Missing Welch Girls /// Part 1 /// 107 | Forensic Files

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This is True Crime Garage. And this is the case of the missing Welch girls. Laure Bible is described as 5'5" tall,
130 lb, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Ashley Freeman is 5'7" tall, 145 lb, with dark blonde hair and blue eyes.
She has a scar on the upper left side of her forehead. Both are Caucasian females and were 16
years old at the time of their disappearance. They have been missing since December
30th, 1999 from Welch, Oklahoma. They are both classified as endangered missing.
This is True Crime Garage. This is the case of the missing Welch girls. The Freeman family lived in a trailer
home outside of Welch, Oklahoma and the family consisted of parents Danny and Kathy Freeman and their 16-year-old
daughter Ashley. On December 29th, 1999, the family was celebrating Ashley's 16th
birthday. Yeah, and like a typical girl thing, she's going to have her best friend
spend the night and her best friend is Laura Bible. Yes, they are both 16 years old by this
point. They are lifelong friends. Both were very good students. Ashley was a basketball player, Laura was a
cheerleader and both of them were very well liked. So, Ashley and Laura went with Kathy Freeman who took the two
girls out to dinner. Some have stated that they went to a Pizza Hut, others said that it was Big Bill's Barbecue,
but regardless, they go out to dinner that evening. They also picked up feed for the
Freeman's livestock and water from Kathy's mom's house. After dinner, they went to their local
Walmart store. There, Ashley met her boyfriend Jeremy Hurst. Jeremy gave Ashley a silver chain with a
heart-shaped pendant that also contained her birthstone. This was her birthday gift. And then after the Walmart, Kathy,
Ashley and Laura all went back to the Freeman's home and Jeremy joined them as well.
Laura already spent the night the night before at the Freeman's house, but since
it's getting dark, they're going to stop by her family's house to see if it's okay if she spends the night again.
Yeah, it was it was going to be for one night, turns into two nights because Laura's parents do not let her drive
after dark. She's already driving by this time. Her car is parked at the Freeman house. Now, they drop by just to
make sure they'll be okay because it's well after dark by this point. And we can assume that they're on winter
break at the at this point. Now, back at the Freeman home, Jeremy Hurst, the boyfriend, he says that while
he was there, he didn't think anything was abnormal. He didn't see anything out of place. Uh he says that he left the
Freeman home around 9:30 p.m. But Danny, the father, he had some relatives there
at the Freeman home, and one of the relatives said that Jeremy left closer to 10:30 p.m. So, about an hour later
than Jeremy remembers. Yeah, but as we know with eyewitness accounts, they can be off by a little
bit. Both of the girls the next day had things that they had to do. Ashley was going to take her driver's test, and
Laura had scheduled a dentist appointment for the following morning. Well, the following morning around 5:30
a.m., a passing motorist reported a fire in the vicinity of the Freeman's trailer.
Mhm. When fire and police first responders first showed up to to find the trailer
ablaze, they put out the fire, and inside on the bed, they found the body of a female.
They would learn that this is the body of Kathy Freeman, and they learn that she was not killed by the fire. She had
been shot in the head before the fire. So, now we have a dead mother, and we have a missing father, and we have the
missing two teenagers. Yes. Laura and Ashley. The sheriff's department, they're going
to start investigating, and they have a theory. They immediately have a theory, and their theory is that Danny Freeman
probably lost it, and he shot his wife, he set the trailer on fire, and he took off with both of the 16-year-old girls.
Now, he he was known to have a temper. And he had a few run-ins with the sheriff's department. We'll get to that
in a minute. The next day, Laura's parents, Jay and Lorene Bible, they are at the scene of the fire and the murder.
And they are looking amongst the rubble for clues regarding the girls' whereabouts.
Mhm. They see the Freeman family dog. This is a Rottweiler. Uh so, a very big dog. And
the dog is kind of laying on a collapsed portion of the trailer. And around the dog, or as some have
suggested, underneath of the dog, Jay spots something, and it's clear to Jay that he is looking at the dead body of a
man. The body of Danny Freeman. Always been super fascinating to me how in tune with the world and surroundings
dogs are. Well, the this crazy thing here is that Laura Bible's parents, they could tell
that Danny did not die as a result of the fire, either, because as they described it, in quote, he did not have
anything from the upper teeth all the way to the top of his head. That portion of the face was totally gone.
Jesus. Now, the first question So, gunshot blast to the to the face, yes. And the first
question that we have to ask ourselves is, how did the police and the firefighters miss the body of Danny? You
know, and does this make you think that they could have overlooked the bodies of
the two 16-year-old girls, as well? Well, and then obviously that the public has access to this crime scene.
Yeah, we have a situation where the Bibles were up there looking for clues about their daughters and her friend.
And the thing is here, the once they call and report that they found the body of Danny, they get a little pushback
from law enforcement stating that, you know, we've been over that crime scene, and you must be mistaken. Well, what
took place I guess is that Yeah, we're mistaken. We just saw a guy with his face blown off.
They they showed up and they put out the fire. And this probably took a good deal
of time. But after that, once they're looking amongst the the rubble and the debris, they find the body of of Kathy.
They failed to find Danny's body, but they leave the crime scene around 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. that night. Now, keep in
mind it's the winter months, so it's getting dark about that same time. Right. There was a good chance that they may
not have found it uh Just due to time. By the Right. So, by the time they get the fire out,
you know, the sun is setting, and they find the one body, but let's So, let's not, you know, jump down law
enforcement's throats too quick. Maybe it's like, well, now it's dark. We're just going to stop. We'll start again in
the morning. Exactly, but I don't think they planned on starting again in the morning because
they released the crime scene. They they They leave the area. Well, that's that's an error.
