Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders /// Part 2 /// 266 | Forensic Files

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these poor little girls Denise Miller was 10 years old and the only African American girl at Camp Scott she
originally was excited to go to camp and sold a lot of cookies to help raise money but became nervous just before
leaving a counselor that rode the bus to camp with her said that she was very quiet and her mother asked if Denise
could be allowed to call home the next day since she was very hesitant to go once she got the camp's cot we know
Denise was homesick Denise's father was a Tulsa police officer Denise was involved in a lot of activities
including tap dancing singing and gymnastics betty Millner her mother related what happened to her when she
found out when her daughter was dead saying they told me Denise is dead she and two other girls I asked if it was an
accident adding I could accept an accident then they told me she had been beaten to
death betty was the one that urged her daughter to go to camp that's probably something that weighs on
there pretty heavily Lori farmer was very mature for her age the blond-haired brown-eyed two little girl skipped a
grade because she was so advanced Lori was just eight years old but her birthday was in June and her parents Bo
and Sherri planned to visit their daughter at camp on her special day Sherri farmer said her husband Bo
arrived back from his overnight shift at a hospital said he looked awful ghost white then she noticed he wasn't alone
with him was his colleague dr. Anderson Anderson spoke first he said sherry you need to sit down and I said no I'm not
going to sit he said Lori is dead where do you put that in your brain there is no place to
put that she said sherry has been haunted by her daughter's final moments in the presence of one or more killers
Lori's letter written that night reads quote I've met two new friends I'm sharing a tent with
them we're sleeping on cots I couldn't wait to write love Lord since her daughter's death
sherry farmer has taken up the cause of victims rights over the past four decades she has met spoken to and
counseled thousands of people in classes seminars and one-on-one together with her husband farmer also started a
parents of murder children's chapter in Oklahoma farmers said quote if you have something bad happen ask yourself how
can this help anybody else yeah they constantly say when you feel bad about your situation that give
service to others and through that you'll feel positivity Michelle GU say was nine years old when
she left for camp Scott which she attended and loved the previous summer she was also into soccer
she left explicit instructions to her parents to water her plants while she was gone her parents said that they were
told that their daughter had been killed but they learned of actual circumstances
of her death from the TV news after Michelle's death her father threw himself into victims rights efforts in
Oklahoma becoming a leading voice and volunteer of the crime victim and witness Bill of Rights a package of laws
adopted by state legislature from their GU say was appointed by the governor to the Crime Victims Compensation Board
which was created in that effort he said quote this is my commitment to our situation kousei said in 1994 after 13
years of never missing a board meeting stated because of my daughter maybe the world will be a little better place to
be hopefully some good is coming out of this on June 23rd 1977 ten days after the murders Mays County District
Attorney Sid wise called a news conference a suspect he said was being charged with the murders this is a 33
year old Jean Leroy Hart a Locust Grove native and Cherokee Indian heart was already
familiar to authorities a convicted rapist in burglar he was a two-time prison escapee and was on the
run for four years since his second escape from the Mays County Jail in 1973 law doesn't seem like he was so much on
the run but when he got out he was kind of protected by the reservations well his his previous convictions they said
the sentences for which totaled more than 300 plus years yeah he was now facing three first-degree murder charges
wise announced why said that items found in a cave close to Camp Scott were connected to Hart who was believed to be
hiding in the area well yeah Hart's mother lived roughly a mile from the campground but there was also a cave
that they believe that Hart was staying in yeah wise added that the Hart had the
advantage in eluding law enforcement and that he was an expert woodsman and had many family members living in the area
and so the manhunt that would go down as the largest in state history began the hunt for Hart fanning out for miles
through tick and snake-infested hill country and involved a 600 person army of searchers in dogs and aircraft all
they had to do is start sniffing to see if they could smell that piece of [ __ ] a
physical description of gene heart began to appear daily and media reports he's 5
foot 10 inches tall weighs about 220 pounds black hair brown eyes smells like Duke in the days after the
heart was a suspect announcement the atmosphere was emotionally charged with hundreds of volunteers getting into
fights and showing up armed and/or drunk American Indian Movement the aim officials came in to make sure people
didn't start just quote shooting Indians the Oklahoma Highway Patrol special weapons and tactics team got involved
and by June 29th 40 FBI agents had arrived despite Hart being a convicted double
rapist many in mayes county doubted hearts guilt he was seen by many as a scapegoat for the white establishment a
