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

[DLTinOKLA]

And I think there were a total of 12 shots - otherwise the killer(s) would have had to stop and reload, and I don't think they did that

While I don't believe their was any reloading done, why do you assume that the guns used only held 6 shots each? If casings were found at the scene then the murder weapons had to be either semi automatic rifles or pistols. Only a revolver wouldn't have left any casings at the scene. If the murder weapons were semi automatics there could of been numerous other shots. Do we know how many more shots that might of been fired that didn't even hit the girls????? For example I have an older model 22 rimfire rifle (semi auto) that holds 17 bullets. I have a 9mm semi automatic handgun that holds 15. I have an AR-15 that can hold 10-30 rounds depending on what magazine I'm using. Several .22 semi auto pistols can hold 10-12 rounds of ammo. I still believe the smaller weapon used could of been a .22 rimfire which is a gun that kids typically plink around with.

 

[little726]

Oh, alright...thats the place we drive past that day...right?

Sarah, did you just say you drove past the Placker's that day? Or am I just reading it different?

 

[Missing Sarah]

Well, me and Sheza went for a drive, and to take floweres to ther memorial...it wasn't the day of the murders

 

[Missing Sarah]

We are also going to visit Claudia next week-end, if our plans work out. Just to take her a card, and chat a bit see how she is doing

 

[Missing Sarah]

I'm familar with Claudia, and Jim. But, not the Plackers.

 

[little726]

Well, me and Sheza went for a drive, and to take floweres to ther memorial...it wasn't the day of the murders

Thanks. That was very nice of you and Sheza to take flowers to the memorial.

 

[Tom'sGirl]

I'm familar with Claudia, and Jim.

Are you speaking of the Farrows?

 

[little726]

We are also going to visit Claudia next week-end, if our plans work out. Just to take her a card, and chat a bit see how she is doing

That is also a nice thing to do.

 

[cloudajo]

yes, Charles & Crystal Placker live a mile south from Taylors house.

Sheza,

Is that Charles Placker Jr.? Is Crystal his wife? Any idea how long they've lived there and were any other Plackers living with them?

Thanks.

 

[cloudajo]

FC,

I was wondering...

Just to clarify, your source said it was Uncle Joe Mosher who drove by the girls that day, and not Uncle Joe Placker, correct?

Thanks.

 

[Missing Sarah]

Sheza,

Is that Charles Placker Jr.? Is Crystal his wife? Any idea how long they've lived there and were any other Plackers living with them?

Thanks.

There are several family of Plackers that live in that direct area.

 

[Missing Sarah]

Yeah, I feel so sorry for Claudia she is a nice lady, just an ole country girl. We might turn over some new imformation if we do visit her

 

[YellowDog]

Observations and "what ifs"

• The girls had to plead for permission to walk to the bridge but the Plackers left them alone at home? No, I don’t think so. I suspect Uncle Joe was at the Placker house or in the area and they knew it. Can we believe his story that he saw the girls walking towards home? Was that a statement made to distance himself from the murder? (“Don’t look at me! They were alive when I saw them.”) I also wonder why the Plackers were concerned about Taylor going to the bridge. It was not far and she was 13. Did they know it was a place where drug deals went down?
• From Tom’s Girl: “It was up the family & friends of these victims to keep their loved ones in the news in any manner they could, these families have not done that.” I think that the family knows who did the killing. Maybe not the specific individuals but that it had to have been from a group or gang who were on the bridge to buy drugs. Taylor’s father (gf) said that “they” cannot hurt the family any worse than they had already. Was that a message to the killers? “Mosher said the families have laid their trust in the hands of the Okfuskee County Sheriff's Department and the OSBI to find the killers.” Was that a message to the killers that the family was not talking?
• I think Taylor was the target. I think she was probably on the walk that day to deliver drugs to someone on the bridge. For Uncle Joe? She knew people from the gang and felt comfortable with them. The Z with the slashes is a gang symbol. If it represented the actors’ name then why, when the names were written out on her body, did the Z not have slashes on it?
• I suspect Uncle Joe was at the Placker house to meet the people to sell the drugs and sent Taylor to make the delivery. The purse that Taylor carried could have been used to carry drugs and the money for the payment. Perhaps Joe tried to “cheat” the buyer and never considered that he was putting Taylor and Skyla in danger because he didn’t think it would be noticed. Or maybe he just didn’t care.
• I don’t think Joe was a shooter. He was on the murder site shortly afterwards. The shooter had to have blood on his clothes and Joe did not. It would have been noticed.
• On the walk back Taylor and Skyla could have been confronted by the buyers. Perhaps one of them struck her in the face causing the injury, but if she knew them she might not have realized the extent of the danger.
• Taylor’s hand had a wound that indicated that the hand was closed with the fingers toward her. Am I remembering that right? If the hand had been held out in a defensive way, I think it would have been open with the palm toward the shooter. If it had been a protective gesture, I think it would have been open but with the palm toward her face. But the hand was closed. Was she handing money from the drug deal back to the shooter?
• I know I don’t sound sympathetic towards the girls but I am. But the family has so many bad apples that their way of life must have been a life that most of us cannot understand. Even the worst of the family were accepted and welcomed. If my brother were like Uncle Joe, he would not have gotten near my two sons. From an early age Taylor must have seen and heard things and known people who did all kinds of crimes. Children are formed, in part, from their environment and my sympathy for Taylor is that she never had a chance. I think making the delivery would be no big deal to her. Just life as she knew it.
• Perhaps the POI saw the bodies in the ditch and drove on. Was he sick? Perhaps he had to stop his truck suddenly and thus did not pull it out of the road because he was sick. Is he not coming forward because of fear that he will be targeted?
• I would guess two shooters and a little older than “kids” because I think kids would have slipped up and talked or been found out. The shooter(s) seem to be more experienced and hardened.

