Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders /// Part 1/// 265 | Forensic Files

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[Applause] [Music] Camp Scott was a 410 acre camp that was owned and operated by the Tulsa based
magic Empire Council of Girl Scouts since 1928 this Camp was located in a wooded
area about 2 miles from the town of Locust Grove Locust Grove Oklahoma is a small town even today with less than
2,000 people this densely wooded area is about 40 mi from Tulsa Locust Grove has a large Native
American population members of the Cherokee and other tribes settled there after they were forcibly relocated from
more Eastern areas the camp had facilities for up to 140 children and a staff of 30
counselors Camp Scott was divided into 10 units named after Indian tribes such as Chua and Quapaw the Girl Scouts were
assigned their units and to their counselors when they arrived at Camp Scott the counselors were generally
older girls ages 16 to 25 there were no male counselors at the camp most of the campers came from the
Tulsa metropolitan area camscott housed both Girl Scouts in their younger counterparts the
brownies so the girls attending ranged in age from second grade through high school one thing of note the camp was
partially fenced and had Gates that were locked at night but the fence has been described as not the kind that could
keep anyone in or out in the summer of 77 this place was filled with young people the Girl Scouts
is a group synonymous with camping the outdoors volunteering and of course cookies and a new batch of Scout Troops
shuffled in every two weeks to enjoy everything summer camp has to offer until that one terrible night in
June what took place the night of June 13th 1977 was and still is horrifying parents sent their young
young happy daughters to an idyllic 2E camp and they never returned what was done to these girls
can only be described as pure evil this week we examine the Oklahoma Girl Scout [Music]
murders well the trailer did a good job of setting up the location for this week's case so let's dive right into the
events of June 12th and June 13th of 1977 buses full of excited campers arrived around 300 p.m. on Sunday June
12th this was to be the first day of a two-e camp the counselors offloaded the girls checking their names off the list
the girls were separated into units by age and school grade there were 10 units total
once the girls were sorted their bags were loaded onto a pickup truck and transferred to the appropriate tents by
counselors in the camp Ranger Ben Woodward 27 girls were assigned to the kyowa unit and they were allowed to
select their tent mates all the tents had four girls but for some reason tent number eight in the ca had only three
girls assigned the three girls who were left after everyone else picked their roommates these three did not come to
Camp with friends and did not know anyone else in the unit these girls were Lori farmer age 8 Denise Milner age 10
Michelle gusay age n the three were introduced and agreed to share a tent they were sent off to unpack and get
acquainted the girls unrolled their sleeping bags and put them on three of the four CS in tent number eight Lori
and Michelle took the Cs on the south end of the tent and Denise took the first cot on the North side they stowed
some of their other stuff on the empty cot side note real quick here tent number eight was actually referred to by
the kowa unit campers and staff as tent number seven they did not count the counselor's tent as a tent with a number
only the scout tents it has become known as tent number eight there's even a well-known book about the case with this
title the counselors for the kaiwa unit were Carlos Sue will height 23 D Elder 20 and Susan Emory only 18 all of these
counselors were personally hired by camp director Barbara day with at least one being a former camper and two being
repeat counselors all attended a week long pre-amp conference earlier in the month this is to get acclimated to the
rules and Protocols of the Girl Scout camp there they were told if they saw any Outsiders on the camp property there
to tell them that it's private proper property and to leave this was pretty much the extent of the security of this
Camp the counselors arrived at Camp Scott earlier on the day of the 12th prior to the arrival of the campers and
some noticed that someone deliberately cut off the flap on tent number six a large section of the newish tent about
4T by 5 ft was cut off it was repaired with linen material so the tent was usable that day contrary to the beliefs
of many no counselors were assigned the camper tents the counselors shared their
own tent accommodations within each unit so Captain basically what we have here is we have seven tents that are full of
campers four in each with the exception of what is actually cabin number seven has three girls in it but it's
labeled number eight because the counselor's tent that only houses counselors is not counted uh it's not
numbered per the camp Camp yeah and this is a little strange cuz every time I went to summer camp there was a
counselor that stayed in our cabin with us yes me me as well uh the kyowa unit was more isolated than the rest of the
units it was located right next to the border of dense Woods at the westernmost edge of the camp and was accessible only
by a service road that came to a dead end at the campsite the unit was arranged in a semicircle with a kitchen
in a meeting area in the middle of the circle and the circle comprised of the eight platform tents these were really
12T by 14t canvas cabins on top of wooden platforms 2 feet off of the ground Yeah so basically it it looks
like a cabin but the walls and the the ceiling and or the roof is made out of the tent material but the floor is
wooden and then you have some steps to get up onto the wooden platform the canvas sides were tied tightly to the
wooden platforms but could be rolled up as needed each tent was large enough to house four girls tent number eight was