That's irresponsible. Now, the Now, the Bybles are up there looking for stuff. They find Danny. And
also talking about a very very small community. Extremely remote area as well. It's like
six 600 people live there. Yeah, so I mean, let's just say under a thousand. We know for sure under a
thousand. Mhm. So, the Bybles are up there looking, and now once they get pushback
from law enforcement, uh law enforcement wants to take the crime scene back. However, by this point, the Bybles are
up there with a bunch of their friends and family that are assisting them looking through the debris. And they're
actually lifting up heavy objects, you know, refrigerators, beds. Uh they're looking for anywhere that these girls
might have hid and maybe passed away in the fire. Uh hold up a second. That's definitely
not what they're thinking. They're thinking if they died in that house, it's not from a fire. They were
murdered, just like the other two victims. Well, and they're also freaking out because all of the cars are still there
in front of the Freeman home. And we're talking about a big stretch of land, too, you know, so there's a lot of area
and ground to cover when you're when you're conducting the search. But one thing that I found interesting was that
the Bybles had said to law enforcement, you know, all of the cars are still here. Have you checked the vehicles?
They claim that that law enforcement tells them, "No, we we didn't we haven't checked the vehicles yet." And of
course, you know, the Bybles and and their family members and friends are there wondering, "What kind of search is
this? You missed Danny the first day. Right. And then you've not even thought to
check the vehicles. Could these girls be in the vehicles? Could they be in the trunk of one of these cars?"
Well, I mean, again, let's not jump down law enforcement too much Sorry. because you're you're there with your
friends and family touching all the debris. Mhm. That's a crime scene. There's two
murdered victims, and you just contaminated that. So, good luck, you know, if you do find somebody
responsible, good luck having enough evidence to convict them. Well, let's talk about Danny's run-in
with the law real quick, right? Mhm. Uh and to do this, we're going to have to introduce Shane Freeman. Shane was
was Ashley's older brother. Mhm. And deceased now. Yeah, and we'll have to go back in time
a little to tell this story. Um in 1998, Shane was experiencing behavioral problems. The family was ordered to
participate in a counseling program. This was after Shane stole his uncle's pickup truck. Now, I do want to be kind
of clear here because I've heard this story a few different ways. Unless Shane was out stealing multiple vehicles,
um I've heard it reported that he had stolen the uncle's truck or he had taken the grandparents' vehicle.
Right. Um maybe it's the one one in the same. I don't know, but for whatever reason, he
took this vehicle. That's what teenagers like to say, "borrowing." Yeah, and now there's there's another
story that has a few different perspectives, let's say, on it. Um regarding this vehicle being stolen,
Danny calls it in and he reports his son Shane as missing. At the same time that
the vehicle is reported as stolen. Mhm. Now, Shane is picked up for this. Now, during this situation,
the Shane has been abused, okay? It's obvious to the deputy that that arrest him that that Shane has been abused.
Physically abused, like beat up. That's one way that the story goes. The other way that the story goes was that
Shane was at school and a school counselor or a coach had noticed that his his buttocks area was was bleeding
and he was extremely bruised up uh to the point where it wasn't just, you know, Well, that's
it wasn't just mom or dad with a little discipline to to straighten Shane out. It was it looked like an obvious beating
type situation. And like we said before, the father, Danny, was known to have a temper, so
maybe his parenting was getting a little out of control. Yeah, and this was not the only
situation where we saw his temper flare up. Um back in 1985, Well, hold on. Hold on. We're assuming
it was Danny that was disciplining him too hard or maybe just being a drunk and beating his child?
Well, we're we assuming here? We're assuming that it was Danny because he would be charged with with child
abuse in the situation. And what what law enforcement would contend that that this was excessive force that Danny had
used. Where Danny is saying, "No, you're you're taking a family situation and you're blowing it way out of
proportion." Mhm. Um but again, this is not the first time that his temper has got him into trouble
because back in 1985, he got Danny got in trouble for beating up his father-in-law. They had some kind
of what sounds almost like a minor disagreement, gets, you know, gets crazy and out of hand, and Danny ends up
getting charged with that. And that's the evidence of Danny having a temper problem.
Yeah, and after Danny is charged with abusing his son in 1998, Shane does not want to return to his parents' home. He
ends up staying briefly with the with Ashley's family, with the Bible family. Mhm.
And in early January 1999, the Bible family filed a complaint with authorities stating that Shane took some
of Laura's belongings and her money, and that he also stole several of the Bibles' firearms.
Well, you know, no good deed goes unpunished. Come to our house, steal our stuff.
Yeah, he takes he takes some of Laura's money, he takes the firearms. Now the police are looking for Shane, and he
ends up taking another vehicle. This is somebody in the Freeman family. And while he's out on the run, well, he this
is very strange. the other car, Mhm. he does it again, he doesn't steal somebody else's car, he he takes one of
his own family members' cars. Correct. And while the while the law enforcement are looking for him, he he
tries to pull over a female driver. And the the female does not believe that this person is a sheriff or a police
officer. Um you know, he's he's 19 years old. Uh he probably doesn't look anything like law enforcement. And she
calls 911, and she reports the situation stating that, you know, there's this guy
saying he's he's law enforcement, trying to pull me over. I'm not going to pull over. I'm going to
drive somewhere where I feel safe before I pull over. So well, interesting, too, because cell
phones aren't really super popular in '99. And police are already looking for this
guy. Mhm. So, what ends up happening is the the vehicle that he has taken, it it
eventually breaks down. And law enforcement locate him on the side of a road. When they encounter him,
they, you know, they're they're doing the traditional things, but keep in mind, Shane's got firearms with him by
this point. Right, and they know he does. Yeah, and Cuz they reported stolen. He had told some people, you know,
friends and whatnot, that he was suicidal and that he was thinking about doing suicide by cop. Well, in this
situation Suicide by cop. Yes. Mhm. And in this situation, he ends up reaching for the gun. There's two
different stories here. One story is that he pulled the gun on the officer. The other story is that he was reaching
for the gun. What ends up happening is that the officer shoots Shane and he kills him.
