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

[Oriah]

Perhaps the one party of possible perpetrators who would not take the weapons would be LE, as disposal of the weapons would be problematical - most or all would be registered and thus inconvenient to keep, sell or trade. Too much could go wrong for those in positions of authority. Besides, those in LE might likely have all the guns they needed already. The possible losses would far outweigh the gains.

Lots of people around here still believe this was a revenge killing. Others believe it was about drugs. It could have been both.

Not saying this is the case or anything- but revenge killings, drugs, and LE seem to frequently go hand in hand.

 

[wfgodot]

Not saying this is the case or anything- but revenge killings, drugs, and LE seem to frequently go hand in hand.

Yep. You caught my insinuation!

 

[Fairy1]

Generally speaking, there is a big difference between a criminal interested in valuable Native American artifacts and a criminal interested in brutally murdering people and abducting 2 teenaged girls. For the life of me, I can't understand why someone would go to that home specifically for those purposes - and nothing else. Perhaps there was a substantial amount of money as well that no one - other than the victims and the perp(s) knew about?

How many killers or sex offenders would know the value of those artifacts? And how many people knowledgeable about those artifacts would be willing to commit murder and abduct 2 girls?

 

[wfgodot]

Generally speaking, there is a big difference between a criminal interested in valuable Native American artifacts and a criminal interested in brutally murdering people and abducting 2 teenaged girls. For the life of me, I can't understand why someone would go to that home specifically for those purposes - and nothing else. Perhaps there was a substantial amount of money as well that no one - other than the victims and the perp(s) knew about?

How many killers or sex offenders would know the value of those artifacts? And how many people knowledgeable about those artifacts would be willing to commit murder and abduct 2 girls?

Yes, I agree, generally true, although a triple murder in Cole Camp MO in June 2009 - by, allegedly, the nephew of two of the victims - was committed in the course of stealing valuable Native American artifacts from the couple's home.

The taking of the girls may have been an afterthought.

 

[Fairy1]

Yes, I agree, generally true, although a triple murder in Cole Camp MO in June 2009 - by, allegedly, the nephew of two of the victims - was committed in the course of stealing valuable Native American artifacts from the couple's home.

The taking of the girls may have been an afterthought.

True - but in that case, there were no teenaged girls and the motive was clear.

Would there be some record of the artifacts before that night? Were they found or purchased? Are there certificates of authenticity with that type of thing? IDK.

 

[Oriah]

True - but in that case, there were no teenaged girls and the motive was clear.

Would there be some record of the artifacts before that night? Were they found or purchased? Are there certificates of authenticity with that type of thing? IDK.

There are certificates of authenticity for Native American artifacts, which does increase $ value of those artifacts. But you have to apply for them individually and then provide the actual artifact in order for it to be valued. At least- you do today. I am not sure about in 1999.

This now has me really thinking.

 

[Fairy1]

There are certificates of authenticity for Native American artifacts, which does increase $ value of those artifacts. But you have to apply for them individually and then provide the actual artifact in order for it to be valued. At least- you do today. I am not sure about in 1999.

This now has me really thinking.

I'm certain it was the same in 1999. If sold or donated, surely those things can be traced. If someone is just hanging onto them all this time, they are either biding their time or have no clue what they're worth.

 

[docwho3]

You have all been really nice so I hope I don't offend anyone by raising these points
but they do trouble me and so I post about them.

1.The time line of the attack that night is most problematic to me: I am particularly
troubled as to how the women could have been followed home and yet when the boyfriend
stopped by to visit that night he didn't see anyone other than the family there. So how
did someone follow the women home along a dark country road and the women never saw anything to
indicate another car was behind them following on a road that likely only they normally used?
Or did they see a car following and just assume it was LE intimidating them again?
How did someone come upon that home location after dark, and luckily for them, after the
boyfriend had left? Was someone already hiding out there in the dark just waiting for the
right time to invade the home or had someone already hidden away in the home somewhere
waiting for a late night hour to strike?