the last one in the unit furthest removed from the counselor's tent 100 yard away tent number8 was near a path
that led to the restrooms but was 75 ft from the next closest tent it was not visible from the tent that housed
counselors Susan Carla and de I'm going to post pictures of the actual tents and
the layout on our Instagram at True Crime garage now we aren't sure what happened for portions of this first day
likely the camp engaged in Get to Know You activities we do know that dinner in the Great Hall cafeteria was around 5:30
or 6:00 p.m. after dinner all the girls gathered and d a kowa unit counselor led
the whole camp in song the sky began to look ominous and it started started to pour as the girls made their way to
their tents by the time they arrived at their tents everyone was soaking wet after dinner activities were cancelled
due to the storm and the counselors told the girls to change into dry clothes and
get ready for bed the kids spent the evening writing letters home to their parents at 8:00 p.m. there was a meeting
in the kitchen area in the middle of the unit where the girls had cookies and the
counselor's read Winnie the Pooh we know that at some Point Denise Milner asked de if she could call home she was
already homesick she did not want to go to camp but her mother convinced her to give it a try de comforted Denise and
told her to stick it out and that she could call her mother in the morning right counselors were trained to try to
keep the girls from calling home finding that it didn't help the homesick girls to feel any better well and it probably
didn't help their return rate I mean if a girl's calling home a couple times times during Camp her parents might
think twice about sending her next year and we all know how young kids can act too given these situations if they're in
a if they're at a place that they don't really want to be they will really exaggerate you know I hate it here it's
terrible here it's the worst thing ever and you find out well they're singing songs they're reading books they're
writing letters they're it's awful yeah it's torture it's horrible you know what
I find horrible though I don't like I never like the Get to Know You activities where you have to say hi my
name is Nick I'm from Columbus I go to school here and I enjoy boating or you know you have to like name a hobby or
something and because I always feel nice to meet you yeah I always feel like I'm
on the spot and then not only that there's a whole bunch of people that you're meeting for the first time and
you you try to remember their names or something they're into and it just doesn't work for me yeah I used to get
extreme homesickness when I'd spend the night at people's houses so then I eventually just stopped spending the
night at people's house because I'm like oh I'm just going to wake up in the middle of night and start crying anyways
and this is not a good look for me so I let me just leave about 11 Denise returned to tent number eight and she
wrote a letter to her mother uh of course this letter saying that she didn't really like camp and wanted to
come home all three girls in tent number eight wrote letters home that night the
rain ended around 9:00 p.m. according to the Camp staff that night the counselors
checked on each of the and told the girls it was time for lights out this was around 10:30 girls stayed up late
and told go ghost stories and giggled and you know all that kind of stuff some people have reported that there was an
after dark game of Hide and Seek the camp was not lit at night there were no electric lights that were left on except
at the Rangers and director houses and the absolute Darkness was part of the experience that the girls were expected
to get used to there was a kerosene lantern hung at the latrine area for use but the girls were
told to always leave their tent in the company of a buddy and always carry a flashlight to help them navigate their
way around in the pitch black right the camp was surrounded by dense Woods which
contributed to the darkness now we need to get into the events and true stories of some things
that we know that went on that night in question so first we have a counselor in
the commanche unit she reported she was walking back from the restrooms at some point after lights out and she noticed a
dim light shining in the woods nearby it appeared just beyond the tree line surrounding the camp the counselor knew
that no one should be in that area she shined her flashlight in that direction as as soon as her flashlight hit the
tree line the dim light was turned off this was in the direction of the service road correct mhm in a few minutes it
returned and began moving Northwest in the direction of the ca unit again she tried to see what it was with her
flashlight and again the light went off the counselor waited for several minutes
and didn't see the light again so she returned to her own tent around 9:00 p.m. Susan Emory left kaiwa unit to go
to the staff house to hang out she was not on duty that night around 10:30 p.m. D Elder decided to make a tent check of
the kowa unit she went to every tent and talked with the girls the last tent she
visited was the furthest away tent number eight all three of the girls were finishing their letters home by
flashlight D told them it was time for bed and after a few minutes she closed the flap on the tent and left Susan
returned to the kaiwa unit around 11:00 p.m. at some point in the night counselor Celia stall said a girl
started scream screaming in the woods and counselors found her sleepwalking they put her back to bed in
her tent another thing that was reported was at some time in the night a young girl scout started screaming in the qu
PA unit which housed the youngest campers a frightened girl told counselors that she was walking from her
tent to the restroom area when someone grabbed her by her raincoat other girls said something was walking around their
tents one girl said she saw a man in the woods or possibly two men reports vary right counselors presumably attributed
