Skyla Whitaker, 11, & Taylor Placker 13 - Found Murdered - #2

[noZme]

They should get fired instead of chewed out. First rule of thumb is to check your facts.

it's a timely reminder that people who write news stories are not infallible. we should never take reports as gospel truth.

 

[Beyond Belief]

http://www.legacy.com/OKLAHOMAN/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=111261343

Skyla's guestbook.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

They do know what direction the girls were going. They were returning from the bridge going South along the West side of the road. Normally, people will walk on the right side both ways not against traffic, but with the flow of the traffic. Of course, not much traffic does mean they could be more in the middle to avoid the weeds.

"Moments before" to me means the witness saw them walking and saw the car approaching the victims. Since he did not see the shooting, the girls were shot right after he was out of sight.

So do they have eye witnesses that saw them at the bridge? Peter Placker said the girls were killed within 20-25 minutes after they were last seen and then found.

Would they have time to go a mile to the bridge and then turn around and come 3/4 of a mile on the way back in 20 to 25 minutes?

 

[EnvoyDriver61]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=5037169&page=1

Interesting tidbit: near a known trash dumping site

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/10/national/main4168258.shtml?source=mostpop_story

Discusses them being found "near" the bridge. It doesn't look near to me.

I can't find the article where it does say initially that they were returning from the bridge.

 

[Ezekiel]

I agree too. I would have picked up the phone too. Probably wouldn't have had to. 911would have heard me screaming miles away! Just trying to get the facts straight.

So now the time is down to: 1) they left at 5 pm and were found around 5:25 pm.
2) they walked about 5/10-6/10 mile - took at least
10 minutes
3) grandfather walked to where they were - took him
about the same amt of time
4) they had been dead about 15 minutes
5) someone passed them while they were still alive
but prior to the grandfather walking down the road
6) the shooters did their handiwork

Just such a small time frame to make such a big decision to KILL two girls within 300 yards of a house, their house, and get away cleanly!

 

[Annie]

http://www.legacy.com/OKLAHOMAN/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=111261343

Skyla's guestbook.

I looked at the photo album on this site. I don't understand why these pictures are posted instead of some pictures of the beautiful little girl in recent days. It seemed strange to me.

 

[Beyond Belief]

Its possible they were running.I just don't understand if they were frightened by something why they didn't call home right away.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I looked at the photo album on this site. I don't understand why these pictures are posted instead of some pictures of the beautiful little girl in recent days. It seemed strange to me.

Maybe the first picture is Skyla as a little baby.

Maybe the second one is because she loved clowns and had one at her birthday party one year.

Just guessing........

Many times the funeral home will set up these sites.

imoo

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I don't know why you guys are so confused on the direction the girls were walking.

"Their bodies were found along the west side of County Line Road, about three-fourths of a mile north of Coleman Road, the sheriff said."
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...1_hThetw874180

Ross said shell casings were found at the scene, as well as tire tracks and footprints. Ross would not release the caliber of the gun believed to have been used in the shooting. The girls had walked to a bridge along the dirt road, which is a popular gathering place for residents in the rural county, which is about 90 miles east of Oklahoma City.

http://www.newsok.com/clues-sought-in-slaying-of-girls-in-weleetka/article/3255420/undefined?pg=1

 

[noZme]

I humbly disagree with the walking. It has always been taught (in this part of the country anyway) to walk against the traffic so that you see who is approaching and they see you.

Now, this was a dirt road and not normally used for constant traffic. So given that, both angels could have been walking as they chose to on this road. .......

just to reiterate for the sake of safety. i was taught to walk against the traffic flow, in order to be facing vehicles closer to you. also, bikes should be ridden with the traffic, obeying rules such as red lights & signaling turns.

the above does not really apply to country roads. i am working on the assumption that one of the 1st steps in this investigation would to be to track footprints and tire marks. i guarantee law enforcement knows if the girls stood around talking to the driver & whether the girls were fleeing when shot. but that info will not come out until trial.

 

[EnvoyDriver61]

So now the time is down to: 1) they left at 5 pm and were found around 5:25 pm.
2) they walked about 5/10-6/10 mile - took at least
10 minutes
3) grandfather walked to where they were - took him
about the same amt of time
4) they had been dead about 15 minutes
5) someone passed them while they were still alive
but prior to the grandfather walking down the road
6) the shooters did their handiwork


Actually it varies by news article account.

Most say they left around 5 pm

The bridge was about 3/4 mile from Taylor's house. We don't know, except for an early article that they went all the way to the bridge.

At some point, Skyla's mother calls to say she is coming to pick them up.

Attempts to reach the cell phone to tell the girls to come home are unanswered.

At some point, a witness states seeing the girls walking on the road.

Grandfather starts walking north to see if they are all right.

Finds them and calls 911 from the cellphone. I have seen more than two but less than ten articles that state that the 911 call was at 5:40 or 5:41 p.m.

Skyla's mother comes north down the road and is intercepted by grandfather who won't let her proceed. LE authorities have not arrived yet.

Have seen several articles referring to the fact that the girls were only gone 20-25 minutes.

So, for sure this all occurred at least within 40 minutes 5:00 p.m. to 5:40 p.m.

The 5:20-5:25 referral may have something to do when the witness saw them.

LE is not reporting what direction (north v. south) they think the shooters were when the girls were shot.

 

[SuziQ]

I looked at the photo album on this site. I don't understand why these pictures are posted instead of some pictures of the beautiful little girl in recent days. It seemed strange to me.

Anyone can post pictures to the guestbook. It appears guests have posted their pictures.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

I don't know why you guys are so confused on the direction the girls were walking.