Sorry for the length. I don’t post often but sure make up for it when I do. J Maggie

I agree with many of the things you say. Uncle Joe could have sent the girls to pay for drugs with money in a sealed envelope inside the purse. They gave the money to the shooter/shooters and started back home. After they left, the shooter/shooters opened the envelope, counted the money and realized they'd been short changed and they went into a rage, chased the girls down and killed them.

 

[YellowDog]

When it says the direction of the bullet the reference point is the victim.

Wound no. 1, direction forward, means the bullet is moving to the front of Skyla. Entrance posterior means what it means. There is no way she was facing the shooter when wound no. 1 happened.

If you go to the bottom of Skyla's autopsy it has a back view of a torso and a frontal view or a torso, the drawings go side to side, not up and down. The wounds are numbered. If wound no. 1 has an ent. on the back view and an exit on the front view, she wasn't shot from the front.

The full body views with the bodies standing erect aren't showing body wounds they are showing holes in the clothes.

Albert, I agree with you. Entrance in my vocabulary means that is where the bullet entered the body and exit means that is where the bullet exited. It's so plain to see on those drawings.

 

[DLTinOKLA]

I just took another long look at the entrance wounds on the autopsy reports. I misread the reports the first time I looked at them. (Also why does the autopsy say diameter on a few of entrance wounds and width on most??? I think there are some mistakes on the reports between the first listing wound size and then the data sheet list. So it is confusing and the reason I made a mistake the first time I looked!) The entrance wounds on Skyla are . 5 .5 . 4 .6 .5 .5 .3 .4 . All these wounds had to come from a small bullet. I measured both a .22 rimfire and a .223 bullet and they are consistent with the .5 size. ( I just have a ruler to measure with so its not exact, but you can get a good idea on what size of weapons were used.) The smallest bullet I have is a .17 hmr it is consistent with the .3 and .4 size of wound. On Taylor the size of entrance wounds are .5 .3 .7 1.5 1.5 (why so large????) The 1.5 wounds on Taylor are the groin shot and the hand shot. I don't really have a bullet to compare these size of wounds but I would guess they have to be .44-45 caliber range.

So here are just a few of my thoughts and questions that just make this senseless murder even more complicated.

1) I think there might of been at least 3 weapons used. Has LE ever just came out and said for sure how many weapons or shooters? I think they just said more than 1.

2) Even though Skyla was shot more times, she wasn't shot with the much larger weapon.

3) Notice the larger wounds on Taylor was both the groin and hand shot? Could she possibly of been trying to protect herself from being shot there instead of protecting her face as many believe and even the autopsy suggests?

4) 11 out of 13 wounds were caused by smaller caliber weapon(s.)

5) Taylor had abrasions on her left knee, ankle and arm. Could she had fallen trying to get away from the killers or did something happen down at the bridge that caused these abrasions?

6) Skyla's neck shot left some powder residue which means the shooter walked up to her to finish her off. (Neck or behind the ear shots are typical of what hunters would do to finish an animal off after wounding it.)