all of this paranoia to First Night Jitters Andor pranks and escorted the girls back to their tents I'm sure that
it's probably fairly hard to tell what is fact and what is fiction regarding some of these stories that these young
campers are passing along to the counselors Carla and D both reported hearing the girls giggling and messing
around into the night Carla reported that she and D were awakened at 1:30 a.m. by some of the girls in tent number
five slamming the door in the bathroom area Carla got up and escorted the girls back to their tent then as they both lay
awake on their CS Carla and de heard a strange noise it seemed to be a low guttural moaning de and Carla got up and
went outside walking toward tent number five Carla then walked toward the road that led to the camp when she reached
the road she pointed her flashlight in the direction of the sound she could see nothing in the woods and the moaning
stopped She said she assumed the noise was some kind of animal right she walked back to the tent area and she and D
checked out tent number five and then they returned to their own tent the strange moaning noise then
resumed sometime in the night likely after 2 a.m. as de and Carlo went back to sleep the flaps of the counselor's
tent were taken off the hook screws that held them d and Susan's purses and Carla's glasses
disappeared around this time young campers who woke up saw a light outside their tents the girls in tent number
seven watched as the light approached their tent and then suddenly the tent panel was pulled open and a light Shone
inside the tent a 10-year-old camper watched terrified as a large dark figure glared into the tent then dropped the
panel and moved away as some point the hook screws holding down the back of tent number eight were
removed a girl in Cherokee reported hearing screams around 3:00 a.m. in one of the more disturbing details one
camper in quog unit reported hearing someone screaming or moaning mama mama in the morning Carla woke up to her
alarm at 6:00 a.m. she planned to get up 30 minutes early so she could take a hot
shower at the staff house a few hundred yards away from the service road and at these camps I mean you're lucky if you
get hot water at all so really you have to get there early and fast if you want to have a hot shower well Carla tiptoed
out of her dark tent and down the steps it was a beautiful calm sunny day after the storms the night before Carla walked
along the trail to the showers when a flash of bright yellow caught her eye and she walked over closer to
investigate she saw from several yards away a sleeping bag on the ground then she saw a child lying partially on and
under the bag and partially on the ground she wondered what the girl was doing sleeping outside of her tent but
then what she was seeing registered this small child was not sleeping something terrible has happened and Carla ran away
strangely she recounts that her first inclination was to run and wake up de and Susan and the other CA counselors
right and insist that they count all of the girls in the kyowa tents she told them she saw a girl's body on the ground
and more sleeping bags next to it near the trail and she was afraid the girl on the ground was from her unit yeah Susan
and d and Carla ran to all the ca tents checking on the occupants who were still
asleep but found tent number eight was empty they had 24 girls accounted for but Denise Lori and Michelle were
missing Carla looked Clos her into the dark tent and saw Blood on the floor and mattresses she was trying to make heads
or tails of everything that was going on yeah it's almost like she wants to count
all the campers first so if she goes back to the body that she will know that it's not one of her Campers or if it is
one of her campers before she has to investigate the body yeah and this girl she was lying near a tree about 150
yards away from tent number eight it's very likely that it was simply because she was just just too afraid of what she
might find right so instead Carla told D and Suzanne to make sure that the Kwa girls didn't leave their tents while she
ran for help the counselors were trained to try to keep calm and keep from upsetting their girls in scary
situations Carla cut across the field toward the nurse's quarters which was approximately 300 yard to the South but
Susan apparently decided to investigate what Carla saw and when she came to the area where the girl lay on the ground
she started screaming right d came running and put her hand over Susan's mouth and told Susan to go back to the
unit to keep the girls calm de felt the first sleeping bag and felt a body inside and same for the second sleeping
bag she ran for her car meanwhile Carla reached the nurse's quarters and frantically roused Maryann albec the
camp nurse telling her something terrible had happened and there was a body down in the kaiwa unit the nurse
nurse dressed quickly and hurried to her car while Carla raced next door to awaken camp director Barbara day and her
husband Richard meanwhile nurse albec encountered D on the road in her own car and when asked what happened D told her
there are those little girls down there and I think they're all dead the nurse drove over to the kywa unit and found
Suzanne who led her to the spot where the bodies lay what nurse ALC saw and Susan Carla and D saw earlier was
horrifying Denise Milner lay on her back on the ground her legs spread wide apart
she was nuded from the waist down there were visible wounds and blood on her face the nurse touched the cored artery
to see if there was a pulse but when she squeezed blood came out of the girl's mouth trying to find her wrist the nurse
realized that the dead girl's hands were tied together behind her back camp director Barbara day and her husband
arrived barara stayed at the car while Richard ran over to the body on the ground he instinctively picked up a
sleeping bag lying partially under Denise and covered the dead girl Richard was a surgical technician at a large
Tulsa hospital and he knew Dead when he saw it he noted that there were two other sleeping bags that clearly