And what will be disputed though, is what was the interaction between the officer and Shane.
This is Oklahoma law enforcement officer David Hayes. He shot and killed Shane on
January 8th, 1999. Now, the incident was investigated and Hayes's actions were found to be
justified. David Hayes acted in self-defense. The Freemans believed that Shane was attempting to run away from
Hayes at the time of his death. Several of their family members believed that the autopsy results proved that Shane
was killed as he he his back was turned to the officer. Right, so the bullet entry would have
been in Shane's back. We can't say that for certain. What we can say is that the family members
believed that his back was turned, that the incident was investigated and it was
ruled to be a justified shooting. Now, this is what's going to bring on this whole kind of thing that's going on
between Danny Freeman and law enforcement because he believes that his son was murdered by the police. Now,
Danny reportedly inquired about the location of David Hayes' residence. This was 1 month after his son was killed.
Investigators apparently believed that Danny was planning some kind of revenge against Shane's death. The Freemans
claim that several officers vehicles were parked in front of their trailer after after he had inquired about their
residence. The way that I've heard that this has gone down was that that Danny would go and he would park his vehicle
in front of the officer's home. Mhm. And he would kind of follow around his family members from time to time. And
this is mind you, like we said, this is a small town. There's not a lot of people there. These things don't go
unnoticed. And so what ends up happening is we have a situation where it looks like Danny might be harassing law
enforcement or their families. And then the Freemans believe that in turn law enforcement starts harassing them by
parking their vehicles in front of the Freeman home. Well, right. Go ahead. And obviously
that law enforcement has they have to protect themselves and they have to protect their family. On the flip side
of things though, Danny just lost his son. Mhm. And even if it was based off his own
actions that he, you know, wanted to have suicide by a cop or or you know, he was I'm going to pull out a gun and
they're going to shoot me or maybe he's just going to pull out the gun to shoot at the officer.
He he lost his son. You know, and and so that grief is a lot to deal with. I mean, you shouldn't go
around harassing people, but it's like I I kind of feel for him on that on that angle.
Now, law enforcement, they start following Danny basically everywhere he's going. Maybe looking for any reason
to pull him over or give him a citation or arrest him for something. Uh but he believes that he's being harassed by
this point. To the point where he informs his brother, as well as other family members, stating that if anything
ever would were to happen to me, Mhm. um you know, look at the sheriff department. They're they're the ones
that that are harassing me. And you know, he also gave a statement that he said to the fact that when he
was uh in some kind of verbal altercation with law enforcement, that they had told
him that they could do whatever they wanted to him and Danny's family. That was nothing that they could do to stop
them. All right. Well, and But this is second-hand, you know, we don't know that this this interaction
actually took place or those exact words were said. Well, we've all been pulled over by, you
know, some jackwagon officer, right? That's just running their mouth, you know, over nothing. So, whether or
not a police officer was in an altercation, you know, verbal altercation with Danny and he's saying,
"Hey, we'll do whatever we want. We are the law. Yeah, I am the law." Whatever it is, that doesn't necessarily mean
that they are responsible for these deaths. Well, we have this situation though here, Captain, where 2 months after the
death of Shane. Now, Danny Freeman, he's got to go on trial for the child abuse charges. And this takes place in March
of 1999. The jury ended up they deadlocked on the situation because they asked the judge
if they could order Danny to attend counseling rather than to send him to jail or to prison.
Right. Uh the judge says, "No, you can't do that. This is This is the sentence. He's He's
either guilty and he's going to face these charges and get sentenced in this way, or he's not guilty." And I think
this is a tough thing for the jury to to make a call on here because we got a we
got a case where we don't have the number one witness the the the the kid that was
was supposedly abused. Um we don't have him there to testify as to what took place in that situation and now you have
to question a parent's you know, where's the line when you discipline your child? Um so what they
end up stating is that they he's acquitted of these charges because they wanted to send him to counseling. But
the judge would not allow it. After the death of Kathy Freeman, her father and mother, they were telling people that,
you know, Danny not only did he have this bad temper, but he was also abusive to his wife and to both of his children.
Um so this leads us to some of the early theories in this case. One of those theories being that after years of
physical abuse Ashley with the help of her friend, they shoot the parents with one of the parents' own guns with their
guns and they flee the area. The next theory it is very similar to that but that the two girls left town
with two men or boys that that may have assisted them in the attack on Ashley's parents.
The third theory that we should discuss here is the police killed Danny and then
his family and set the fire to destroy evidence. Theory number four is that law enforcement wasn't involved and Danny
was targeted due to drug activity. Theory number five is it the girls were the actual target that the motivation
for the attack was abduction and that the parents were killed and the fire was set just to simply hide evidence.