2. If someone's main reason for coming to the home was to get the artifacts they could have
killed the girls where they were along with the 2 adults and taken the cash,
if they so desired, and and then left after setting the home on fire. The guns still could
have been taken or not but to not take them too would indicate that although you
have someone willing to commit a total of 4 murders and set a home on fire with 2 bodies
in it and to have abducted 2 young women before killing them he/they is too finicky
to take the cash in the purse or the guns. The guns might slow one down a bit but
then 2 kidnapped young women riding with you while you make your escape could
have also slowed one down and would have been dangerous to be caught with to boot.

3. To blame LE for the crimes means we have to ignore that a poly was allegedly taken
and passed and that a higher level LE group looked into the case exactly because of
that possibility & then found that the local LE was not involved in the crime.

Even so I would be willing to entertain the concept except that with
the polys taken and passed & the higher level LE investigation I see no evidence
to cause one to continue to think L.E might have had a hand in this crime.

What I do think I see in relation to LE in this case were some questionable evidence handling
(or lack of proper handling of the crime scene) but given that they knew
the family were already very very angry over the killing of the son (when he was caught
with a stolen car & had allegedly reached for a gun) I wonder if they felt it was better to
just release the burnt down home scene to the family and get-out-of-dodge
as soon as possible. I get the feeling it is a sort of small town rural LE department without
the starbright CSI credentials you might see on a TV show. Not saying they are
buffoons or anything but just not really ready to find and properly deal with such a horrible
crime at the home of someone who already has a huge amount of anger toward LE.
Local LE seems to have jumped to the wrong conclusion that Danny had went into
a rage and had killed his wife and took the kids since he was already proven by
past events to have a violent temper. They do not seem in the least to have considered
the possibility of a home invasion in the early going. This was a sad mistake and probably
bought the true killer(s) time to cover the trail & escape . . . .but that is just my opinion.

I do think that prior to the crime the tactics used to try to intimidate and dissuade the
family from any possible acts of revenge over the killing of the son were a huge error
in judgement and have only served to cloud the current investigation & possibly may have
caused anyone with a vital clue about the later murder case to have remained silent.

4. Not saying that the artifacts could not have been thought to
be valuable but I personally would have questioned the point before committing a crime
to get them since the family was so poor as to not have running water in the home and
to hunt their own food rather than to be living in style somewhere after having sold
the collection.

Upon hearing of such a collection in such a setting I would probably have thought
-'Yeah right. They think its valuable because it makes them feel important but if it really
was valuable they would have sold it or at least part of it and be living in better conditions than this.'

Has that collection ever been appraised for proper value that we know of?

5. We do not truly know that no guns were taken:
We just know that many guns were left behind.

I think one of the serial killer suspects in this case was (at the time of the crime) recently
released from prison & might have been afraid that being caught with a car load of
weapons would send him right back to prison whereas a couple of victims that would only
be with him a very short while might not be so risky. Or if the girls were his real target
from the beginning & he had his own weapon the other guns might have been viewed
only as tools that he didn't need since he had his own trusted killing tool.

We do not know if the killer took one or two of them he particularly took a liking to.
(I read on one site, and also here on websleuths, that the guns lay out in the yard
over a month. That seems a long time to leave guns unsecured but you never know.)

' "Tons of guns” also were found in the house, recalls Lorene Bible, perhaps as many as
12 or 14 shotguns and rifles “They never told us if they found the shotgun that was
used,” she said. “I know they took a lot of guns out that first day. They were out
in the yard the second day, and four months later the guns were still there, laying in the yard.'

 

[wfgodot]

True - but in that case, there were no teenaged girls and the motive was clear.

Would there be some record of the artifacts before that night? Were they found or purchased? Are there certificates of authenticity with that type of thing? IDK.

Well, there was a teenaged girl, but the perp didn't haul her off. She was killed at the scene.

Certificates of authenticity (editorial aside: of dubious worth, actually; it's not like they're signed by the actual braves who hewed the stones into arrowheads hundreds of years ago, or the craftspersons who fashioned the clay into pots; "experts," some of them dubious ones, evaluate their origins and provenance) are, as Oriah states above, available. The owners of larger collections sometimes self-publish catalogs of their holdings. But most private collections are unauthenticated and unpublished and thus are relatively easy to re-sell after, say, being obtained by extra-legal means.

I doubt that the relatively small collection at the Freeman trailer had been documented. Disposing of them would have probably been no problem.

 

[Oriah]

I'm certain it was the same in 1999. If sold or donated, surely those things can be traced. If someone is just hanging onto them all this time, they are either biding their time or have no clue what they're worth.

