Quest to find Missing Welch Girls in Picher, Okla.

UPDATE: “The search today turned up empty again. But it’s two more locations we can mark off the list. It feels like we will dig up all the Picher to find the girls and that’s just not fair. Almost 23 years, nothing has been fair. Even still, so grateful for the agents that show up for us every day after many years of agents who did nothing to help before.

One day soon…….we will never stop searching.” — Lisa Bible Brodrick via Find Lauria Bible BBL

PICHER, Okla. — Approaching 23 years now when two teenage girls went missing after parents of one were murdered.

Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible went missing in December 30, 1999 from Freeman’s burned out home in Welch, Oklahoma. Danny and Kathy Freeman were found shot to death inside the burned out trailer. There were no signs of the two teenagers at the crime scene.

They have never been located.

Today, October 20, 2022 investigators tell us on scene they are digging areas where root cellars were located on two properties:

  • College Street is property where the current Memorial to the girls is located. It was formerly the location that long-deceased suspect Phillip Welch lived in a trailer.
  • Cherokee Ave is property formerly owned by the Mayor of Picher.

On site we observe members of the FBI, OSBI, Quapaw Marshals, Bible Family members including Lorene Bible, mother of the missing Lauria Bible. Additionally the two key investigators; Tammy Ferrari, OSBI Cold Case Investigator and Gary Stansill, Special Case Investigator for the Craig County District Attorney.

Lauria Bible’s Family have a website where they post updates to keep the investigation alive. Today in a release of information the BBI reminded, “The Memorial sight also the last known place the girls were kept alive before they were murdered. This is also the place we now know the photographs of them were taken bound and gagged on a bed.”

They are digging for root cellars that were located on these properties.

“The other location being searched is just a few blocks away at a property once owned by the former mayor of Picher,” BBI states.

| RELATED SEARCH FOR MISSING WELCH GIRLS >> Authorities search the Memorial site

This dig today is a continuation of a search from last year. They were not going on new information. They concluded today.

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Crews begin another search for missing Welch girls

PICHER, Okla. – The search continues Tuesday morning for the remains of two Welch, Oklahoma girls who went missing more than 20 years ago.

Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman went missing in 1999. Investigators believe the girls were kidnapped and murdered, but their bodies have never been found. In 2020, the last remaining suspect in the case, Ronnie Busick, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for accessory to murder.

Tuesday at 9:00 a.m., crews will resume their search for the girls near 421 College Street in Picher, Oklahoma.

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