contained bodies and he told his wife to call the police but strangely no one seems to have actually opened the two
sleeping bags to check on the contents what if one or both of the girls were still alive in any event
Richard and Barbara got into their car and drove to the house of Camp Ranger and ex-marine Ben Woodward he lived in a
house on Camp Scott grounds with his wife and kids his wife was the camp cook the days had trouble waking Ben and
finally had to let themselves in and Shake him in his bed until he woke up Richard told him what was going on and
Barbara called the highway patrol Richard went to the camp gate which was locked from the previous night
to wait for the police and then LED them to the kywa unit Ben Woodward went to the sight of the bodies horrified at
what he saw he was near tears when he recovered himself and looked around he noted a red and white 9volt flashlight
with a roll of duct tape lying near the bodies a decision was quickly made not to tell the other campers what happened
multiple stories are told by girls who were at the camp that day about what information they were given some were
told that there was a problem with the water supply others say that there was an accident as one article said nothing
in the Girl Scout manual told these young counselors how to deal with this situation the campers were awaken by the
camp Bell told to get dressed and sent to breakfast in the Great Hall with counselor being sure to steer them onto
Pathways from the scene after they were fed breakfast and packed up they did some arts and crafts and went swimming
until the buses arrived and authorities approved the girl's departure all the girls were loaded up and sent back home
to Tulsa during all of this time while they kept campers distracted Camp staffers were using name list to try to
figure out exactly who the missing girls were counselors were being questioned and the tents and camp areas were
searched by investigators there are conflicting stories about what the camper parents
were told about why the girls were coming home but it seems most believed that there was quote an accident at the
camp and the parents found themselves waiting for the buses not being certain whether their children were coming home
when they saw their daughters emerged from the buses many of the parents broke down with relief the three victim's
parents were reached by by phone and told their daughters had been killed but not much more information than that was
given Camp Scott officially closed on June 14th 1977 and never [Music] reopened this show is sponsored by
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break a holiday cheers to everyone out there mhm Peter Weaver was the sheriff of MA county and was one of the First
Responders on that morning at Camp Scott he quickly decided that the Slayer or Slayers likely picked that particular
tent because it was over 50 ft from the others and near thick brush which would give the killer cover Weaver stated that
he touched Denise Milner's body and estimated her body temperature at around 70° this led many people to speculate
that Denise was only dead for a short time as her body was somewhat warm around 700 a.m. at that time of year in
Oklahoma the sun begins to rise as early as 5 a.m. Sheriff Weaver called in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
or the OSBI agent Mike Wilkerson was assigned the horrific case of the three dead Girl
Scouts his two brothers were also agents and like many Oklahomans the Wilkerson were part
native American Mike and his brother Dave wrote someone cry for the children a comprehensive book about this case
which we will reference from time to time when Wilkerson arrived at the scene he met up with another agent with the
district attorney Sheriff Weaver a medical examiner and a highway patrolman this is Howard Barry Trooper Barry lived
less than a mile from Camp Scott and a call from Dispatch sent him to the scene around 6:30 a.m. also called in was Mike
wheat a reporter who helped police by taking crime- scene photos wheat took hundreds of photos of the bodies and the
scene to document the findings for investigators he is still Disturbed to this day at the memory of what he
witnessed three sleeping bags one yellow plaid one dark green the other a red flower pattern lying together beside the
Trail under a tree Denise Milner's body and the other two inside the bags he photographed inside of tent number eight
we commented later when he was done that he noted Blood on the soles of his shoes
this next part Captain is very strange and I don't really know what to make of it when agent Wilkerson arrived he
learned that the two sleeping bags had still not been opened this was at 10:00 a.m. about 4 hours after discovering the
bodies no one had open open the sleeping bags to check the girls yeah D and Richard day both at least touched the
sleeping bags and guessed that there were bodies inside but it's it's shocking to me that the bags weren't
opened earlier when Law Enforcement Officers opened the first sleeping bag they found
8-year-old Lori farmer wrapped in bloody bed sheets the next bag was opened and revealed Michelle Gus she was bloody and
was bound in a fetal position with cord around one hand then looped tightly under her butto and bound to the other
hand some reports state that Lori and Michelle had ligatures around their necks Blood Stained bed clothes were
found in their sleeping bags there is a disagreement about what the two girls in
the sleeping bags were wearing when they were found MH but one report says that they were naked from the waist down the
other Reports say that they may have been wearing something the body of 10-year-old Denise
Milner was lying out in the open half nude she was lying on her back with her pajama top pulled up under her arms and
her arms taped down around the shoulders with black duct tape that ran across the
pajama top her hands were bound behind her with thick dark 2-in duct tape and some kind of cord the duct tape over top