And the final theory is that someone that knew the family had killed and abducted the girls. The this would be
any example that you can imagine, but you could also consider possibly the boyfriend Jeremy Hurst who was there
that night, as well as relatives of Danny's that were at the trailer that night. So those are the the six theories
that they're working off of early into this investigation. I think we kind of need to look at this
evidence to point us in the right direction and what theory makes the most sense. Let's get into that right after
this quick beer break. All right, we're back. Cheers, mates. Make sure you support our sponsors cuz
they support us. All right, let's get to this evidence. Yes, so we both we know that both Danny
and Kathy had died of a result of gunshot wounds. Mhm. The medical examiner determined that
Danny's right collarbone had been fractured prior to the fatal shot. The coroner also determined that Kathy
died approximately 5:00 a.m. that morning. And of course, investigators believe that the fire was intentionally set in
an attempt to destroy evidence of the crimes. Now, regarding the family itself, regarding the Freeman family and their
home, Lorraine Bible told reporters that Ashley Freeman had been saving her money
to purchase her first vehicle when she turned 16 in December of 1999. Lorraine said that she believed that
Ashley had accumulated $1,200 in her savings account. Now, Jeremy Hurst, the boyfriend, said that Ashley actually
didn't have a savings account. Um but Ashley had told him that she had saved between $3,000 and $4,000 for her first
vehicle. She was employed part-time at Roscoe's, which is a convenience store in Welch.
Uh Jeremy went on to say that that, you know, she didn't have a bank account and
she kept her money sealed in Tupperware in a Tupperware container in the family's freezer.
Authorities were unable to locate any evidence of the cash after the fire. Lorraine stated that Ashley and Danny
had been arguing earlier in the month regarding the vehicle. You know, she wanted to purchase a certain vehicle.
He had a different one in mind and they were not agreeing. We've all kind of been there, you know, the teenager has
earned their own money. They want to make their own decisions with their money and, you know, dad is disagreeing
with her. Well, some of that could just be telling a tall tale as well, you know, like well, first of
all, you're telling your friends' parents, well, I got savings account. Well, where's the evidence of that? You know,
now that they're missing. And then on top of that, you're telling the boyfriend, well, you got I ain't got
three to four grand, which where's the evidence that you had any money? Mhm. Um the the other thing here, too, which
I want to kind of talk about this for a little bit because because it's very unclear. Now, the authorities at some
point disclosed that there were rumors that Ashley had been sexually abused, but they were unable to confirm these
rumors. By the by the by the father? That's why I wanted to talk about this because it nowhere does it claim to
state by who. You know, could it have been could it have been her father, her her brother, could have been a family
friend or or you know, somebody at the school? Right. Um when you say sexually abused, you
know, your your your imagination wonders immediately who could it be? But we don't have anybody to point the finger
at. The other thing I I kind of thought about here in this situation was we have you have a whole, you know, this
town of 600 people and a day goes by where the town the people of the town they're under the belief that the father
killed the mother, abducted his daughter and her friend. Well, is that long enough? That's got to be long enough for
the the people in the town to start you know, talking about these rumors. Well, if he abducted those two girls, he
must have been sexually abusing her. Um and I I wonder if I think it's a little irresponsible of
law enforcement to say that there were rumors of this, uh but we're unable to confirm these
rumors. Again, a very small community, so not probably the best or most uh advanced
law enforcement unit in the in the world here. And that's causes a lot of problems cuz one you leave the crime
scene without knowing how many victims are there. Mhm. And then then you don't close off that
crime scene and you allow people to come in there and contaminate it. And then on top of that, now we got this
third thing where you you're creating rumors. Right. And and you're you're fueling the
fire, really is what you're doing. And and But you're creative you're creating a
motive. And what I'm saying is that the birth of those rumors could very well be that
because they didn't discover Danny's body until the following day. Well, and right, but that's if those
rumors are established then or if they're established after because if you establish that uh well, there's rumors
that she was uh sexually abused. You're creating a motive on why the girls would want to kill the parents.
Mhm. And I feel like whoever's establishing Look, Well, said it before. There's been
several cases that we covered and oddly people will establish alibis. They're creating their own alibi.
And when somebody starts creating their own alibi, that to me, that's a a sign of guilt. Right?
Mhm. And so it's odd that on the other side of the spectrum, when people are creating a narrative for motive
for you to look at some other individual. Right. And to me, that's a shade of guilt.
So you're what to be clear, what you're saying is that the the sheriff's department by stating that there's there
are rumors of her being sexually abused, that that's almost creating an alibi for
the sheriff's department because you're presenting a whole different theory that
does not involve the sheriffs having committed any crimes. Correct. And And first of all, it's just
very irresponsible that you're stating, well, there's rumors. Don't state rumors. You're the law
enforcement. State facts. State evidence. I wish we knew exactly how this went down. And I'll tell you why because
could it be something as simple as as the sheriff's departments being interviewed. They're asked by a
reporter, hey, there are there have been rumors that Ashley was sexually abused.
Right. And the sheriff simply says, we have heard those rumors. Right. And that changes the whole
Then you have somebody later going on the record stating that the sheriff's department says that there were rumors
of her being sexually abused. When really they're just acknowledging that they have heard those rumors. I I see
what you're saying with them establishing an alibi. I don't know that it's that for me because for me it it
for me it seems like there was opportunity if that kind of stuff was going down um with how close Ashley was
with Laura, they spoke on the phone all of the time and it seems to me like Laureen uh Laura's mom seemed to know a
lot of what was going on in the Freeman household. Well, she knew what she was told.
