Skyla Whitaker, 11, & Taylor Placker 13 - Found Murdered - #6

[Kellee]

Wouldn't you think that truck is probably in a canal someplace by now?

Canal? Not many canals in Oklahoma, but possibly a lake!

But, ya never know, criminals aren't necessarily the brightest bulbs in the chandelier!

 

[Snowlover77]

I am still thinking there were two young guys(teenagers most likely) who were involved with each other in a gay relationship and somehow Taylor and Skyla discovered it(possibly even witnessed them in an intimate act) and the boys couldn't risk being found out. Call me whatever but over and over in my mind this is what I am thinking.

 

[CarpeDiem]

Canal? Not many canals in Oklahoma, but possibly a lake!

But, ya never know, criminals aren't necessarily the brightest bulbs in the chandelier!

Yeah, like that freak whom took Ben Owmby, the witness description of the vehicle was precise (Go Mitch Hults!), yet he had it parked out in the open and was using it.

 

[Snowlover77]

I am still thinking there were two young guys(teenagers most likely) who were involved with each other in a gay relationship and somehow Taylor and Skyla discovered it(possibly even witnessed them in an intimate act) and the boys couldn't risk being found out. Call me whatever but over and over in my mind this is what I am thinking.

Maybe an older man and a teenager involved in a gay relationship...that is a possibility. He wouldn't want to risk being found out..maybe he is even married..and he ahd to silence those who had found them out.

 

[evelyn24]

http://www.ok.gov/osbi/Press_Room/2008_Press_Releases/PR-2008-06-16_Sketch.html

They've had this discription since the day of the murders.
Look at the two dates on the pic...one is 6-8-2008 (day the girls were killed and presumably the sketch was made), and the other date is 6-13-08 (the day the sketch was released to the public).
Unless, I'm seeing the dates incorrectly?

 

[Leila]

Hello All~
I am a longtime reader, lurker of Websleuths. First time poster~
These are a few thoughts that I have had while reading all the previous posts.

1. I do think the POI wore long sleeves deliberately. Assuming he is of Native American heritage, the sun is not a great concern for their skin tone. I believe he was wearing long sleeves to hide tatoos, scars, etc...........

2. I do not think it strange at all the Grandfather went looking for the girls. I believe he was being respectful of Skyla's Mother and was trying to make sure Skyla was ready to leave the moment her Mother arrived to pick her up.

3. One thing we know for sure is that these murders were definitely an "overkill". These girls with all due respect were not "just shot and killed" they were shot over and over multiple times. The most common reasons for this are:
*Passion - someone is so passionate about their feelings of betrayal, their feelings of being "found out", or any other scenario that they lose contact with reality and for a moment of time, overkill in a murderous attempt at making themselves feel better.
*Drugs - it is a known fact that many states, Oklahoma being one of them are combating (and some would argue losing) the war with regard to Methamphetamines. Meth is as bad as a drug gets. It is known to cause extremely violent behaviour in users. I wonder if the girls even saw anything illegal. I would not be surprised to find out that they were innocently walking down the road when one, two, or more Meth heads were out, saw the girls and in their paranoid, methed up madness decided that the girls saw them and the only way out was to kill them. That would explain the possible U-turn on the dirt road and the violent overkill.

4. The families being involved: to me that is unlikely. There would have to be an awful lot of planning and fore thought for someone to seek out and kill two young girls. All for the purpose of witness intimidation. I may be naive in my thinking but, I do not believe that most of the "family criminals" have the money and / or the knowledge to carry out such an intricate plan.

Sorry for my first post being so opinionated and long. After reading all the posts the last few days, my fingers just could not stop typing.

Ruflossin............Welcome aboard!

In regards to your item #4, I don't think anyone believes a family member is involved. Rather, someone who is retaliating against a family member for some grievance.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Maybe an older man and a teenager involved in a gay relationship...that is a possibility. He wouldn't want to risk being found out..maybe he is even married..and he ahd to silence those who had found them out.

Wouldn't the girls have to know them though?

I mean if they didn't know them who could they tell?

imoo

 

[Spazkat9696]

They've had this discription since the day of the murders.
Look at the two dates on the pic...one is 6-8-2008 (day the girls were killed and presumably the sketch was made), and the other date is 6-13-08 (the day the sketch was released to the public.
Unless, I'm seeing the dates incorrectly?

I think it was done on the 13th, and the info you see is from the case file.

 

[GetSmart]

This snippet is good. i remember seeing questions others have asked in regards to info here

http://www.newsok.com/news/weleetkaslayings

Investigators think killers were familiar with area
Officials think the slayings may have been committed by people from the local area or who are familiar with the rural Okfuskee County roads.

"That's my gut feeling,” Rosser said. "It's an isolated area. We don't know if this is some kind of random thrill killing or an attempted abduction or a case of mistaken identity. It's possible they may have interrupted something at the bridge.”
The bridge along County Line Road is a popular place for teens to gather and shoot guns, Rosser said.
Agents looked into a tip Wednesday morning that someone reported a pickup full of boys in the area around the time of the killings.
"We contacted those individuals, and yes, they had a shotgun,” Rosser said. "They told us they were down there shooting, just like they would have been on any Sunday. There's nothing to indicate that they are suspects.”
The Placker family previously said Taylor and Skyla walked to the bridge about 5 p.m. Sunday. When they didn't return and could not be reached by cell phone, Peter Placker went looking for them and found the bodies. He called 911 using Taylor's phone.