of the cord right she was beaten severely on her face in the shape of some kind of blunt object or instrument
was visible on her face observers said it appeared to be a rectangle approximately 2 in long and
3/4 of an inch wide around Denise's neck there were two leat one was a cord the other was an elastic bandage attached to
the cord was a cylindrical object approximately 4 in Long made of terry cloth towel
material the theory at the time is the elastic bandage was pulled over her face to make some type of
blindfold the terry cloth object was a carefully handmade and hand sewn gag you said there was discrepancies on what the
findings were like on what they were wearing what two of the girls were wearing yeah these would be both of the
girls in the sleeping bags right but you would assume with all these pictures being taken that we'd have evidence so
we could look back on and say well this is what the photo says yes and so where I think that lies is that I don't think
there's a discrepancy for the investigators I think there's a discrepancy for the general public
because I wouldn't assume that all of the photos have been released publicly right the other thing here before we
move on regarding some of the other items found and some of the evidence out there Captain is this this terry cloth
object which has been noted as carefully handmade hand sewn okay so whether it was intended to be made as a gag you
know to gag one of the girls or if it was just made for something else and then used as a potential gag it's
interesting to me because it's referenced as a carefully handmade hands sewn object right right
so this is very likely a one-of-a-kind object and we've seen this in several cases that we've covered
before where we have objects or things that were used materials that were used in dumping of a body or binding a person
or binding a victim that are oneof a kind and later we see those items photographed and photog s of such
released to the public because again they're one of a kind somebody out there uh knows about should know about these
items especially if the killer didn't make it yeah even if you can just identify the material if we know where
that material came from maybe we can figure out who bought that material and we saw this specifically in the Amy
mahalic case where we have this this thing that was probably used to move her body or to cover up her body when it
lied in the field but it was somebody repur purposed this item somebody put some work into this item and
unfortunately in Amy's case we didn't get this wasn't released to the public until 20 some years later now I don't
know I couldn't go back and find if this this particular terry cloth object was released publicly or pictures of it
publicly at the time of the initial investigation the other item we have is that flashlight so this is a red and
white 9volt flashlight this is a bulky almost rectangle shaped flashlight with a large handle on top with the light and
lens in the front these are very typical you see them in a lot of homes and a lot
of people use these and purchase these for camping right this is also possibly the blunt object that was used in the
beating very likely and the other thing too we we talked about uh Wayne Gravette
his case not too long ago just a few weeks ago this is a similar flashlight to the one that was used to make into a
bomb for that case now the lens for this flashlight was covered by a piece of dark green or black garbage bag there's
I've had several people I've read several sites that state that it's dark green I wasn't there and I don't think
these people were there when I see pictures of this flashlight this material this plastic
material appears to be black to me right this is attached to the lens and it was
attached with mask tape and a small hole was placed in the plastic presumably so
that only a tiny beam of muted light would shine through inside the flashlight investigators found a section
of newspaper wedged inside the flashlights battery compartment this very likely intended to
keep the battery in place the paper the newspaper was from the April 17th edition of Tulsa
World investigators entered tent number8 and they found it stained and splattered
with blood there were large blood stains on the wooden floor particularly near the cot in the Southeast Corner the
blood stains on the floor were smeared like someone had tried to wipe them up possibly even using the sheets and
blankets from the Cs which we know were found in the sleeping bags with the two girls so the girls were attacked most
likely in the tent there were no drag marks at the spot where the girl's bodies were found so they were likely
car carried from the tent over to this spot and then piled under the tree some of the girls clothing was found nearby
they found two different types of footprints on the floor one a tennis shoe design size seven and the other was
a military style bootprint estimated to be in the size of 10 to 11 range now you're saying male sizes that I don't
know for certain um I would assume that when we're talking about military style bootprint and it being size 10 to 11
range we're we're looking at maale prints there the interesting thing though is the tennis shoe design size
seven right you could speculate really either I guess investigators saw that the screw hooks holding the back flap of
the tent were unscrewed and they were placed on the ground they guess that the killer entered the tent from the back
now this is is this exactly how it happened with the counil t as well that's a really good question
the description is that the flaps may have been opened in the counselor's tent but but you paint an interesting picture
here when you're trying to see this crime go down or the events of that night do we have an individual or
individuals that are they're going up to the back of the tents and like you said
they're their canvas material these walls right so you could perch down and kind of Crouch there and wait to see if
