Skyla Whitaker, 11, & Taylor Placker 13 - Found Murdered - #17

Could not sleep....Taylors autopsy report...look at the head view under the eye (red abrasions and contusion over the right upper cheek/ evidence of injury- bottom of page)
Did he hit her first with something- maybe the butt of a gun- Taylor must of seen he was going to strike her puts her hand up to stop the object? Above the bullet wound on her finger also has a mark similar to the abrasion under her eye.
I may be reaching but could this wound hold DNA? (killer holds the gun/object then hits Taylor) his hand maybe a ring?? while she's holding her hand up after he strikes her-(the girls may not have even seen a gun at first) then he pulls a gun out and shoots her - she would still have her hand up to her face.
Can anyone else see this happening? You can tell me if I'm crazy-way off.

I hadnt notice the abrasion under the eye first, very good possibility that she was struck with something, lets hope and pray it did leave the killers DNA. Good catch!

sheza said:

Could not sleep....Taylors autopsy report...look at the head view under the eye (red abrasions and contusion over the right upper cheek/ evidence of injury- bottom of page)
Did he hit her first with something- maybe the butt of a gun- Taylor must of seen he was going to strike her puts her hand up to stop the object? Above the bullet wound on her finger also has a mark similar to the abrasion under her eye.
I may be reaching but could this wound hold DNA? (killer holds the gun/object then hits Taylor) his hand maybe a ring?? while she's holding her hand up after he strikes her-(the girls may not have even seen a gun at first) then he pulls a gun out and shoots her - she would still have her hand up to her face.
Can anyone else see this happening? You can tell me if I'm crazy-way off.

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Hi all, longtime reader, "every-now-and-then" contributor... Does anyone know if it is possible to get one of those "In Memory -- BFF" wrist bands for Taylor and Skyla? I know they were giving them out at their school, but I didn't know if I could get one... I want to wear it until they find the !@#$$@!%^%$! who did this to them. Thanks!

If drugs played a part in this, I don't think it was a meth lab out in the open. The girls may have been sent to meet someone on or near the bridge to exchange money for drugs (hence the purse to carry both in) and didn't bring enough money or the drugs were not what they were sent to retrieve and a conflict ensued escalating to murder.
Why would Taylor lug a purse along on a hot summer day just to take a walk to the bridge and back. No place to spend money along the way, so why? I think the purse may hold a clue in this case.

FlowerChild said:

Sorry, my source has his good reasons for NOT being identified or posting here - he isn't willing to risk his job (or his family) so he can placate a few posters here who want to "question" him. His information has been good (as to what was presented as FACT) - otherwise he is merely passing along information from the area and from his personal interactions with LE as someone living fairly close to the crime scene.

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Is this someone you know personally and have met with face to face? Just curious as to how close to the case he is.

Claycat said:

Thanks for the photos. I remember someone saying something about that

Kellogg's Restaurant when I had picked up on Poptarts.......

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ClayCat...How did you arrive at the vision of 'poptarts? did you see it or hear it?
When I looked at the picture of Kellogg's restaurant, I notice the sign above it that said "jackpots"...could you have mistaken jackpots for pop-tarts? thought I'd mention it.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v397/mstweety/WeleetkaOklahoma/

sheza said:

Could not sleep....Taylors autopsy report...look at the head view under the eye (red abrasions and contusion over the right upper cheek/ evidence of injury- bottom of page)
Did he hit her first with something- maybe the butt of a gun- Taylor must of seen he was going to strike her puts her hand up to stop the object? Above the bullet wound on her finger also has a mark similar to the abrasion under her eye.

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It does make you wonder if she was hit first. If he was close enough to hit her it may mean she was able to touch him with her fingernails. When he shot though he was far enough away not to leave residue with those shots.

I don't know what is going on with her right hand. The bullet hit on the back of her hand so she didn't have it positioned like she was pushing somebody away. There was a lot of damage to her hand with the bullet hole in the knuckle and the middle finger having a compound fracture and all the lacerations to the palm side of that finger. I wonder if she had her hand in a fist?

See it helps to type it out. I think my confusion about the hand is because I am getting my ups and downs mixed up. To me "up" on a hand is towards the tips of the fingers but I bet "up" is towards the wrist. That makes sense.