Agree entirely.
To add to your thought- I guess it's possible they have no clue what to do with them because to 'sell' them there would be a trace; or left them somewhere and then could not retrieve them for some reason beyond their control.

 

[wfgodot]

You have all been really nice so I hope I don't offend anyone by raising these points
but they do trouble me and so I post about them.

1.The time line of the attack that night is most problematic to me: I am particularly
troubled as to how the women could have been followed home and yet when the boyfriend
stopped by to visit that night he didn't see anyone other than the family there. So how
did someone follow the women home along a dark country road and the women never saw anything to
indicate another car was behind them following on a road that likely only they normally used?
Or did they see a car following and just assume it was LE intimidating them again?
How did someone come upon that home location after dark, and luckily for them, after the
boyfriend had left? Was someone already hiding out there in the dark just waiting for the
right time to invade the home or had someone already hidden away in the home somewhere
waiting for a late night hour to strike?

2. If someone's main reason for coming to the home was to get the artifacts they could have
killed the girls where they were along with the 2 adults and taken the cash,
if they so desired, and and then left after setting the home on fire. The guns still could
have been taken or not but to not take them too would indicate that although you
have someone willing to commit a total of 4 murders and set a home on fire with 2 bodies
in it and to have abducted 2 young women before killing them he/they is too finicky
to take the cash in the purse or the guns. The guns might slow one down a bit but
then 2 kidnapped young women riding with you while you make your escape could
have also slowed one down and would have been dangerous to be caught with to boot.

3. To blame LE for the crimes means we have to ignore that a poly was allegedly taken
and passed and that a higher level LE group looked into the case exactly because of
that possibility & then found that the local LE was not involved in the crime.

Even so I would be willing to entertain the concept except that with
the polys taken and passed & the higher level LE investigation I see no evidence
to cause one to continue to think L.E might have had a hand in this crime.

What I do think I see in relation to LE in this case were some questionable evidence handling
(or lack of proper handling of the crime scene) but given that they knew
the family were already very very angry over the killing of the son (when he was caught
with a stolen car & had allegedly reached for a gun) I wonder if they felt it was better to
just release the burnt down home scene to the family and get-out-of-dodge
as soon as possible. I get the feeling it is a sort of small town rural LE department without
the starbright CSI credentials you might see on a TV show. Not saying they are
buffoons or anything but just not really ready to find and properly deal with such a horrible
crime at the home of someone who already has a huge amount of anger toward LE.
Local LE seems to have jumped to the wrong conclusion that Danny had went into
a rage and had killed his wife and took the kids since he was already proven by
past events to have a violent temper. They do not seem in the least to have considered
the possibility of a home invasion in the early going. This was a sad mistake and probably
bought the true killer(s) time to cover the trail & escape . . . .but that is just my opinion.

I do think that prior to the crime the tactics used to try to intimidate and dissuade the
family from any possible acts of revenge over the killing of the son were a huge error
in judgement and have only served to cloud the current investigation & possibly may have
caused anyone with a vital clue about the later murder case to have remained silent.

4. Not saying that the artifacts could not have been thought to
be valuable but I personally would have questioned the point before committing a crime
to get them since the family was so poor as to not have running water in the home and
to hunt their own food rather than to be living in style somewhere after having sold
the collection.

Upon hearing of such a collection in such a setting I would probably have thought
-'Yeah right. They think its valuable because it makes them feel important but if it really
was valuable they would have sold it or at least part of it and be living in better conditions than this.'

Has that collection ever been appraised for proper value that we know of?

5. We do not truly know that no guns were taken:
We just know that many guns were left behind.

I think one of the serial killer suspects in this case was (at the time of the crime) recently
released from prison & might have been afraid that being caught with a car load of
weapons would send him right back to prison whereas a couple of victims that would only
be with him a very short while might not be so risky. Or if the girls were his real target
from the beginning & he had his own weapon the other guns might have been viewed
only as tools that he didn't need since he had his own trusted killing tool.

We do not know if the killer took one or two of them he particularly took a liking to.
(I read on one site, and also here on websleuths, that the guns lay out in the yard
over a month. That seems a long time to leave guns unsecured but you never know.)