Mhm. And there was also that that mandatory counseling that took place as well re- regarding
um the situation with Shane. So, what I'm getting at is I think there was opportunity for that to come out where I
I feel like these are rumors that were just kind of created by the townspeople during that time period that they felt
that that she was abducted by her father. And you We know how these rumors go, right? It's It's like the the
never-ending game of telephone. Now you got 600 people involved where if I say, "You know what? I bet you he was
sexually abusing her and that's why he took her and abducted her." And then 24 hours later we find out
Well, he's dead. Poor Poor Danny, he died, too. You know, he was murdered and he was killed, too.
We know that's not true, but that doesn't immediately put out the fire on those rumors.
Well, okay. So, answer me these couple questions. One, how does how did his collarbone get broken?
Right. Like do we know? I mean, is that reported? Uh that this case is difficult to cover
because there wasn't It's such a small town and such small community that there's just not a lot of, you know,
information as far as it goes on the internet. So, the way But But how But cuz there's multiple
ways that that could have been broken. I mean, it could have been That collarbone could have been broken.
It's not too difficult to break a collarbone. No. It could be broke by a fist. It could be
a butt of a shotgun. Um And then what What is the evidence that points of what kind of guns were they
killed with? Right. Well, they've not the law enforcement has not disclosed what kind
of gun they were shot with. Of course. They They've They've held that back as well as they have admitted that there
was an accelerant used to start the fire. This wasn't an accidental fire that happened after the fact.
Mhm. Uh they know that an accelerant was used, but they've also not stated what what in fact that was. Now, the thing
here is if you were to be considering that the girls did it uh, or were involved in it,
you know, we have Okay, we have a situation where the Freemans, they had a lot of firearms in that home. They could
have under that situation or scenario, they could have been killed with one of their own firearms.
Well, on the other problem there is they're avid hunters. And the gun laws were different also
back then. So, how many guns were in the house that were weren't registered? I mean, there'd be no way of knowing. Cuz
cuz the two people that would know, they're dead. Yeah. So, if there's a shotgun missing, we
wouldn't know. So, if you have if you get the ballistics, right? If you if you're
trying to test to to confirm if they were killed with one of their own firearms, you wouldn't be able if that
firearm was not found in that home, you couldn't confirm that one of their own firearms were used because you would
assume that if you didn't find it that it was either taken from the scene or that the perpetrators brought their own
firearms with them. Let's talk about the the Freeman the house real quick, okay?
So, the Freemans trailer, it did not have running water. Um, it was primarily heated by a wood-burning stove that was
located in the living room. Um, the family, as you had said, was described as avid hunters
uh, and outdoor enthusiast who enjoyed living in a remote location. This was a very remote location. The trailer was
equipped with a telephone and electricity. Uh, there were numerous firearms stockpiled inside the home and Ashley
assisted with hunting food. The family would go out and sometimes hunt their own food food. Danny enjoyed walking
outside on their property behind the mobile home. Uh, he was a collector of arrowheads.
Um and his relative stated that he had an extensive collection of items that he had found that were rumored to be
valuable. Here's another one of these rumors. But we don't you don't have Well, that's causing a motive of the
idea that somebody came in to break into the house to steal valuables and they killed two
people in the process. And possibly stealing the cash that uh young Ashley was keeping in the freezer.
Which I would argue that that is more likely to happen if you live in a remote area.
I know that's going to sound maybe a little strange to some people, but I'm serious. It's like when especially if
you I've lived, you know, my house you're exactly right. You are exactly Go ahead. Sorry.
But it you know, my house was out of the city a little bit. And if somebody's coming onto my property to steal
something, it could end up very bad for for me or them. Mhm. So, that that's all I'm saying is if you
And you also it's such a small town that you'd go, "Well, they're an avid avid hunter. If I'm going to rob this person,
we know how this is going down. This is this is this is robbery by force." Mhm. And again, but then that also goes with
the creating the motive because if he has drug activity, then maybe it's like, "Well,
uh you know, he has a bunch of guns. Maybe he has some drugs there. Maybe he has some drug money there."
You know. Yeah, and we should talk about this drug activity because there's there's several
Yeah, so it's not just rumor. Right. There's a there's a lot of different stories about what drug
activity could have been going on in in the area. So, it it's believed that Danny was himself a drug user.
Um there What but there's different kinds of drugs. Yeah, and it's believed it's it's pretty
widely believed that he grew marijuana somewhere on that property for his own personal use.
Mhm. Okay, so that's that's what's widely believed. There are some other things that come into play here, though. There
are some people that state that he was he was selling marijuana. Right. That he was in cahoots with somebody
else and they had a little drug operation where they were both moving and potentially growing marijuana.
Um there was one report that stated that inside the trailer and I want to be very clear about this.
One single report out of all the little reports out there, there's one single report that says that they found
evidence of drug manufacturing. Which to me it it it using those words is completely different than growing
marijuana. Unless unless unless you're claiming that mother nature is your manufacturer of
marijuana. So what that sounds like to me is that they must have found some kind of drug equipment, you know, some
kind of creating these drugs equipment. Now, I don't think that he was running any kind of meth operation because
Why not? We've seen Well, because this is just my belief. I have no evidence of such. But
we have seen where where certain people will use certain terminology and certain words and then
when you dig down deep and you find out exactly what they're talking about well,
they've kind of they've kind of stretched it a bit, right? They've kind of embellished a
little bit where evidence of drug manufacturing could be something as simple as that they found a small
digital scale somewhere in the trailer that might not have had anything to do with drugs at all. But but
Right, I get I get your point. See where I'm going with this? If you if you find a digital scale and you find a
stack of baggies, that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm manufacturing drugs. Well, right, but they could be used for
pot as well. I look, if you're growing your own pot to smoke it, I I got nothing against you. And if you have a
little extra and you're selling a baggy here or there to your buddy, that's not To me,
that's not You're not a drug dealer. Mhm. You're just kind of helping out your buddies. That's not like drug operation.
