that were mentioned.

The boys would have known each year when camp season arrived and I could see where the boys may have planned this too. If they hung out together and practically lived in those woods like the father said then they would have a lot of knowledge of the camping schedule and the layout of the campground.

I think what makes this case so hard for investigation is I think we are dealing with previous thefts and vandalism that occurred by others and then the killings. I think its very possible that some of the previous thefts and vandalism type things may have been other people and it confuses who the killers really were. Or it could have been some of the same people doing both.

The amateur way the killings happened is hinting to me a younger immateur killer or killers.

And to make it more confusing if someone like Hart befriended the boys then he could have been involved too.

This case is amazingly complex.

Respectfully snipped by me for focus

Various accounts I've read online over the years indicates locals were pretty familiar with the Camp Scott property. Some people used to hunt there during the off season (perhaps not always with permission). Yeah, when I read about the teen group hanging out in the woods, I thought of nearby farmer Jack Schroff who said his cabin/house had been broken into 7 or 8 times in the previous couple of years. He was getting fed up with it. People stole a lot of stuff from him over time, tools, food, even took the beer out of his refrigerator that he'd put in a couple days before. Schroff didn't live at the cabin, he lived in Tulsa, but went out there on weekends. IIRC, he said he also had a lot of trespassers at a lake on his property - people who would come out to go swimming and leave trash, etc. He and his son kept putting more locks, etc. on the cabin, but it didn't help.

There were probably other locals besides GLH stealing stuff from him. With nothing to do in the area, some of the local teens and young adults probably did spend a lot of time roaming the woods and caves, hanging out, smoking MJ, drinking. Some of them likely included members of GLH's extended family. They probably knew Camp Scott pretty well, the schedule, etc.

The incidents leading up to the murders (CarlaH hearing and seeing someone outside the staff house the week before camp, intruder who ransacked the cabin of some Scout moms a year before) shows someone was working up to attacking campers. Maybe it was GLH and his early forays made him realize he would probably need help to pull something off. He was probably hanging out with these teens (some of whom were probably relatives) and brainstormed the idea of some of them helping him. GLH was hiding in the area (spent a lot of time staying inside homes of friends and family) for 3 yrs. Most Locust Grove people probably had talked to him at one time or another. He was 33 then, his cousin (JCP) who gave LE information about where he was hours before the murders was age 20 at the time.

The incident with CarlaH at the staff house probably made him change his mind about attacking the counselors there. The intruder was frightened off by the camp dog who barked and went after him. Other counselors were close by and came quickly. For that reason, the killer probably decided to go with Kiowa. I do wonder if he had planned to attack and kill CarlaW that night. She said that even after she called out "who's there", etc. the man was still lurking around the outside of the staff house.

I don't see the killer's MO changing to bring 3 or 4 other people, but he may have recruited 1 or at most 2 other people and it would have to be someone he trusted.

My question is how they managed to do the killings w/o leaving fingerprints, especially on the flashlight? IIRC, there was only 1 print, on the reflector inside the lens of the flashlight. Either they wore gloves, were very lucky or the crime scene wasn't processed very well or fingerprint retrieving methods weren't very good.

There were probably other footprints inside the tent, but were wiped up when they cleaned up blood with the mattress cover. There were also no fingerprints on the glasses they found, nor on the crowbar, IIRC. Perhaps there were some, but they were smeared, I've not found any details yet on that.

I'd really like to know if GLH's cousin was part of that circle of friends that killed Jimmy Bryan. IMO, he's the link between GLH and other teens who might have been involved vs other locals just hanging out, trespassing and vandalizing/stealing stuff.

 

[MaryG12]

Respectfully snipped by me for focus

Various accounts I've read online over the years indicates locals were pretty familiar with the Camp Scott property. Some people used to hunt there during the off season (perhaps not always with permission). Yeah, when I read about the teen group hanging out in the woods, I thought of nearby farmer Jack Schroff who said his cabin/house had been broken into 7 or 8 times in the previous couple of years. He was getting fed up with it. People stole a lot of stuff from him over time, tools, food, even took the beer out of his refrigerator that he'd put in a couple days before. Schroff didn't live at the cabin, he lived in Tulsa, but went out there on weekends. IIRC, he said he also had a lot of trespassers at a lake on his property - people who would come out to go swimming and leave trash, etc. He and his son kept putting more locks, etc. on the cabin, but it didn't help.

Respectfully snipped by me

OK that explains why stuff was being stolen from Jack Schroff's cabin (is he the one who owns the property adjacent to Camp Scott on the other side of the fence next to Kiowa?) I looked at the Google Maps and noticed some farms, houses/cabins, a road marked "Private Road".

That's sad when some people have no respect for another's person's property, it doesn't matter if the owner is in or not.

 

[Betty P]

Respectfully snipped by me

OK that explains why stuff was being stolen from Jack Schroff's cabin (is he the one who owns the property adjacent to Camp Scott on the other side of the fence next to Kiowa?) I looked at the Google Maps and noticed some farms, houses/cabins, a road marked "Private Road".

That's sad when some people have no respect for another's person's property, it doesn't matter if the owner is in or not.

I'm still not sure exactly where Jack Schroff's property was, but it was off the road that ran behind Camp Scott. The property directly behind Kiowa off that road belonged to a farmer, John Cavalier. He was questioned, etc. and submitted testimony in the pre-trial hearings. He said he heard a scream about 6 am. That may have been when one of the Kiowa camp counselors screamed when she saw the bodies.