you hear anybody talking inside right and if you go minutes and minutes and minutes with no talking now you get
Brazen enough and you say all right well I'm going to lift open this back portion
and just kind of peek in you know where it wouldn't be as noticeable as opening up one of the flaps yeah I don't know
how one perches and crouches at the same time but it's difficult you have to be talented yeah or or I could just learn
to speak so we have the camp counselor's tent Plus another seven tents mhm so eight in
total was there things done to other tents well unless you count the story of one of the campers saying hey somebody
opened up our our flap to our tent and looked in then the answer would be no well we have the one flaps that were cut
but they were cut the day before correct so the difficult thing here with the statement from one of the young campers
that says hey somebody at some point opened up our our flap looked in the tent you know shining a light in there
and all I saw was a large shadowy figure right I don't know that we can say for certain that that is one of the killers
or the killer walking around looking for a tent or looking for a victim it very well could have been a counselor that
thought they heard something and was just simply checking in on the tent and didn't want to wake up the sleeping
campers you know and if you have one girl that's lying there and opens up her eyes and sees this happen but doesn't
move the counselor doesn't know that that kid's you know sleeping so that's difficult to say because the interesting
thing with that is that the tent that the camper says Hey somebody opened up our flap and looked in at some point
right was the tent that was next to number eight which all the victims came from so if it was the killer did that
have did he see something inside and that tell him hey I'm moving on to another tent 15 additional agents arrived to
conduct searches of the general area this by early afternoon and by 300 p.m. a mobile lab and command post and a
converted 25ft motor home arrived from Oklahoma City agents and State Police began questioning the kowa counselors as
well as the other adults at Camp ambulances transported the dead bodies to the medical examiner's office for
autopsies swabs were taken from each victim the bodies were combed all loose hairs and fingernail clippings were
collected three hairs from a piece of duct tape found on Denise Milner's hands were placed in an Evidence bag and
sealed all cords were cut away to preserve the knots for future study the entire section of blood stained floor of
the tent was removed and taken away the autopsy results were very upsetting Denise suffered blunt trauma to the head
and died of strangulation she was sexually assaulted there were lacerations on her genitalia and
fragments of leaves and debris were found in her what was the trauma consistent with that flashlight or did
they ever report that that's really difficult to say because there was another item that was found nearby I
believe it was a like a crowbar or a a tire changing tool right and they couldn't say for certain where this
force trauma came from many have have thought over the years that it probably came from that crowbar or the tire
changing tool but there is no definitive statement given regarding those the blunt force trauma suffer to her head
Michelle was killed by blows to the back of her head and the sides of her head with contusions to the brain this
leading investigators to believe that she was either lying down or standing with her back to the as salent when she
was was struck there were indications that she was sexually assaulted Lori died the same way blows to the Head she
was also sexually assaulted it's believed both Lori and Michelle were assaulted after they were dead estimated
time of death is as early as 2: a.m. but noted that it's likely most likely between 4: and 6:
a.m. a lot of officers and a lot of agencies the investigators generally agreed that the murderer entered the
tent through the back struck two girls sleeping on the south side of the tent killing them or at least incapacitating
them there wasn't much blood on Denise's bed leading agents to believe that she may have been tied up in the tent gagged
or strangled so she could not scream then taken outside of the tent assaulted in the woods where she was found
regarding the other things that went missing that night uh these were the purses belonging to D and Suzanne that
disappeared sometime in that night yeah Suzanne's purse which she had sewn herself out of old blue jeans contained
a pair of sunglasses in a case pairs of glasses belonging to Suzanne and Carla were missing as well Carla didn't
realize this until June 14th when she was finally allowed to return to her tent right at least one pair of glasses
was found discarded in the bushes near the death scene well this gets weird because then you wonder is it somebody
messing with the scene afterwards or were these items actually taken that night that night yeah then if they were
taken that night did the perpetrator come through the front of the tent or did he come through the back because we
know flaps of the back were taken off yeah and you have like you said there's like 24 hours that go by before we are
told that this item actually went missing right so there's been some thought regarding the glasses that were
found you know they're removed from the tent they're found near the death scene in the bushes almost as if they were
just like tossed away yeah and someone many people have said that it was almost like someone was trying them on or for
whatever reason stole them and decided to toss them at the last minute investigators collected a pillowcase
from the scene stained with Seaman in the course of the investigation every adult at Camp Scott and all of the
children in the Kwa Unit were interviewed by agents all counselors were asked about their sex lives
investigators looked at Ben Woodward the camp Ranger he was actually a suspect very early on Ben was the last person
that we know of to enter Camp Scott that Sunday night so how they approach that H