But, one report. Now, let's go Let's go Let's Let's dive into this a little bit because it's 1999.
This is not a wide, uh, you know, it's not this epidemic like it is now. You know, heroin and crystal meth and all
that stuff and these rural areas. Now, it's killing the It's killing the country.
So, so maybe there's only one report because a lot of that crystal meth stuff is kind
of household items and you might not really know what it was. That's true. Yep. Also, accelerant
Well, this stuff is very flammable. Mhm. So, was that what was used for the accelerant? It's almost like because of
the lack of evidence or the lack of them collecting the evidence or the lack of them presenting the evidence to the
public, it just becomes more question after more question and we can speculate on that all day. But, I But,
to me, a family that's not doing so well financially wants to move out to the country, which
nothing wrong with that. But, maybe the the father was also using this as an opportunity
to make ends meet. Yeah. Like, we're going to move out onto some land on into this trailer, but because
we're doing that, I'm going to have some job opportunities and that's going to be
drug activity. Mhm. Yeah, and Kathy was the breadwinner. Um, she had a good job. Um,
Danny, from my understanding, was kind was often unemployed. Right. Uh, usually between jobs and, like you
said, maybe, uh, maybe selling a little dope here or there was was a way to make
up for that. Well, this is what I find Okay, first, you're the breadwinner. You're the mom. This
guy has a shitty temper, you know, and we know that he's abusive to to your son, so chances are he's abusive
to you. Just leave. You know what I mean? To find somebody else. Some And I understand, you're
you're in town of 600 people, but move to another town. Yeah, they were originally from the
neighboring town, which had like over 6,000 people in it. I believe they moved there just a few
years before this whole incident went down. But yeah, I'm with you. It seems like
But again, there's different dynamics to every family, every relationship, but it
from the outside looking in, it definitely seems like the Freeman family was odd and dysfunctional.
Well, I'm just saying that she could love a winner with money as much as she can this loser with nothing. That's all
I'm saying. Okay, so let's you know, before we move on from the evidence and start seeing how that might
apply to these different theories and maybe kind of ruling some of them out as we go.
One more thing regarding the evidence though, the police did state that remember we said that the the Freemans
had telephone service to the trailer. Mhm. They did state that there were no outgoing phone calls from the Freemans
trailer late that night or during the early morning before the fire was set. And there's no report by anybody that we
know of that they had a cell phone of any kind. Correct. Correct. And the thing here is
too, you know, we stated that all of the vehicles were out front that were located on the property. None of the
vehicles were missing. But regarding Laura's car that was still there, the keys were found in the ignition. This is
probably probably just means that she never took them out of the car. The the house was quite a bit of a ways
off of the road. There might not be any need to do so, but she did have a purse and she had approximately $200 in that
purse. The purse was located inside the trailer after this incident took place. So,
where you have money that that is rumored to have been in the freezer, a substantial amount of money, depending
on who you talk to, between 1,200 and 4,000 dollars, where that is not found, um, we also have a situation where
there's money found in a in a purse, uh, $200 that could have been taken that was
left behind. Yeah, but here's my issue with that is law enforcement and a lot of people
looking into this case like to say, "Well, there's $200 left in a purse, so there that proves that proves right
there that there was a robbery." Well, that doesn't prove crap. That just proves it wasn't a robbery for just
money or, you know, random belongings. This could have been a robbery just for drugs or just for drug money.
Mhm. And so that doesn't really prove anything. Just because there was money left somewhere.
That's all I'm putting out there. It's just time and time again when you see this stuff about this case, well,
there's $200 left out of her purse, so therefore that definitely wasn't a robbery.
I don't think anybody's saying that. Because because everyone's saying that there's
Nobody. That's what is reported all the time. It's every almost every video that you
ever see made on this thing is like, "Well, there's $200 left, so chances are it wasn't a robbery."
It just wasn't a good robbery. Maybe they made off with the 1,200 or 4,000 dollars that was in the freezer and
thought, "Well, this is all the money they got. I'm peace. I'm out of here." Right. Or like I said, I mean, if he had
some drug activity, then that's why that's why people would be there, you know, for
his drugs and for his drug money. Mhm. So, do you do should we go back through these theories that we were
Well, no, no. I think let's stay on this $200 right now, right? Okay. I think that $200 to me
means uh it starts ruling out the idea for me that the girls would be involved. Right. And that's why I asked if you
wanted to go back through the theories cuz theory number one is that after years of physical abuse Ashley, with the
help of Laura that they shoot the parents and with one of the guns that they find in the home and they together
they flee the area to go off and live wonderful lives elsewhere away from this you know, and I'll say quote unquote
abusive father. Well, I think you can say abusive father just on the evidence of physical abuse.
Not sexual abuse, but we can definitely say that there is enough evidence that shows that this guy
He abused Shane. Where we we have evidence of that. I don't know that we have evidence that he abused Ashley, is
what I mean what I meant by that. We have all the speculation or all the the accounts brought up by um
the you know her grand- her grandpa I think calling somebody an abuser of it it's a very
powerful label to to put on somebody. And and I see what you're getting at. Half of me agrees with you, but the
other half of me I'm talking about of you is smart and the other half is is And the smart half the smart half of me
is is stating that in this situation we're talking about a situation where Shane no longer exists.