' "Tons of guns” also were found in the house, recalls Lorene Bible, perhaps as many as
12 or 14 shotguns and rifles “They never told us if they found the shotgun that was
used,” she said. “I know they took a lot of guns out that first day. They were out
in the yard the second day, and four months later the guns were still there, laying in the yard.'

Hey docwho3! We value your input! At the time of these crimes I lived 20 minutes away from the Freeman trailer (as I still do) and have no real idea about what took place that night. I've been thinking about this for over ten years and still have no idea, really.

1. I don't think they were followed; although it's a rural location, we do realize where one another lives around here, and don't need GPS to find 'em. I think the killer(s) were known to the family, and thus knew where to go.

2. The whole "stolen artifacts" thing is just an idea, based on the fact that said artifacts disappeared. It seems a stretch, really. And if the girls were alive when taken, there was probably more than one perpetrator. Incidentally, there was a rumor (read it on some site) that the Freeman family was told the girls were kept for a time at a house in the Twin Bridges area east of the scene of the crime, about 30 minutes away.

3. The "LE did it" scenario is based on what Danny Freeman allegedly told his brother - revenge killing for asking too many questions about his son being shot to death. As for polygraphs, they, to me, are essentially meaningless, particularly when administered by LE to LE. Around these rustic parts, though, I'd say many people do accept the scenario - we don't trust LE, and have had, in the past, reasons for not trusting them. As for the quality of local Tri-County LE, think "Barney Fife on meth."

4. Lots of people hunt their own food (and grow it, too) around here. Plenty of full stomachs during deer season. (Deer jerky = taste delight!) Did they really not have running water in the trailer? I hadn't heard that until recently (may have read right by it), and, while it's not unheard of - lots of survivalist types in this vicinity, and lots of poor folks too - I find it a bit difficult to believe.

5. Generally, criminals don't worry too much about getting caught, say, with a carload of guns. They've got their fence set up beforehand and are headed that way at speed shortly. An actual serial killer probably wouldn't bother with thieving though - beneath their twisted sense of dignity.

 

[Fairy1]

Well, there was a teenaged girl, but the perp didn't haul her off. She was killed at the scene.

Certificates of authenticity (editorial aside: of dubious worth, actually; it's not like they're signed by the actual braves who hewed the stones into arrowheads hundreds of years ago, or the craftspersons who fashioned the clay into pots; "experts," some of them dubious ones, evaluate their origins and provenance) are, as Oriah states above, available. The owners of larger collections sometimes self-publish catalogs of their holdings. But most private collections are unauthenticated and unpublished and thus are relatively easy to re-sell after, say, being obtained by extra-legal means.

I doubt that the relatively small collection at the Freeman trailer had been documented. Disposing of them would have probably been no problem.

You're probably right. I have a friend who hunts for arrowheads wherever he goes. I'm sure whatever he finds is never authenticated or documented. He just keeps them at home for his own personal enjoyment.

I guess my point is, why would someone go there to take the girls and also take the arrowheads and nothing else? Or vice-versa?

 

[wfgodot]

You're probably right. I have a friend who hunts for arrowheads wherever he goes. I'm sure whatever he finds is never authenticated or documented. He just keeps them at home for his own personal enjoyment.

I guess my point is, why would someone go there to take the girls and also take the arrowheads and nothing else? Or vice-versa?

Even if stuff has been authenticated and documented as belonging to an owner, plenty of collectors - of all kinds of art - will look the other way if the price is right, and purchase as they please.

Good question. I think the arrowhead theft is really a stretch - it's only that Mr. Freeman's collection was never found that causes one to pause and reflect on the matter. As for the girls, I've always imagined their taking as an afterthought, and that the perp(s) were at the trailer for some other reason - revenge, most likely.

 

[docwho3]

Hey docwho3! We value your input! At the time of these crimes I lived 20
minutes away from the Freeman trailer . . .

Great! I wanted to ask if they had seen car lights behind them most of the way to their
home would they have thought it odd or would they have thought it was just someone
local to the area? I mean was the are so lonely as to make any other traffic seem
really out of place?

Also was any of the road paved and if so- with light colored material that would enable
one to follow with headlights off?

. . .1. I don't think they were followed; although it's a rural location, we
do realize where one another lives around here, and don't need GPS to find 'em. . . .