quote handy suspect yeah while this [ __ ] anyways because he escaped from prison he raped and
tortured women before then his community the Indian community claimed that well he actually didn't rape them and didn't
torture them that that they were trying to escape from their husbands hearts mother told reporters quote my boy
didn't do it and sheriff Weaver wants to frame him because he don't like Indians
the idea that Hart was being targeted because he was an Indian struck a chord with many in the area which had a large
American Indian population when Hart was charged in the killings his friends and
relatives believing he was innocent closed ranks around him according to someone cry for the children Hart had
250 relatives living within a half mile square area and they were more than willing to help him other sympathizers
agreed that sheriff Weaver had a personal grudge against Hart but they thought it was because Hart had escaped
twice from his Jail those escapes former journalist Mike wheat believes had helped create an aura of mystery about
Hart quote he had become this folklorist kind of character a local legend said we
Hart seemed to be able to appear and disappear at will we said well and I'm sure look I'm sure in that area and in
that time there's plenty of crimes that were not committed by an Indian that an Indian person did the time for that
crime mm-hmm I'm sure there was some kind of racial bias there but this guy because of being able to escape from
prison he'd seem to become a legend people seem to actually believe that Hart was capable of shape-shifting
according to legend and ability that some Cherokees may have where I have that ability this some believed is how
he escaped prison twice and continued to elude capture Hart was also a local football star he had excelled in high
school and was considered to be of NFL caliber somehow he took on the reputation of a hero which did not help
him the Gators trying to get people to turn him in so through the summer of 1977
agents used tracking dogs ground searchers and aerial heat-seeking equipment to hunt for heart it's like
they were chasing a ghost or like Bigfoot one of the agents Harvey Pratt a Cheyenne Arapahoe was a firm believer in
American Indian mysticism someone cry for the children quotes Pratt as saying quote the Indians in this part of
Oklahoma believed that medicine men have medicines so strong that they can change
themselves into birds or animals or give someone else this power yes so to the shape-shifting or or skinwalkers as they
may be called right so when the heart was in prison you know being a piece of [ __ ] for them being in jail for the the
rapes he turned he shape-shifting into diarrhea and he slid right through those bars well all of this just simply added
to the mystique about heart and there were rumors that he was under the protection of tribal medicine men this
explained not only his elusiveness many believe but other strange happenings in and around the manhunt like the deaths
of two of the law enforcement tracking dogs they were said to have been cursed by someone mm-hmm authorities were they
without poison for the dogs well the authorities became desperate and on its front-page August 3rd 1977
the Tulsa world addressed an open letter to Hart urging him to surrender the letter included the governor's personal
guarantee ensuring Hart's security and a fair trial but this did not work so let's talk about what led law
enforcement to Hart you've already brought up his previous convictions but so we have sheriff Weaver and we also
have agent Linville they stated that within hours of the murders at Camp Scott authorities were making a list of
people they thought could have done this people whose mo was similar gene Hart's
name was on this list his MO in his previous had some similarities particularly the
cord and tape method of binding multiple young victims locals were likely right that Weaver did have a grudge against
Hart he had been able to elude authorities since his second escape from Weaver's Jail 1973 there are local
rumors also that Weaver had personal reasons to hate Hart something about a woman I've gone through all those rumors
they all go back to some kind of relationship with with a woman I'm unclear of the details of sighs was it a
woman Bigfoot what we do know is the authorities investigating the murders checked with mental hospitals and
prisons in the area for a list of outpatients and parolees with histories of sex offenses on that list would have
appeared Jean Leroy Hart's name as he had escaped the convicted rapist and fugitive whose mother lived less than
half a mile from Camp Scott at the time of the murders of course investigators checked out other potential suspects in
those early days they spoke with one guy who was living in his car in the area but for whatever reason they dismissed
him they spoke with and I don't know if this is his real name but this is the name given mm-hmm okay with a man named
Mike a camper seen in the area who was caught stealing a hatchet and supplies from the Boy Scout camp the week before
the murders a Native American hitchhiker was arrested as well and was released after questioning so they did look at
some other individuals now three days after the murders - squirrel hunters found a flower sack with some fresh
human excrement with wadded-up newspaper in front of a cave three miles southwest
of Camp Scott there were lots of footprints going in and out of the cave one of the hunters got the eerie feeling
that they were being watched at this time so rather than enter the cave the hunters contacted the Highway Patrol