Yeah, I understand. We're talking about a situation where we're going to say did Ashley kill or
participate in the murder of her own parents because she was being abused by her father
is a very powerful statement. Yeah. And I don't think that speculation would would point me in that direction strong
enough for me to believe that. I would want hardcore evidence that he was in fact abusing specifically Ashley.
Okay, so what's your long-winded point? What are you saying? point here is that I don't know why the
smart half of me cannot fix the creek in this chair that I'm sitting on. Every time I move it so I apologize everybody
out there if you're hearing weird noises. It's it's me. It's coming from his ass.
That's That's That's where the creek noise is coming from. area. So I didn't have a long-winded
point. I think you got me upset because we're calling him a specific specific abuse.
But but regarding this theory so Okay, so this this first theory, yeah, right. It
doesn't add up. It doesn't. You're exactly right. Because and I think that's why we bring
up the $200 in Laura's purse. It seems strange to me that Laura would leave behind her own money.
Or or her own purse. Correct. Even if you wanted to try to make it look like you were abducted. I
don't know that kids These are kids, right? I know they're 16 years old. I know they're good students. I know that
they are smart young ladies. The thing here is though I don't know that that a kid would come up with this wild theory
that you know what? We can kill these two and we'll take off and maybe we'll get lucky and they'll think we were
abducted. So leave behind your purse. You know, I And furthermore Well Furthermore none of the vehicles none of
the family's vehicles or Laura's vehicle was taken. So by that by that point alone you can cross off theory one in my
opinion because now you have to have outside help. There has to be some form of trans- transportation getting you out
of the area. Well, look the purse behind not that big of a deal. Leave the purse behind.
The cash is big. You need the cash. Right and you know, but I don't know. Was there cash in the
freezer? I'm going to say not. Look, we we've all I look, the other question I have, too, which might seem a lot pretty
silly to everybody, but but how long was she dating her boyfriend? Uh I don't know.
And the only reason why I want to know is because sometimes in the initial stages, you kind of just,
you know, over exaggerate maybe a little bit. Mhm. You know, I I've had that happen before.
I've been on a date where somebody's, you know, telling you what they do for a living, you know, and they kind of a
little bragadocious about it. And and I think And the And these are, you know, women in their 30s.
Right? So, what's a girl in their her six you know, she's 16 years old. Oh, I'm going to get a car. Well, what kind
of car you're going to get? Well, I'm going to get a nice one cuz Well, how do you got money for that? Well, I got a
couple thousand saved up. I got some cold hard cash in the freezer. Right. The thing here is though, Captain, okay,
so I want to uh I want to kind of present something that I was thinking about the other day. What
if I were to think that maybe Ashley killed her parents, um could could the tipping point or could
the trigger moment could that have been if she came home and discovered that all
of her hard-earned money that she had saved and saved and saved for her very first car that her father had taken it
from the freezer and went off and did something with the money? Mhm. Yeah, not Look, look, I see that.
Uh again, then you're going to drag you're going to drag your friend into this. Mhm.
And it's we're going on how many years now? Well, it's been 16 years, yeah. So, 16 years you've been in hiding
and your friend hasn't came forward. No, and the other thing, too, is it I think
if it was a based on the abuse, right? Mhm. Then here's what would happen or this is
my speculation. You're overcome with whatever, an embarrassment or whatever you're feeling, rage that your
father would be abusive towards you sexually or physically and you've had enough and and I'm not going to take
anymore and you snap and shoot your father. Mhm. How does that go on to shooting your
mother? Right. And then on top of that, then you have to light your house on fire.
I mean, other than you're covering up one one murder with another. Yeah, but I think for somebody that by
all accounts, you know, was a good kid, Right. you know, had something to live for, was
progressing in her own life, didn't seem like she had many problems, you know, she's celebrating a happy time, you
know, 16 is a a great time, you know? You're going to get your freedom, you're going to get
your independence, more independence. 16's a good time. So, I it's a snap and then on top of that, then you have to
have a friend going along with this and she's going to drop everything that's going on in her life and she's 16 and
has a bunch to live for, so she can just help you out now? It's, you know, it it doesn't seem too
likely. And then and then when you run away, you're going to forget the two $200?
Right. And I think that's what does it for you. All those things that you said plus the the other fact that they didn't
take a vehicle and they left the $200. You just you wouldn't do that. You wouldn't leave
behind a car, you wouldn't leave behind additional funds when you know you're planning on starting a whole new life
elsewhere because you got to run from these murders you committed. Yeah. there is nothing in the background of
either of these two young ladies. These were smart young ladies, honor students.
They were good, they you know, worked. Um it sounded like it sounds to me like Laura Bible's family life was probably
much different than Ashley Freeman's family life. It does sound to me though that Ashley Freeman was very close with
her mother. Even if she hated her home life or hated her father, she only had two more years to go to be out of that
house. And I I just don't see anything in their background to point toward them having committed this and taken off.
Yeah, because you you know uh we don't know what kind of gun they were shot with.
The thing that points towards them is that half the dude's face was missing. And to me that would be a
shotgun blast. To me a shotgun or a rifle would be something if she was going to use something I would assume
that she would use something that she was more familiar with. And I'm again just also assuming that she would be
more familiar with a rifle based on hunting. Um but but then you have to have the
cojones. You got to be one bad hombre. And I also shoot your father in the face with a with a rifle.