One thing that made me wonder about just how lonely the area was
is that it was said to be almost impossible to chance on to the area & yet the fire was
allegedly turned in by a passing motorist.

. . .I think the killer(s) were known to the family, and thus knew where to go. . . .

I too think it possible that there was at least some passing knowledge. I am not sure
they were known to the family all that close though (just lack of evidence - not personal
conviction) but I have certainly wondered if someone could have heard one of
the girls talking about turning 16 and then found out where the Freemans lived & waited
on the boyfriend to leave before acting. Whether the girls were victims or had some other
part in this case I think the birthday is somehow probably tied up in all this.

Also I very much wish I could know the girls movements & activities in the 2 or 3 days
prior to the crime. I suspect that time might possibly hold a clue.

2. . . .if the girls were alive when taken,. . . .

The purse left behind makes me believe they were alive when they left the trailor
but only because it seems to fit in with previous pattern of behavior. The purse has
another implication to my mind but that can wait for another time.

. . .Incidentally, there was a rumor (read it on some site) that the Freeman
family was told the girls were kept for a time at a house in the Twin Bridges area
east of the scene of the crime, about 30 minutes away... . .

Yes. I read the same site. . . .don't know what to make of the info but it is interesting.

4. . . . .Did they really not have running water in the trailer? I hadn't heard that
until recently (may have read right by it), and, while it's not unheard of - lots of survivalist
types in this vicinity, and lots of poor folks too - I find it a bit difficult to believe. . . . .

The Freemans' trailer did not have running water and was primarily heated by a
wood-burning stove in the living room.
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/bible_lauria.html

 

[wfgodot]

Hi docwho3, as always it's refreshing to read you - I had never once considered Ashley's sixteenth birthday to have been any sort of a factor; I suppose it could have been an attraction of a sort if someone overheard the fact while the girls were in Vinita, and then followed them, hoping to stage some macabre "celebration" when the coast was clear.

It would not be uncommon to have noticed lights in the rear-view mirror. The area isn't that isolated.

As for the girls' involvement, yes, since they're not around to speak for themselves, we do have to consider that possibility, however slim. At the college here, I taught a couple members of Lauria's family, so I do have some sort of "insider" knowledge about them. Fine people. Fine, fine people. To me it's incomprehensible that she would have been involved. With me it doesn't even factor into the equation. My brain won't go there.

In fact, I'd call it a greater chance that, given the sort of know-little, find-less, law enforcement present in the aftermath, the girls' bodies were burned beyond recognition and sifted into the ashes, there never to be discovered, than I would to believe that either or both were involved in the slaughter.

As for the purse being left behind, I think it was just an oversight. Things get pretty hectic, I would imagine, when you're killing people and burning trailers. And while LE couldn't find any trace of the money Ashley was alleged to have saved and kept in the freezer, well, they don't seem to have been able to find much of anything. Perhaps it was there, perhaps not, perhaps it was taken afterwards.

By the way, here's another Craig County double-murder (still unsolved, of course) which took place in a rural area near Welch almost nine years later. It's not especially close to the Freeman trailer, I don't think, but same county and same (lack of) result. It's worth considering if only because rural double-murders in a single county don't happen every day:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081111_12_A11_hApurs82868

 

[Oriah]

The birthday situation seems entirely too coincidental to me. But then again so does the holiday.
I think both might be related...and then I think.... possibly both unrelated.

Not sure about '99- but right now the road does have a line, and imo you would notice if someone were following you. If they were not slowing down behind every turn and straightaway, and trying hard not to be noticed. If they were being reckless? I would think one would notice.

 

[docwho3]

Hi docwho3, as always it's refreshing to read you - I had never once considered Ashley's sixteenth birthday to have been any sort of a factor; . . . .

To me, the birthday could be significant in more than one scenario:
To list just a few ideas:
1. 'Sweet' 16 is an old expression but for a serial rapist & murderer it could be like waving a
red flag to a bull, to use another old expression.
2. Also in some circles 16 might be considered marriageable age even if you were
planning to kidnap a 'bride(s)' to take into the lonelier parts of the country.
3. At 16, in many states, you can get a D.L. and this means more freedom than ever before
& more chances to come into contact with people you don't know well & who might be dangerous.
4. At 16 many people can drop out of school if they choose & go live the life of their own choosing.