inside the cave and near the ruins of a cellar and foundation nearby investigators found two tattered
photographs of women a roll of masking tape and a piece of plastic garbage bag stuck to it two pieces of newspaper one
pair of broken sunglasses in a beige vinyl case a pair of gloves a broken slingshot in some women's underwear the
newspaper was the April 17th edition of Tulsa world the same edition in section as the one inside the flashlight at the
murder scene Susan Emery the Kiowa counselor identified the sunglasses and the case as hers the cave was located a
hundred feet from the rune cellar and foundation of gene hearts childhood home tracking dogs from Camp Scott had also
alerted to an area near a second cave this is two miles from Camp Scott and overlooking the home of Hart's mother
where a farmer had reported seeing someone who looked like Hart a week after the murders now did we did I hear
this correctly that there was there was some Dookie and by the newspaper in a flower bag I believe did they test this
Dookie how I'm being serious for well wouldn't they be able to tell you what kind of Dookie it is is it human Dookie
is it is it dog dukey well the reports are that it was human okay but now could they link this to heart I could they say
that it was this piece of shits piece of [ __ ] I don't know look I didn't went to school for
computer so I don't know how they would link that to her and all that reading that you've been doing when you be able
to find out through all that reading if you could link [ __ ] - [ __ ] well I'm questioning what test would be available
to do so in 1977 the old [ __ ] test well maybe back in 1977 they didn't have tests but poop is rich with DNA so they
should be able to test that to see if at least that matches Hart and then we'd know that Hart was used in that cave
well it was at this cave that investigators found a boot print that matched the boot
in tent number eight and a hair attached to a bandage that was found to have the
same microscopic characteristics as hearts and a third cave was found one mile from the camp this is on Jack
Shroff's property cops were led to this cave by a young jail inmate Darren Creekmore who told authorities he met
with heart at this cave after the murders in this cave written on the wall were the words the killer was here bye
bye fools 77 - six - seventeen investigators arrange to have the photos found near the first cave to be
published in the local papers seeking information on the subjects and locals quickly identified them as two women who
had attended a wedding in 1969 investigators traced the photographs to Lois Lindsey who had worked at a prison
Lindsey moonlighted as a photographer and developed his pictures in the prison's darkroom he shot the 1969
wedding of prison workers daughters and used a man named Jean Lee Roy Hart as his assistant in the prison darkroom
processing these photos Hart could easily have printed extra copies and kept two for himself without anyone
knowing the evidence against heart is starting to pile up so who is Jean Hart Hart was a Cherokee Indian born November
27 1943 in Claremore Oklahoma he was raised by his mother and barely knew his father he was a C average student in
school but it excelled in sports and was considered a local football hero he married young and his wife soon had a
child they later divorced and she refused to let him see his offspring in 1966 Hart was working for a Tulsa steel
company that is when he raped the two women the victims Joan and Barbara were both 19 married and pregnant they were
best friends since junior high school as they were leaving a Tulsa club one night
a large Indian man according to an account of the crime and one cry for the children pushed his way
inside their car brandishing a revolver he locked one of the girls in the trunk which he had lined with newspaper while
he raped the other in the backseat making strange animal-like grunting or moaning sounds the girl in the trunk had
to listen to the whole thing heart then drove some distance and duct-taped the girl's noses mouths and eyes and led
them into the woods where he raped and sodomized each of them while the other listened petrified he left them hogtied
in the fetal position just like Michelle GU say with nooses around their necks that tightened if they tried to free
themselves so clearly intending for them to die despite choking nearly to death one of
the women managed to free herself and then her friend they stumbled to the highway and waved down a car one of the
women saw the rapist license plate number and both women identified this person as Jean Lee Roy Hart the evidence
against him combined with the identification of both victims led Jean Hart to plead guilty to two charges of
kidnapping and one charge of first-degree rape he was sentenced to a very light three 10-year terms served
concurrently and he was paroled after serving just 28 months this was in March of 1969 one of the rape victims told
police Hart tried on her glasses he wore them while he was driving and he kept them Hart was soon arrested again in
June 1969 after attempting to burgle the home of a female police officer who woke
to find him entering her apartment cops pinned three other burglaries on him as well
Hart refused to take a plea deal and in 1970 he got a stiff sentence of 305 years in prison so it's nice to find out
that the burglaries not the rapes of two pregnant women or what got him this basically this life sentence he escaped
from the county jail in May of 1972 jumping off the roof he was recaptured eleven days later and was assigned to