how's your sex life Colonel you mean regarding the interviewing the counselors right right how do you think
they went about that well and me being I'd be such a jackass that I you know they'd be like
how's your sex life Captain I'd say it's kinky okay well so there were there was
some evidence or at least some things at the scene that led some of the investigators to believe now mind you
this is before they received the autopsy reports right right there were some things found at the scene that led some
investigators to believe that the sexual assaults might have been might have been perpetrated by a
female so I think what they're trying to figure out here is everyone's you know sex preferences right and and we also
have the situation where we have a camp full of girls a camp full of female counselors and very few men that are
working at this area Ben I think Ben Woodward the camp Ranger I think he really you know I said he was a suspect
early on I don't think he technically was a suspect I think it's just the straight up fact that according to the
books he's the last individual that is known to have entered the camp that night yeah and he was the one that
locked the gate so his story is this his daughter she's grown or at least older and she worked somewhere in town off the
campgrounds yeah he had to pick her up from her work drive her back to their home and after returning he locked the
gate this around 10:45 p.m. only Ben Woodward and Barbara day had keys to this gate is it possible that he left it
unlocked when he went to go pick up his daughter because that would give somebody an opportunity to get a vehicle
on the property and maybe park it in a in a position where he wouldn't know about it's possible but according to his
statement he when he was told of what had happened at the camp yeah he his first course of action was to go to the
gate unlock it waiting for for police to arrive so he could lead them to where he's been told that the first girl was
found they did search his home that day they found nothing of evidentiary value and he did take and pass a polygraph
test with flying colors his wife was his Alibi you know she said you know he returned home at around 10:45 and was
with me all night and she took a polygraph and passed one as well right Ben told law enforcement that the camp
had been subject to break-ins in the off season with supplies and food stolen more than once yeah but isn't that
pretty common with any Campground I would think so yeah the most recent break-in occurred several
weeks before the camp opened this is supported by several other associates it seems the break-ins were considered
harmless almost a reality of life in the remote wooded area right you know I I know some guys that have places way out
in the middle of nowhere that they use cabins for hunting or for fishing or both and they go there a handful of
times each year and they always say hey when I when I show up for that first time and haven't been there in a while
there's things that are changed on my cabin or on my ground somebody has been squatting there for a night or two right
on the 14th a local farmer named Jack shroof showed up at Camp Scott with his adult son he heard about the murders on
the news Jack told Sheriff Weaver his Farmhouse was broken into at some point after 300 p.m. on June 12th the Sunday
when the campers arrived at Camp Scott so the day leading into the night of the murders right so possibly these Breakin
have something to do with the murder the murders that night well at the very least shof seems to believe they may
have you know and his property it's 110 acre property it's located about a mile west of Camp Scott shof was there until
Sunday the 12th until about 3 p.m. so he knows that hey I've not been there since
this time when I returned I noticed that my home was broken into right it had to
have happened after 3 p.m. on the 12th so the agents went to The Farmhouse and they found that the door was kicked in
and they found a bootprint on the doormat now shof reported that a roll of black duct tape was missing as well as
two sixpacks of paps Blue Ribbon and a crowbar after thorough searches three empty PBR bottles and a crowbar were
found in the Southeast corner of Camp Scott cord matching the cord that had tied up the girls was found in the
shroof home shof identified the duct tape found at Camp Scott as looking like duct tape that he had in his house but
he could not identify the flashlight that they found now shrof immediately became a suspect agents theorized the
burglary could be just a coverup you know shof came up with when he realized he left his flashlight and tape and
other items at the scene and that his fingerprints would be found on these items the other thing that's very
curious here too Captain is his timing saying that hey my home was broken into sometime after 300 p.m. on the 12th well
we know that that was the day that the campers arrived but it's also the timing the time that the campers ared red he's
almost purposely removing himself I mean he could be truthfully removing himself
or purposefully removing himself from that area at the exact time that the later would be victims are arriving to
the camp all right so this this Wackadoo he has access and some of his items that quote
unquote his barn was broken into his property was broken into these items are found at the scene correct so but we
don't think he has motive does he have an alibi what's going to clear this individual so this is a tricky thing
because he was immediately targeted by the media as a child killer you know that they even I believe the headlines
say child Slayer on the newspaper the next day and they have a big picture of him on the newspaper yeah that would
that' be really nice youd come forward trying to help the police and this is what they get you not the police but the
media he shf immediately agreed and assisted in any in all parts of the investigation that he could he went in