. . .It would not be uncommon to have noticed lights in the rear-view mirror. The area isn't that isolated. . . .

Thank you for the info!

. . .As for the girls' involvement, yes, since they're not around to speak for themselves, we do have to consider that possibility, however slim. At the college here, I taught a couple members of Lauria's family, so I do have some sort of "insider" knowledge about them. Fine people. Fine, fine people. To me it's incomprehensible that she would have been involved. With me it doesn't even factor into the equation. My brain won't go there.. . .

I really don't want them to be involved. I think that would be a horrible thing
but to be avoid having so many blind spots in my thinking I have to thoroughly consider
even the possibiilities that I find extremely distateful.

. . .And while LE couldn't find any trace of the money Ashley was alleged to have saved and kept in the freezer, . . .

I wonder when was the last time that money was seen to have actually still been in the freezer.

By the way, here's another Craig County double-murder (still unsolved, of course) which took place in a rural area near Welch almost nine years later. It's not especially close to the Freeman trailer, I don't think, but same county and same (lack of) result. It's worth considering if only because rural double-murders in a single county don't happen every day:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081111_12_A11_hApurs82868

Thank you very much! I will look at it.

 

[Fairy1]

Even if stuff has been authenticated and documented as belonging to an owner, plenty of collectors - of all kinds of art - will look the other way if the price is right, and purchase as they please.

Good question. I think the arrowhead theft is really a stretch - it's only that Mr. Freeman's collection was never found that causes one to pause and reflect on the matter. As for the girls, I've always imagined their taking as an afterthought, and that the perp(s) were at the trailer for some other reason - revenge, most likely.

I agree. Maybe we should just take the arrowhead theft angle off the table as it seems to be more of a distraction than a viable theory. Could be just a coincidence. Could be the collection was sold before the murders/abductions.

 

[docwho3]

wfgodot:
I did look up the article at
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081111_12_A11_hApurs82868
and although the article appears to be from 2008
(considerably after the time of this current crime that we are looking at)
I did note one line that sort of seems worth looing into:
. . . .but Sooter said the killings are similar to those of a Locust Grove couple 11 months ago.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081111_12_A11_hApurs82868
It sort of makes me wonder if someone might be robbing and shooting victims in
the head every 11 months or so. Perhaps some further research into each year since
the attack on the Freemans might be in order?

I also wonder a bit about this one as he would have been 18
at the time of the freeman home crime:
. . . .six counts of first-degree murder in the fatal shootings of four people
whose bodies were found inside a burning house.. . ."
http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/20894/Article.aspx

side note/question: Anyone ever had any thoughts on how
Danny Freeman's collar bone was broken?

 

[Oriah]

wfgodot:
I did look up the article at
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081111_12_A11_hApurs82868
and although the article appears to be from 2008
(considerably after the time of this current crime that we are looking at)
I did note one line that sort of seems worth looing into:
. . . .but Sooter said the killings are similar to those of a Locust Grove couple 11 months ago.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081111_12_A11_hApurs82868
It sort of makes me wonder if someone might be robbing and shooting victims in
the head every 11 months or so. Perhaps some further research into each year since
the attack on the Freemans might be in order?

I also wonder a bit about this one as he would have been 18
at the time of the freeman home crime:
. . . .six counts of first-degree murder in the fatal shootings of four people
whose bodies were found inside a burning house.. . ."
http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/20894/Article.aspx

side note/question: Anyone ever had any thoughts on how
Danny Freeman's collar bone was broken?

It makes me wonder what the heck is going on in Oklahoma. And also, why is it so common to carry large amounts of cash in Oklahoma.

I think I might have already asked about this, but quick poll anyway:
#1: What do ya'll consider a large amount of cash?
#2: On a daily basis, how many of you carry your idea of a large amount of cash? (or keep it in the fridge?)


As for the broken collarbone. I believe it was speculated somewhere that it was broken post-mortem, perhaps in the collapse of the fire? Can't remember- if anyone has the autopsy link, that would be great.

I personally think either his arm was wrenched somehow, he was struck directly with a heavy object that he was trying to deflect, or it was the gunshot. Or maybe it had been broken previously?
No idea, actually.