the State Penitentiary in April 1973 Hart was transferred back to the County Jail in September 1973 he
escaped again hack sawing his way out with a saw supplied by a friend accompanied by two inmates Hart was
still at large when the girl-scout murders occurred four years later investigators spent long nights in the
woods as they continued surveillance on places they thought Hart might be hiding
finally they got a break by late September 1977 reward money gathered from various sources had grown to more
than twenty thousand dollars and that was enough for one informant to offer police help in finding Hart this from
the Tulsa World newspaper quote the informant told authorities that Hart's brother-in-law was plotting to drive
Hart to the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina so the OSBI put a tracking device on the
brother-in-law's car the agents plan was thwarted when Hart supporter who worked
at the police headquarters snitched and told Hart's family about the bug but eventually the OSBI informant learned
Hart was staying with an old man in a tarpaper Shack in the Cookson Hills on April 6 1978 OSBI agents closed in and
took Hart by surprise without a single shot being fired the manhunt lasted ten months consumed
more than 10,000 man-hours and cost the taxpayers two million dollars it's worth
noting that when Hart was captured he was wearing shorts a tank top and women's glasses once Hart was captured
and trial loomed Indian activists spoke up for Hart his supporters sponsored benefits to raise money for his defense
their vehicle sported bumper stickers that read quote the heart of Jean country the American Indian Movement
sent representatives to Oklahoma to monitor the situation in the Cherokee Nation tribal council voted to donate
$12,500 for Hart's defense supporters wore t-shirts with slogans like stop the Mayes County Railroad
because this guy is completely innocent of everything yes hinting that Hart was being railroaded
and set up for an unfair trial what makes us acid when does frustration and anger turned
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to new york or calm slash garage [Music] all right cheers mates Cheers captain all right let's dive into the evidence
that they have against Hart well there was an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence linking Hart to
the murders mm-hmm so let's review this first what links him to the deaths of Michelle Lori and Denise Hart was an
escaped rapist whose mo seemed similar he targeted multiple young vulnerable victims at once he came prepared to the
scene with materials to bind and gag his victims and he used both rope and duct tape to do so hog tying them with a with
strangulation forms he also had the ability to rape multiple times in quick succession the evidence found in the
caves was a link to Hart the photos from the prison wedding he developed a roll of duct tape that matched tape found at
the scene of the murders a roll of masking tape with a piece of plastic attached to it that had the end of the
tape torn exactly matching the tape used to cover the lens of the flashlight right the plastic also matched Hart's Co
escape II Larry DRI testified at trial that he and Hart had used the cave while living on the lam and we know it was
right next to Hart's childhood home and then the newspaper found in the flashlight the writing on the wall
taunting the police the sunglasses belonging to Susan Emery the Neyman glasses yes the 9-volt flashlight they
had been modified to emit only a thin beam of light we also have an associate of hearts that testified at trial that
Hart had been known to modify flashlights in this manner in his burglaries fort furthermore the
newspaper at the cave was the same addition in section as found inside the flashlight Hart was described by an
associate as quote Knight blind and he notoriously stole glasses wherever he went
Larry DRI testified that Hart stole glasses from Holmes he burglarized the killer that night
and discarded several pairs of glasses from Camp Scott and kept at least two pair that we know of two pieces of
evidence found at the shack owned by Sam pigeon where Hart was apprehended were found to have been stolen from counselor
and training Karen Mitchell at Camp Scott this was a souvenir corncob pipe and a small blue hand mirror nor was he
building the snowman pot well with all this stuff you were talking about earlier I think he was building a ship
man but these items the tricky thing about these items captain they were found only upon a second
search of the shack right and some lead this leads some people to believe that these were planted pieces of evidence
and that's what his defense attorneys at trial would point out you know that these they actually straight-up said
these were planted desperately by the sheriff to frame Hart testimony at the preliminary hearing and/or trial by
people who knew Hart tended to implicate him in the murders Larry DRI testified to Hart's penchant for young girls and
Jimmy Don bunch testified that he was in prison with Hart after the murders and Hart told him that he was stoned and was
drinking wine for three days when he woke up in the cave all bloodied and he was not sure whether he had killed those
girls or not all right so this jailhouse informant slash jailhouse snitch is telling us that heart got boozed up
mm-hmm what did it happen for days it happens it's been known to happen it's called binge Worthy
so he gets all boozed up he wakes up in this cave he's covered in blood doesn't know what he did mm-hmm but again this