 

[Leila]

He mentions how busy that road is now compared to when he was a kid. Which reminded me of Rosser's comment on the Greta vid. That the road is the main connector between two towns. It does appear to get quite a bit of traffic.

I saw that. So the shooter(s) weren't looking for a secluded area to carry out these horrific killings. Or, they don't know the area well enough to know that the road gets a lot of traffic.

 

[Leila]

Thats the way I read it. I am not sure if her mom Rose was married first to Kim Getman, then a Gordon, and then Whitaker.

Since the Gordon children appear to now be adults, living on their own, I would guess that Rose married a Gordon first and had two children. Then she married Kim Getman and had Skyla with him. That leaves one child, Jayme, who was also living at home. Jayme may be a full sibling to Skyla and was also adopted by William Whitaker, or is the only child Rose had with him.

If we could find out the ages of the four siblings, it would give us some sort of guideline.

 

[Albert18]

Peter Placker picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Time for me to go to bed. This case is frustrating.

 

[KR2tonenow]

This is a different obit for Skyla that I had not seen yet

http://www.legacy.com/joplinglobe/Obituaries.asp?Page=SearchResults&DateRange=Today&Product=0


Skyla Jade (Getman) Whitaker, 11, rural Henryetta, Okla., died June 8, 2008. She was born April 5, 1997, in Joplin, Mo. Skyla attended Lincoln and Central schools in Baxter Springs, Kan., and Graham School in rural Henryetta, where she participated in basketball, cheerleading, 4-H and S.W.A.T. Survived by her parents, William and Rose (Farrow) Whitaker, of the home; birth father, Kim Getman, of Baxter Springs; four sisters, Rosita Gordon, of Tulsa, Okla., Jennifer Spaulding, of Joplin, Mo., Christine Whitaker, of Popular Bluff, Mo., and Jayme Whitaker, of the home; a brother, Edward, of Columbus, Kan.; maternal grandparents, Jim and Claudia Farrow, of rural Henryetta; adoptive grandparents, Bill and Sharon Whitaker, of Baxter Springs, and Linda Pritchard, of Henryetta

TY, BL for the confirmation of Baxter Springs, KA, were Gordon (Skyla's brother is awaiting his 10 year sentence), is from. This places him as the brother!

 

[KR2tonenow]

Peter Placker picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Time for me to go to bed. This case is frustrating.

Gnite!

 

[Snowlover77]

Wouldn't the girls have to know them though?

I mean if they didn't know them who could they tell?

imoo

If it were an older man(the POI) and a younger boy..maybe the young boy went to school with Taylor or they knew one another through a sport or something....
people can get paranoid in a situation like I suggested....they don't want to be found out....it also could be a hired killer..hired by the older man in the gay relationship with tghe younger boy).....

 

[SuziQ]

I saw that. So the shooter(s) weren't looking for a secluded area to carry out these horrific killings. Or, they don't know the area well enough to know that the road gets a lot of traffic.

I had always thought it would be very gutsy to shoot the girls so close to home and on what we now know is a busy road. IMO, this could very well mean that the perp did not know the area at all.

 

[Snowlover77]

I had always thought it would be very gutsy to shoot the girls so close to home and on what we now know is a busy road. IMO, this could very well mean that the perp did not know the area at all.

Very possible he is a hired gunman...

 

[Beyond Belief]

Here's the type Indians that must be in that area as Sweetheart said:
Found this old article.
Weleetka, OK
Oct 13, 2007
Muscogee Creek Nation Cultural Day

“These kids need to learn how their ancestors ate”
Hundreds of schoolchildren received a tailored taste of Muscogee culture Friday during the tribe's Cultural Day.

 

[SuziQ]

Very possible he is a hired gunman...

Especially since everyone involved in the Gordon related cases are behind bars...or I assume they are since I haven't read anything so far indicating the remaining two defendents were allowed to post bail. They would have had to hired someone from the outside to do their dirty work.

 

[KR2tonenow]

I heard the bikers were at Taylors funeral to act as a barrier on some other protest going on, that Skylas Mom called and wanted her to be ready (makes total sense if true) and Indians are pretty common there.

I started to think about what the killer(s) did NOT do. They did not pick Mon-Sat. They did not pick the morning. They did not pick late at night, (dark.) They did not molest. They did not finish off the adults down the road--(but maybe that plan got interupted..) they did not torture (technically.) They did not even try to kill possible witnesses driving by-come on, ONE person in a car? Why not drop them too? Unless you are fresh out of amo. They did NOT pick a person who could remotely defend themselves! Whoever was driving by. For some reason they were not there for that. Some clues may lay in what was not done--that checks random off the list, and so on.

true, but hired killers only kill whom they are paid to kill.