7) Taylor also had a small amount of power residue too on one of her face shots.

With the caliber of weapons possibly used and the placement of the shots I'm looking at the murderer(s) having a hunting background, not an experienced hitman.

 

[Claycat]

DLT, abrasions are common when someone has been shot. They fall suddenly, just as if they tripped and fell.

 

[FlowerChild]

I just took another long look at the entrance wounds on the autopsy reports. I misread the reports the first time I looked at them. (Also why does the autopsy say diameter on a few of entrance wounds and width on most??? I think there are some mistakes on the reports between the first listing wound size and then the data sheet list. So it is confusing and the reason I made a mistake the first time I looked!) The entrance wounds on Skyla are . 5 .5 . 4 .6 .5 .5 .3 .4 . All these wounds had to come from a small bullet. I measured both a .22 rimfire and a .223 bullet and they are consistent with the .5 size. ( I just have a ruler to measure with so its not exact, but you can get a good idea on what size of weapons were used.) The smallest bullet I have is a .17 hmr it is consistent with the .3 and .4 size of wound. On Taylor the size of entrance wounds are .5 .3 .7 1.5 1.5 (why so large????) The 1.5 wounds on Taylor are the groin shot and the hand shot. I don't really have a bullet to compare these size of wounds but I would guess they have to be .44-45 caliber range.

So here are just a few of my thoughts and questions that just make this senseless murder even more complicated.

1) I think there might of been at least 3 weapons used. Has LE ever just came out and said for sure how many weapons or shooters? I think they just said more than 1.

2) Even though Skyla was shot more times, she wasn't shot with the much larger weapon.

3) Notice the larger wounds on Taylor was both the groin and hand shot? Could she possibly of been trying to protect herself from being shot there instead of protecting her face as many believe and even the autopsy suggests?

4) 11 out of 13 wounds were caused by smaller caliber weapon(s.)

5) Taylor had abrasions on her left knee, ankle and arm. Could she had fallen trying to get away from the killers or did something happen down at the bridge that caused these abrasions?

6) Skyla's neck shot left some powder residue which means the shooter walked up to her to finish her off. (Neck or behind the ear shots are typical of what hunters would do to finish an animal off after wounding it.)

7) Taylor also had a small amount of power residue too on one of her face shots.

With the caliber of weapons possibly used and the placement of the shots I'm looking at the murderer(s) having a hunting background, not an experienced hitman.

Skyla was shot with the larger gun - they were both shot with both guns - think they note the "larger" "smaller" bullets.

 

[DLTinOKLA]

Skyla was shot with the larger gun - they were both shot with both guns - think they note the "larger" "smaller" bullets.

If by larger you mean the .5 compared to .3 or .4 yes I would agree. But she definitely wasn't shot with the 1.5 size of bullet. The autopsy has an error on III. At the bottom it says "entrance wound" when it should of said exit. The entrance wound has already been stated at the beginning with .4 You can tell this by looking lower at the date sheet listing it correctly list the entrance wound as .4 and exit as 1.7.

So I'm I missing something? Where else does it say she was shot with a larger weapon?

 

[DLTinOKLA]

Skyla was shot with the larger gun - they were both shot with both guns - think they note the "larger" "smaller" bullets.

I read it again and yes it does say medium size bullet was found with wound v and a small size with wound viii. But the entrance size on wound v is .4 and on wound viii is .5. Also it says the bullet found on wound v is damaged so maybe its hard to tell the size?? I don't know. But I do know that is a big difference from an entrance wound found on taylor of 1.5! That is why I'm asking, could we have three weapons here and not just two? I'm sure the OSBI knows all these answers and even know the weapons used. But we don't know and I'm just trying to help us come up with some answers because they won't tell us.

 

[cloudajo]

There are several family of Plackers that live in that direct area.

Thanks Missing Sarah.

If I do a search of Plackers in Weleetka it shows 8 people. Do you know if those below are all relatives?

1 Charles Placker
2 Darrell Placker
3 James Placker
4 Joseph Placker (Peter’s brother)
5 Linda K Placker (Peter & Vicky’s daughter)
6 Peter Placker (Taylor’s gfather)
7 Ruth Placker
8 Vicky Placker (Taylor’s gmother)

http://preview.ussearch.com/preview/ala/newsearch?&searchLName=Placker&searchState=OK&searchCity=weleetka&adID=619100D754&adsource=9&TID=0&cid=people&searchtab=people