is kind you know I don't like these to me this is not evidence this to me this is less than hearsay right because it's
a jailhouse snitch Larry DRI testified that he and heart broke into camps got more than once when
it was empty to steal food so as we all suspected Hart was clearly familiar with
the camp so let's talk about physical evidence shall we can we shall well first off we
have speculated about some different weapons and some things found but technically as far as this case goes and
as far as what is on record there is no weapon no murder weapon that was found and we also have no fingerprints were
found that they could link to Hart there was a single hair on Denise Milner's body that forensic experts who analyzed
it and testified stated it quote microscopically was similar to that of Hart right similar but not 100% positive
it was Hart's correct and we've learned things within the past 15 years that will suggest that it's very difficult to
say this is a 100% match when you're comparing you know hairs found at a scene and hairs found at another
location and the other thing too regarding the sexual assaults on the victims the evidence left behind was
complicated here's how it was explained by a Y magazine quote seminal fluid obtained from the victims bodies
presented a conundrum sperm was present yeah but Hart had a vasectomy earlier so
they claimed that he couldn't actually produce sperm correct the prosecution argued that Hart's vasectomy was only
partially successful consulting physicians said such cases could result in non-productive d-formed sperm Hart
had type O blood as does 45 percent of the population he was a secretor like eighty percent of the population the
semen sample from the victims was from a non-white male who was a secretor with blood type O and it contained deformed
sperm the number of people in the United States who met all of that criteria represented point zero zero two percent
of the population the OSB i's website states the deformed sperm seemed to match a sample from gene heart it's also
worth noting though that the Oklahoma state pathologist who performed the autopsies
dr. Neil Hoffman claimed not to a found sperm however the OSBI conducted its own
investigations and they claimed sperm was present and it was the same from each of the victims so simply meaning if
the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is correct in their stated findings there was only one rapist who
left deposits and their analysis of physical evidence including sperm samples and other bodily fluids revealed
that only point zero zero two percent of the population met the unique characteristics contained in that
evidence this is obviously a very very small percentage of population but it does include gene heart right point zero
zero two that's very very small percent what about the evidence it tended to show that it wasn't heart we have the
boot print which appeared to some people to be smaller than a size 11 and a half
the size hearts lawyer maintained that he wore yeah there's a bunch of conflicting stories about this I've
heard as small as nine and a half shoe size the second shoe print was smaller it was the sneaker print and this was
believed to be around size seven this obviously also does not fit hearts size of 11 and a half mm-hmm the flashlight
contained one fingerprint and that was not hearts but but you know the flashlight we believe that was stolen
from the farm no we have the farm owner who says he could not identify the flashlight that doesn't mean that it
didn't come from his rather large property right however I think that one thing we can think about here is we know
that Hart was known to burglarize many properties right so it could have been stolen from anywhere in any way and that
fingerprint doesn't mean that that has to match the killer right or it could match the killer that's the that's the
problem with this flashlight here mm-hmm so the other thing too though is why weren't Hart's fingerprints found on
anything they weren't found on anything in the caves they weren't found on the flashlight they weren't found
the duct tape if investigators found fingerprints of hearts at the murder scene or maybe even in the caves their
case would have been a lot stronger so some more information came to light in the course of the two trials in this
case one was a civil trial and one was criminal a month or two after the murders a camp counselor named Michelle
Hoffman contacted barber day and told her a disturbing story this occurred in April of 1977 the counselors had
returned to their tent to find it ransacked with their things scattered in some money missing a box of
donuts had been emptied in a note left inside the box a counselor read the note remarked how creepy it was and threw it
away so now she told Barbara day that the note said something along the lines of four girls will be killed or we are
on a mission to kill three girls mm-hmm so we don't know or don't have any evidence at all about this note because
remember it was thrown away they didn't report it to the higher-ups at the time later stating that they believed that it
was just a prank so they dismissed it only after the murders did Michelle tell Barbara about it but because of its
seeming foreshadowing this note has taken on almost mythical proportions well they should have reported it
because I mean frankly it's bad enough that you leave that creepy note but once you still donuts you cross the line well
the thing too though that we got to keep in mind no one can really even prove that this note ever existed and if it
did no one can recall the exact wording on the note or even the number of girls that it threatened right but my point is