Also found more info about the shoe prints in Sheriff Pete Weaver's testimony. There's been some confusing info about the location of the military boot print in other accounts, but this clears it up.

http://www.girlscoutmurders.com/PreTrialVolume9.pdf

His description of the tent scene begins on Page 1141. A partial military boot print was on the floor of the tent platform, but it had been smeared when the perp tried to wipe down the blood on the floor.

He also mentions the print of the athletic shoe, which was on top of the smeared military boot print. It had small suction markings on it.

Weaver then testifies he saw another print like the military boot one on the path leading up to Kiowa. It appeared to be size 10 or 11.

And then Weaver says the other (athletic shoe print) looked to be a size 7. So there's the proof of someone in LE saying it was a size 7 print. Ok.

 

[Ven]

I read that the shoeprint tracks also went into the counselor's tent. And items were taken there. Can anyone confirm or deny? How do the killer(s) enter the tent with 3-4 adult women and go undetected? And why would they not have attacked the women? That info combined with the female DNA makes me believe that a man arrived and aroused a female accomplice, who was waiting for him.

One of the girls in tent #6/7, next to the victims' tent, said a man opened their tent and looked inside shortly before the murders. This doesn't make any sense to me unless there were multiple killers and one of them was doing this idly while waiting around for the other killers to commence the attack.

There is also speculation that the son of the camp director or ranger or someone at Camp Scott was a pedophile. Can we get more information on that? How old was this son?

This seems like a case where it is obvious that there were multiple killers. This reminds me of the yogurt shop murders, the burger chef murders, etc. The profile of a case like this is that it is usually perpetrated by a group of young (teens-early 20s) delinquents who act as a gang.

I think the ringleader must have been the more sadistic one who strangled Denise Milner. The other two girls were bludgeoned with a crowbar and a hammer. The killer(s) were not in a hurry as evident by the cleanup and staging work they did, which also suggests an insider in my opinion given the nature of the crime scene and many, many people nearby. In a private home or secluded area, a single perpetrator or some outsider may feel comfortable enough to stick around and clean up and move the bodies, but with all of those people around, I can't imagine the killers could feel like they were that in control of the scene unless one of them were actually responsible for the area. The hammer later disappeared while in LE custody. One of the counselors eventually became a LE member. I don't want to accuse anyone, but I think that angle should be looked at more closely. As well as the other counselors at the Kiowa unit.

If none of the counselors were involved, then the pedophile son may have been. There definitely seems to be a connection to the camp. Given the earlier incidents, it feels like the killer or at least one of the killers was "working up to" the night of June 12/13 1977. They were not a mature killer yet. That could fit GHart's profile but it's very uncommon for someone who has raped adult women to suddenly target kids.

 

[Ven]

Also, the area was described as the darkest of the dark. People who attended Camp Scott made comments that those nights were how they measured darkness for the rest of their lives. They couldn't see anything without artificial light. How does one suppose a man with very poor eyesight (or anyone for that matter) stumbled into the counselors tent and stole those items in the middle of the night? With the women sleeping right there?

 

[Betty P]

I read that the shoeprint tracks also went into the counselor's tent. And items were taken there. Can anyone confirm or deny? How do the killer(s) enter the tent with 3-4 adult women and go undetected? And why would they not have attacked the women? That info combined with the female DNA makes me believe that a man arrived and aroused a female accomplice, who was waiting for him.

Didn't see that in the pretrial testimony. You can check at this link. Camp counselors testimony is Day 1 and 2

http://girlscoutmurders.com/PRETRIAL.html

There is also speculation that the son of the camp director or ranger or someone at Camp Scott was a pedophile. Can we get more information on that? How old was this son?

Have never heard anything about that. Her husband was the only person at the camp that day. You may want to offer a link or be aware of Websleuth's TOS here when making that kind of accusation.

I think the ringleader must have been the more sadistic one who strangled Denise Milner. The other two girls were bludgeoned with a crowbar and a hammer. The killer(s) were not in a hurry as evident by the cleanup and staging work they did, which also suggests an insider in my opinion given the nature of the crime scene and many, many people nearby. In a private home or secluded area, a single perpetrator or some outsider may feel comfortable enough to stick around and clean up and move the bodies, but with all of those people around, I can't imagine the killers could feel like they were that in control of the scene unless one of them were actually responsible for the area. The hammer later disappeared while in LE custody. One of the counselors eventually became a LE member. I don't want to accuse anyone, but I think that angle should be looked at more closely. As well as the other counselors at the Kiowa unit.

The question I always have when considering whether "insiders" were part of the crime is: "What did they do with their bloody clothes?"

If you read the pre-trial testimony, you'll see that the entire Kiowa unit was quickly treated as a crime scene. LE had the counselors return to the unit to retrieve the other campers and escort them to a safe place. No one was allowed to take anything with them. Counselors were not allowed to return to the unit until a day or 2 later, when they were accompanied by 2 or 3 LEO's including the asst. prosecutor. At that time, every counselor's clothing & possessions were examined and inventoried by LE. All three were questioned about anything that was missing from the tent. That's when some of them realized they had a missing purse, a few pairs of glasses, glasses case, etc. Descriptions were taken in writing at that time, with each counselor signing off. Possessions of the campers were also searched, then packed up and sent to the individual girls homes.

All the buildings were searched at Camp Scott. The Camp was locked down within an hour of the discovery of the bodies, with no unauthorized persons coming or going. The entire area surrounding the camp was searched in the following weeks. So, if it was an "inside job", what did the killers do with their bloody clothing?