And keep in mind his his collarbone was broken. This almost points towards some kind of scuffle before he shot. Where I
would think, you know, if you're this situation, if you're going to shoot your parents, you're going to walk into
their bedroom in the middle of the night and shoot them in their sleep. You know,
that that's typically how these things go down. It wouldn't lead to some kind of altercation. So I think you can
scratch off the first theory that the two girls did it themselves and took off on their own. And that kind of helps us
scratch off theory number two as well because it's basically the same theory but that they they had the assistance of
one or two men or one or two boys that may have assisted in the attacks and that they left town with this person or
persons. What's your gut feeling on the boyfriend? I mean, I look you know, that he claims he left at
9:30. A lot of other people say, well, it's probably at 10:30. I I I that that doesn't bother me either
way. You know, if you're off a little bit, we're not talking about a detail. There was people there afterwards.
Right. So, to me that little detail is not, you know, he's not being nefarious and
trying to you know, cover his his ass, you know, but uh what's your gut feeling on this guy?
So, Jeremy Hurst, my gut feeling is I like him. Um I don't like him I don't like him as
a I don't like him as a suspect while I he I don't even know if he's attractive or not.
But the thing here is Captain, first of all, I like you said, doesn't bother me that he's off approximately an hour on
his time because the other dude that said he stayed later could be off on his time.
Right. Um what I think we have is a situation where he reports that he left their home
at at such and such time. He probably he's a child he's under 18, he goes straight home to his parents' house. His
time is probably accounted for. That's what I'm getting at. His time between and it's a small
window. It's not like these people this crime happened sometime in the week of this. No, this crime happened sometime
between let's say 10:30 p.m. and we believe the mom was killed at 5:00 a.m. the next morning.
Right. So, it's a small window. I believe his time was easily accounted for during the
course of that time. And on top of this going to seem kind of strange, but I'm going to say it anyway.
Go for it. The birthday gift that he purchased for his girlfriend. Uh-huh. You know, don't we all love that young
love, right? That's that's that's great. Those those high school romances that you have.
Yeah, watch where you're going with this. His birthday well, we were all I was in
high school once. When you were in high school? Yes. I don't know look, high school romances are okay when
you're in high school. longer participate in high school romance. Very good. Um but to me
need you around, Colonel. And and I'm playing to the ladies now, okay? Okay, ladies. Hey, how you doing?
Jeremy's birthday gift to his young girlfriend seems to me to be well thought out. That he didn't cut any
corners on this birthday gift. And what I mean by that, what did we say it was? A a silver chain with a heart-shaped
pendant that also contained her birthstone. Let me tell you, men as a whole, sorry men, now I'm not
now I'm playing against the men. Sorry, men. Especially when men are 16, 17, 18 years
old, we do not know what birthstone you have depending on what month you're he What I'm getting at is I think he he
put in good effort. He put put together a thoughtful gift. That tells me that I think he truly
cared for that young girl. And that I think that because of such, he wouldn't do anything to harm her family or harm
her. Yeah, but if he really cared about her that much, maybe he would harm the family and help her cover it up.
I don't know. But then he but then he stays in town. He doesn't leave with this this young
girl that he's Men have done some strange things for ladies before. But you point out a good a good reason
why I think that theory number two can be scratched off as well because okay, if they have the had the
assistance of a boy or boys or a couple of men or whatever, Mhm. where and who are these men and boys?
You know, wouldn't they be reported missing at some point as well? You're living in a town of 600 people.
Right, right. When two of them disappear, If there's another two missing, well, obvious, you know, so I think we can
scratch off theories number one and number two. All right, Colonel. Wait, scratch off some theories.
I'm not the Colonel. I hold no rank anywhere. It's the Captain and the Colonel show.
I'm Nick. We're chang- We're changing the name of the show to the Captain and the Colonel True Crime
Gay Ridge. Anyways, thanks for listening and uh we're going to have to get to these theories and there's some suspects
that are going to come up in this next episode. Plus, we need to get your chair fixed cuz I'm tired of hearing your your
butt squeak. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. Thanks for sharing on social media.
And until next time, be good, be kind, and don't litter.

Missing Welch Girls /// Part 1 /// 107

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

In the early morning hours of December 30th, 1999 in Welch, Oklahoma a trailer home fire is reported. Firefighters arrive and put out the blaze. The dead body of wife and mother Kathy Freeman is discovered. Her husband, daughter and a family friend are missing. Law Enforcement theorized Kathy’s husband Danny shot her, set the home on fire and abducted his daughter Ashley and her friend Lauria. The following day, to everyone’s surprise Lauria’s family looking for clues at the scene of the fire find the dead body of Danny Freeman. Tonight we gather in the garage and discuss what could have possibly happened that night in the trailer. We also want to know what happened to Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible.

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Brief Summary

The case of the missing Welch girls and their family's tragic events unfold, revealing murder, chaos, and unanswered questions.

Key points

The Case of the Missing Welch Girls. The episode dives into the mysterious disappearance of two teenage girls from Oklahoma.
Tragic Fire and Murder. A fire reveals the body of Kathy Freeman, leading to a chilling investigation.
Danny Freeman's Dark Past. Danny Freeman's history of violence raises questions about his involvement in the case.
Danny's Harassment Claims. Danny believes law enforcement is harassing him, fearing for his safety.
Jury's Deadlock. The jury struggles to reach a verdict in Danny's child abuse trial, leading to an acquittal.
Mysterious Cash Disappearance. Authorities find no evidence of Ashley's savings after the fire, raising questions.

Episode highlights

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0:53WatchDec 8, 2022

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