I bet the bullet entered the back of her hand at the knuckle and traveled in the finger towards the tip of her finger. That is what caused all the lacerations to the palm side of her finger. I can't see where they draw in an exit wound for that shot, maybe that is the circle on the joint at the end of her finger.

do have to question why the POI's poster wasn't there, too?! HE is the person they need to find!! HIS FACE needs to be out everywhere!!

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No POI posters anywhere. I asked way not a POI poster, one person I talked to said it did not matter, nothing would be gained from the sketch. But still not REAL reason why the poster did not have the sketch on it. Even if that local did not think the sketch would do any good, I feel it still should have been there.

Thanks for the photos. I remember someone saying something about that Kellogg's Restaurant when I had picked up on Poptarts.

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Where you see "Kellogg's", that is a billboard behind Cowpoke's Cafe. Kellogg's is where we were sleeping the first night this bothered me really bad and made me come back to this case. At Kellogg's as of the last time I was there, no posters, and not a word uttered there. From Where we were yesterday @ Cowpokes it is another nine miles West on the interstate to the exit #221 for Kellogg's, but both of these exits are in VERY close proximity to Weleetka.

Next time I stop there I want to get some pictures to show you all some more stuff. I seen some very easy ways that someone could just "poof" be gone in how the roads are laid out. For instance, say you at the driveway of the gas station pictured, if you look to the North which would be on my left if I were sitting in the parking lot facing the road, the state maintained highway ENDS right at the gas station and turns into a gravel county road. Then there at the picture I took of the road signs to show where I was, I meant to get more of the left of what I did, that is the road that will take you South towards town. These roads may and may not have a dang thing to do with the route the perp took, but if what I seen is any indication of how the roads work in the area, it would be nothing for someone who KNOWS the area to get anywhere by county road.

SHEZA sorry you could not rest. I too seen the abrasions. If you go back to the thread that was closed yesterday I offered my theroy on this. What you have and what I have could esily work together.

On the 12th I said: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2491615&postcount=415

I just re-read the report. Taylor shows abrasions, with there being a bullet hole in her right hand and abrasions on her left side it seems to me that she put her right hand up in defence mode and fell on her left side. I believe that one of the shots to the face is one of the shots that went through her hand. The face shots were first IMO then the others. The bullet wound to the abdomin to me seems like it was made after she fell and was on the ground, like the attacker(s) were standing at her feet or close to her feet when that shot was fired.

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I want to get some clay and do some experiments when I get home to see how I could further justify this.

SeriouslySearching said:

The problem I have is that they won't come here and speak for themselves plus I find them to be inaccurate in what they are saying "through" FC. How can we question them?! No, I don't know her "sources" personally and would love to "question" them...but we will never get that chance.

Yes, we all do have opinions and they are all welcome here. I have every right to disagree with them. We have been on this roller coaster ride of weird theories for weeks going into months now. Are we any further than we were the day the girls were murdered? No. Do we need to figure out why? Yes. It means we have not been on the right path to find the real answers and neither has LE that we can tell. So after the wild goose chases...we do need to start over and go with our first gut reactions. Mine was the drug/gun dealer theory.

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Not to put too fine a point on it, but linguistically speaking, if you don't want to consider information from this kind of source, then you can only go by info from posters.

What if you just stated your opinions about various information without targeting specific people here? You could still think that drugs were involved, for example.

That just seems like the more civil way to proceed.

(oh yeah--my opinion )

The info re the POI sketch is so weird.... It seems they would either promote it, or officially pull it. This abandonment of such a clue is confusing.

Remember the statement was an opinion of the person I spoke with. The place of business can only display what they are provided which was the case.

tapu said:

Not to put too fine a point on it, but linguistically speaking, if you don't want to consider information from this kind of source, then you can only go by info from posters.

What if you just stated your opinions about various information without targeting specific people here? You could still think that drugs were involved, for example.

That just seems like the more civil way to proceed.

(oh yeah--my opinion )

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It's very hard for those who've followed cases on other Forums here at WS to go on hearsay, rumor, or second hand information.

It doesn't mean they aren't factual, but rather without verification and should be taken as such. Sometimes a rumor morphs into what will go on the Internet as fact when someone researches.