for questioning and he cooperated he took a polygraph pass the polygraph test now it wasn't just that that cleared him
because by all accounts he has been 100% cleared of any involvement in the crime
and this is because he had multip mple properties sh was fairly well to do he had several Alibis that placed him
nowhere near the area at the time when the murders occurred he wasn't in town at that time right so but it does take
some time to track these things down and figure these things out and clear this guy but before they could he's labeled
by the media as the killer well they would bring in tracking dogs and once these tracking dogs were
brought in OSBI agents did something interesting they brought the doormat from The shroof Farmhouse the one that
had the discernible bootprint on it they brought this to the dogs at Camp Scott and they gave it to them for as scent to
follow the dogs led the agents right back to The shr's Farmhouse and pond area where a burned campfire was found a
burn out campfire this is interesting because it means that the killer went straight from The Farmhouse
you know from burglarizing The Farmhouse sometime after 300 p.m. on Sunday to Camp Scott possibly right mhm so well
according to the dogs right unless because he these items that were placed at the crime scene were taken from the
home right so somebody broke into this home brought those items with them and went to Camp Scott so how did the
burglar know that the house would be empty we I mean we don't know for certain but did the Burg break into the
house and happen upon the duct tape and rope and decide to go kill some girls this seems very unlikely right now one
thing that Jack shroof told investigators was that his Farmhouse had been repeatedly broken into six seven or
eight times yeah put some locks on the door he says well when they found the door it was kicked in I was joking uh he
said usually what was taken from the house was food and tools right um but you have to wonder is it possible
that the killer knew that he would find these items at The Farmhouse because he had been there before possibly having
some squatters in the area because of the Wilderness you there's a lot of times you can get some of that goes hey
I can set up a tent I can set up a little Campground for myself break into to the neighboring houses and I can live
off this land for at least a few weeks which also makes you wonder if you're going to ask those questions did the
killer go to this Farmhouse with the intention of breaking into it to steal items to commit
murders yeah did this killer or Killers did they know that there would be 140 campers showing up that day at Camp
Scott I don't know and how much was this person keeping an eye on this area anyway on Thursday so this is 4
days after the bodies were discovered a pair of tennis shoes and socks inside a bag l labed Denise Milner were found on
the front steps of a camp Scott Building being used as a command post by all accounts I could find they were
definitely not there the whole time someone placed them there this was right after someone reported seeing a man in
the woods for the third night of that week investigators used dogs but they couldn't find anything they couldn't
track anything they even strung up thread between trees that was found broken the next day and footprints were
found as well but no trace of anyone someone was clearly in the area moving around at
[Music] night a lot more to get to in episode 2 and three of the Oklahoma Girl Scout
murders yep and we will see everybody back here in the garage tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't
litter [Music] [Applause] [Music] Angie's List is now Angie and we've heard a lot of theories about why I
thought it was an Eco move wor less paper no it was so you could say it faster no it's to be more iconic must be
a tech thing but those aren't quite right it's because now you can compare upfront prices book a service instantly
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Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders /// Part 1/// 265

Part 1 of 3

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Camp Scott was a 410 acre camp operating since 1928. Located near a small town in Oklahoma the camp had facilities for up to 140 children and 30 staff. The camp was most often attended by Girl Scouts. In fact it was marketed to the Girl Scouts as “This is your camp.” After the night of June 13th, 1977 the camp closed forever. What took place that night was horrifying. Parents sent their young, happy daughters to an idyllic two-week camp and they never returned. What was done to those girls can only be described as pure evil. This week we take an in-depth look at the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders. Beer of the Week - Anytime Minutes by The Willows Family Ales Garage Grade - 3 and 3 quarter bottle caps out of 5

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Brief Summary

The episode details the 1977 Oklahoma Girl Scout murders, focusing on the events leading to and following the tragic deaths of three young girls.

Key points

First Day Excitement Turns to Fear. Campers arrived at Camp Scott, filled with excitement, but strange occurrences began to unsettle them.
The Horrifying Night at Camp Scott. On June 13, 1977, a tragic event unfolded at Camp Scott, where young campers went missing.
The Discovery of the Bodies. Nurse Albec discovers the horrifying scene at Camp Scott, leading to a frantic response.
The Investigation Begins. Sheriff Weaver and agents arrive to investigate the shocking murders of three Girl Scouts.
Autopsy Revelations. The autopsy results reveal the brutal nature of the attacks on the victims.
The Murders at Camp Scott. Two girls were found murdered, leading to a complex investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Parents sent their happy daughters to camp and they never returned.

Reflecting on the tragic outcome of the camp experience.

6:05WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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