Deceased/Not Found OK - Lauria Bible & Ashley Freeman, both 16, Welch, 30 Dec 1999 *GUILTY* *released from prison 2023* #2

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Wednesday, July 15th:
*Arraignment Hearing (@ 10:30am CT) - OK – Danny (40) & Kathy Freeman (37), their daughter Ashley (16) & her friend Lauria Bible (16) (Dec. 29-30, 1999, Welch; girls have not been found) - *Ronnie Dean Busick (37 @ time of crime/68/now 69) was arrested (4/22/18) & official charged (4/30/18) with 2 counts of first-degree murder with malice aforethought or accessory to 1st degree murder, 2 additional counts of 1st degree murder, 2 counts of kidnapping, and 1 count of first-degree arson or accessory to 1st degree arson. $1M bond.
Two other men, Warren Philip "Phil" Welch II (61) died in 2007 & David A. Pennington (56) died in 2015, are implicated in the deaths but have themselves died.
Jury Trial began on 12/13/19 re competency. Jury: 3 men & 3 women, with 2 alternates. 12/18/19: Found Busick competent to stand trial.
Court info from 5/11/18 thru 12/18/19 reference post #1005 here:
Still Missing - OK - Lauria Bible, 16, & Ashley Freeman, 16, Welch, 30 December 1999 *ARREST*
12/18/19 Update: Preliminary hearing on 2/7/20. 2/7/20: Next Preliminary hearing on 3/26.
3/24/20 Update: Preliminary hearing continued due to coronavirus to 5/4 & 5/5. 4/7/20: Preliminary hearings on 5/4 & 5/5 have been rescheduled due to coronavirus to 6/22.
6/22/20 Update: Busick waved his rights to a preliminary hearing today. A plea agreement may be pending. He’s scheduled to be back in court for arraignment July 15th, when he may enter a plea to accessory to murder. A representative with the District Attorney’s Office says as part of the deal, Busick will have to provide details leading to the whereabouts of Lauria & Ashley. It’s unclear how much prison time he will serve in exchange for that information. If that happens, could have sentencing in late August.


 
Missing Welch girls: Busick pleads guilty to accessory to murder

VINITA — The only suspect still living in one of the state’s most notorious murder-kidnapping-arson cases has entered a guilty plea in an agreement with prosecutors connected to the disappearance and presumed deaths of two Craig County teens.
[.....]
Early Wednesday he pleaded guilty in Craig County District Court in Vinita to accessory to murder; remaining charges were dropped per the agreement.

Busick was sentenced to 15 years, serving 10 years in Oklahoma Department of Corrections custody and five years under supervised release. An alternative sentence would leave Busick serving five years in prison if information he provides leads to the recovery of Ashley Freeman's and Lauria Bible's remains. He would also serve five years of supervised release.
[.....]
At an earlier hearing District Attorney Matt Ballard said Busick would be required to provide cooperation and details leading to the location of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman.
 
Teen Best Friends Vanished Two Decades Ago And Now The Sole Surviving Suspect Says He’ll Lead Authorities To Their Bodies

"The sole surviving suspect in the 1999 disappearance of two Oklahoma teens and the murder of one girl's parents has entered a guilty plea and pledged to lead investigators to their remains.

Best friends Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman, 16, vanished on Dec. 30, 1999 in the town of Welch after Freeman’s family home went up in flames with her parents Danny and Kathy Freeman inside. The couple had been shot to death before their trailer was torched. The whereabouts of the teens has long remained a mystery, one that has fueled a flurry of rumors and theories that are detailed in Jax Miller’s upcoming true crime book “Hell in the Heartland: Murder, Meth, and the Case of Two Missing Girls.”
 
Well , it’s been three weeks since the plea , and three weeks left til sentencing .
Starting to get the sinking feeling that he doesn’t care about being in jail and this was all just to avoid a death penalty .
Unless he truly just can’t remember . I haven’t seen any crews out for searches at any location he may have provided ? Thoughts ?
 
Hopefully they will find the girls. Hopefully Busick isn't blowing again, but he gets his time cut in half if they find them. They searched that area last year but didn't do the cellar.
PICHER — Based on information from the only still-living suspect, authorities will be excavating an abandoned root cellar in the Tar Creek area of Ottawa County on Tuesday, searching for the remains of two Craig County teenagers who have been missing for 20 years and are presumed dead.

Ronnie Busick, 68, pleaded guilty last month to a reduced charge of accessory to murder in the Dec. 30, 1999, deaths of Danny and Kathy Freeman, their daughter, Ashley Freeman, and her friend Lauria Bible. Both girls were 16.

He was sentenced to 15 years, to serve 10 years in Oklahoma Department of Corrections custody and five years on supervised release.

His formal sentencing is set for Aug. 31, and his sentence is to be slashed in half if Busick provides information leading to the recovery of the girls’ remains.

District Attorney Matt Ballard and prosecutor Isaac Shields said after the July 15 hearing at which Busick pleaded guilty that he already has provided some information and that there may be a provision for him to lead investigators to a location.

For the past two decades, investigators have searched mine shafts and dug up basements, wells and open fields while divers have searched ponds and Grand Lake.

Investigators believe that Warren Phillip Welch II, David Pennington and Busick shot Danny and Kathy Freeman and kidnapped the girls on Dec. 30, 1999, and set the Freemans’ mobile home in Welch on fire.

The teens were taken to a mobile home in Picher, where they were bound, tortured, raped and killed, investigators believe.
 
TexasT said:
Well , it’s been three weeks since the plea , and three weeks left til sentencing .
Starting to get the sinking feeling that he doesn’t care about being in jail and this was all just to avoid a death penalty .
Unless he truly just can’t remember . I haven’t seen any crews out for searches at any location he may have provided ? Thoughts ?
Click to expand...
They haven't. They are or were just waiting to hear something from Busick. Of course Lorraine has been tirelessly posting to get others who DO know something to say something, but it's a lost cause for the most part. I know most all of them. Hopefully the dig tomorrow will finally find something.
 
Last edited:
TexasT said:
The dig is on FB live , find - Lauria Bible -BBi
She said Busick says 80% chance they were put in the cellar . . Nothing so far .
Click to expand...

I have no faith in Busick's memory or honesty at this point but he's dying in jail sooner or later, so here's hoping his info is good and that the girls are found.

This case is so awful and sordid top to bottom -- is there a bottom? -- that merely reading about it now makes me want to walk in the sunshine for a day or eight just to clear my mind.
 
“Just another empty hole. Ronnie Busick said there was an 80% chance we would find them here. He was 100% wrong. Is this another game? Does he enjoy this? Does he really not know? We are left with an empty hole and hope lost for another day but rest knowing we will never give up!”

Statement from the Bible’s .
 
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