"Their bodies were found along the west side of County Line Road, about three-fourths of a mile north of Coleman Road, the sheriff said."
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...1_hThetw874180

Ross said shell casings were found at the scene, as well as tire tracks and footprints. Ross would not release the caliber of the gun believed to have been used in the shooting. The girls had walked to a bridge along the dirt road, which is a popular gathering place for residents in the rural county, which is about 90 miles east of Oklahoma City.

http://www.newsok.com/clues-sought-in-slaying-of-girls-in-weleetka/article/3255420/undefined?pg=1

I am not trying to be difficult SS but I think this is a newspaper putting their own spin on it. Ross' statement is not in quotes.

Also this too is wrong:
Taylor's grandfather, Peter Placker, found the girls about of a mile from their home after the girls went for a walk Sunday evening and didn't return. Placker went looking for the girls after Taylor couldn't be reached on her cell phone. Placker used Taylor's cell phone to place a 911call, Ross said.

I am not sure which side of the road they were on explains which way they were going.

JMO tho.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Weleetka has long been the type of place folks moved to escape many of the evils of the world. But townspeople said methamphetamine use - a particular scourge in small-town Oklahoma and elsewhere in the nation's heartland - has gotten bad around here, and crime is up.

"You think you're safe anywhere, but you're not. All the thugs is moving out here, too," said Skyla's grandfather, Jimmie Farrow. "It's a whole new ballgame."

~snip~

"It just went downhill out in the country," he said. "These roads ain't nothing but drunks and dopeheads on the weekends. Sometimes, you have to drive around them, they're passed out in the middle of the road."

Mosher said drugs may have played a role in the death of his niece and her girlfriend.

"The girls might have walked up on some guys cooking dope," he said. "There's been more of that stuff going on here in the past two years."

A neighbor, Ross Padgett, said drugs and the criminal element are worse than ever.

"Marijuana, meth, coke, you name it," he said. "A number of the meth cookers are right over in this community. They are busting them so hard in the cities, they are going rural." He lifted his shirt to reveal a 9 mm pistol, saying, "I'm not worried."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/10/national/main4168258.shtml

 

[SuziQ]

I don't know why you guys are so confused on the direction the girls were walking.

"Their bodies were found along the west side of County Line Road, about three-fourths of a mile north of Coleman Road, the sheriff said."
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...1_hThetw874180

Ross said shell casings were found at the scene, as well as tire tracks and footprints. Ross would not release the caliber of the gun believed to have been used in the shooting. The girls had walked to a bridge along the dirt road, which is a popular gathering place for residents in the rural county, which is about 90 miles east of Oklahoma City.

http://www.newsok.com/clues-sought-in-slaying-of-girls-in-weleetka/article/3255420/undefined?pg=1

West side of the road doesn't clarify whether the girls were headed to the bridge or away from it. However, IIRC, Wednesdays presser stated something about this.

 

[EnvoyDriver61]

I don't know why you guys are so confused on the direction the girls were walking.

I think because the articles are confused. In the one you cited, it was reported the girls were found about a mile north of their house, when we know know it was 300 yards.

The early reports seem to be based on scant information that has since been suggested was not correct.

To me, it's not a matter of being confused, but of putting all the facts together and believing that the girls could not have walked to the bridge and back, which by Yahoo maps estimates is 3/4 mile away, which puts a 1.5 mile trip within 20-25 minutes.

To me, it's not feasible. To me, it is feasible that they would walk north on the that side of the street. To me, it is feasible to ask if they were walking south, how they turned around to face the shooters driving from the north (since the shooters coming from the south just doesn't make a lick of sense).

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I am not sure which side of the road they were on explains which way they were going.

JMO tho.

My point was that they have footprints to determine the girls were on their way back from the bridge. Every quote from Rosser or anyone else in LE has stated they were on the return trip. I don't think either side makes any difference. I don't get the point and why it is confusing to anyone. They may have walked down the middle both ways...it really doesn't matter. They were heading south towards Taylor's house when they were shot.

They also now have an eyewitness that would tell LE which way they were heading to further their contention they were on the way home.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

just to reiterate for the sake of safety. i was taught to walk against the traffic flow, in order to be facing vehicles closer to you. also, bikes should be ridden with the traffic, obeying rules such as red lights & signaling turns.

the above does not really apply to country roads. i am working on the assumption that one of the 1st steps in this investigation would to be to track footprints and tire marks. i guarantee law enforcement knows if the girls stood around talking to the driver & whether the girls were fleeing when shot. but that info will not come out until trial.

In our rural areas most walk on the edge of the dirt road or shoulder (ditch it is called in this case). There is no set pattern. Many times they will crossover to the other side of the road if it is not as grown up with vegetation. So in the South there is no written rule but people tend to walk where they want to walk for various reasons. I don't know if the people in OK only walk in one set pattern when they are walking down county dirt roads though but I wouldn't think so. Especially kids.

imoo

 

[Beyond Belief]

Maybe they didn't walk all the way to the bridge. If these murderers were driving from the direction of Taylors house perhaps they harassed the girls on the way by and the girls decided to turn back to the house, but weren't frightened enough to call home because the car/truck kept going. Then the truck turns around say at the bridge and comes back towards them, and the rest is history.

 

[SuziQ]

I know in my area the kids have sidewalk allergies. We have paved roads and sidewalks and the kids walk down the middle of the road. (It must not be cool to walk on a sidewalk) Then they flip you off when you toot your horn at them to move out of the way. I apologize for the rant....