Everyone has a right to dispute information that hasn't been backed up by the source by a poster. That's what we do here at Websleuths, dispute and discuss what our take is regarding what's posted.

This thought just came to mind - I am relatively new to this so it may have been posted before - if so, please forgive me. Regarding the DNA testing - is it possible they could use the new 'touch dna' that has been a recently used technique - wouldn't the shooter have had to 'touch' the bullets in order to load them into the gun in the first place? It's just a thought - wishful thinking maybe on my part.

I have no idea if that type of DNA would remain on the bullet after being shot through the gun. Perhaps some of you would know if it is at all possible??

Ann Fan said:

I have no idea if that type of DNA would remain on the bullet after being shot through the gun. Perhaps some of you would know if it is at all possible??

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There are two parts to a bullet, the casing and the cartridge. The casing doesn't pass through the barrel. Prints can be lifted off the casings.

Tom'sGirl said:

There are two parts to a bullet, the casing and the cartridge. The casing doesn't pass through the barrel. Prints can be lifted off the casings.

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From what I have read in the past it is difficult to get fingerprints off of casings due to the very slick, smooth surface. However I have heard of a new technique that the British are using and usually they are the first to devise such new testing like they were the first ones to use DNA testing.

This links talks about it some.

http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/E88FD217-1618-4765-912F-DB20445FB39B/

Tom'sGirl said:

It's very hard for those who've followed cases on other Forums here at WS to go on hearsay, rumor, or second hand information.

It doesn't mean they aren't factual, but rather without verification and should be taken as such. Sometimes a rumor morphs into what will go on the Internet as fact when someone researches.

Everyone has a right to dispute information that hasn't been backed up by the source by a poster. That's what we do here at Websleuths, dispute and discuss what our take is regarding what's posted.

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But a trap catches more when it is baited with something sweet rather than something sour and distasteful. Constantly harping about what people are posting is sour and distasteful. It drives people away from the case and the forum.

The fact the Plackers may not have been home that afternoon is a good example. As far as I know that is just a rumor but it is a biggie. It is hard to discuss it to get it beyond the rumor stage if the people who brought it to the forum are chased and beaten.

Albert, I think establishing whether or not the Plackers were or were not at home when the girls left for their walk is VERY important. I still remember when Peter Placker said at the site of the bodies, "THEY can't hurt me anymore than THEY already have". Did he know who THEY were? The Plackers may know who killed the girls if the shooter/shooters were out to get to them in some way. The Plackers moving so quickly after the shootings makes me think they might be running scared.

I'd also like to know whether Taylor, Vicky and Peter each had their own cell phone. Sometime families share them. At first people were saying Peter used Taylor's phone to make the 911 call. If he had a cell phone of his own, wouldn't he have used that? Didn't the Plackers say that they called Taylor and couldn't get an answer on her cell phone. Did they use a land line, Vicky's cell phone or Peter's cell phone? Did they have a land line?

I still keep going back to the fact that no one at the Placker house (if anyone was home)
heard the shots from only a half mile away.

The time frame from when the girls left the house and when Peter says he discovered the bodies is only about 30 or 45 minutes. How long does it take blood to coagulate after being shot?

Now if no one was home, it's a whole different scenario. No one would know for sure when the girls left.

Albert18 said:

But a trap catches more when it is baited with something sweet rather than something sour and distasteful. Constantly harping about what people are posting is sour and distasteful. It drives people away from the case and the forum.

The fact the Plackers may not have been home that afternoon is a good example. As far as I know that is just a rumor but it is a biggie. It is hard to discuss it to get it beyond the rumor stage if the people who brought it to the forum are chased and beaten.

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:clap:

KEYBOARDPLAYER; I haven't heard of those BFF skyla/taylor bracelets. I would like to have one too.
I just called the school district - too late. Closed for the day. Will try tomorrow.

Tom'sGirl said:

There are two parts to a bullet, the casing and the cartridge. The casing doesn't pass through the barrel. Prints can be lifted off the casings.

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If the casings have prints, why hasn't OSBI been able to identify the killer(s)? It's difficult to believe they wouldn't already have a criminal background and already be printed.