if you can prove that there was Donuts and you can prove that there's some missing you can prove that there's a
monster out there I think given the situation I think it would be incredibly unlikely that the killer would have left
a warning note you know months in advance before killing these girls my only thing would be if you look at
somebody like heart that has done heinous crimes before maybe he has a wrestling you know wrestles with not
wanting to commit the crime and by maybe somehow when he went to still something
that he decided to leave a note to maybe stop himself if he's hiding in the area
and has been for quite some time and he's on the run from the police I feel like it would be I feel like it would be
kind of a big hey here here's somebody you should be looking for let's look around this area for what's going so do
you think the note is this a [ __ ] story and maybe it's just to add to their urban legend of the whole thing I
don't want to call any of these people out because I firmly believe that anybody at the camp that day that night
is probably traumatized in some form from this whole horrible horrific scene in tragedy
I mean I might take two example of your counselor and you see some kind of glowing light a flashlight in the
distance in the woods and you're trapped in you're tracking it and then it disappears at some point you're gonna go
I wish I would have checked that out further but also maybe if you're the one that checks out out further you become a
victim so there'd be a lot of scenarios that are probably playing through these camp counselors Minds the parents Minds
the other the campers minds of what could have happened what should have happened and maybe what they could have
done to stop it well as you can see already in this case to really tear through it you have to
have a lot of different boxes a lot of different compartments to put all of this information and the whole story
about this note being left threatening the lives of some girls I'm going to kind of put that in the box the same
boxes Jean Hart was a shapeshifter box right Bigfoot the murder trial began on March 25th 1977 after a month-long
preliminary hearing the long in state history the trial was held on the third floor court room of the Mays
County Courthouse and prior with Judge William J Ressler presiding special prosecutor Buddy Follis jr. and chief
prosecutor Ron Shafer were appointed to assist district attorney Sid wise who later had to withdraw because of his
alleged intention to profit from a book about the case apparently he agreed to furnish a
journalist with confidential information in return for part of the profits the prosecution requested and was denied
a change of venue they were arguing that it was too much there were so many people in the public that were in favor
of Hart that didn't believe that he was guilty too many supporters Garvin Isaac's a former public defender from
Oklahoma City was hired to defend Hart this was after the unexplained departure of Hart's first attorney Larry Oliver
both baffles me you know I know you're on a roll right now but it still baffles me that Hart played plead guilty to the
charges that he was faced with before these three murders hmm he pled guilty to raping and the murders of those women
right mm-hmm and and it still seems like the community around him is like yeah he
was lying about that yeah yeah I mean like it's almost like they dismiss that that ever happened well and here's the
thing too you have to wonder had he not pled guilty what evidence they could have shown at that trial because there
would have been a trial what evidence they could have shown at that trial may have changed the whole public's
perception of this guy hmm but because because he pled guilty avoided a trial now we talked about his first attorney
in this trial who he had this unexplained departure from the trial Larry Oliver years later Oliver went on
to say that he felt Hart could have done it and that's why he didn't represent him he said that he felt that Hart had a
quote dark side jury selection question 110 jurors that have eventually led to six men and six women
that were impaneled not a single jury member was Native American but Hart had the unwavering support of many in the
community in a sad note one of the victim's parents were marked that when they entered the courtroom they felt
that they were seen as the enemy media from all over the country flocked to the courthouse to attend the trial and the
atmosphere was described as a circus with spectators lining up hours in advance to get seats Native American
activists attending and community supporters voicing their opinions throughout the trial was sensational
punctuated from start to finish with outburst both attorneys were free exact yeah both attorneys were frequently
called to the bench for reprimands as tempers flared and verbal jabs were traded at one point Shaffer the
prosecutor even challenged Isaacs to go outside for arm-wrestle during closing arguments by the defense the audience
would often applaud or holler the judge was forced to clear the courtroom more than once during the trial we won't go
into the whole trial here as we've already discussed evidence against Hart but the state called 32 witnesses and
what we didn't mention fully is Larry dry the convict and former Co escapee of hearts testified that he and Hart hid
out in the caves where evidence linked to the murders was found right he also said he received three
threatening letters from an unknown person who he assumed to be Hart saying that if dry told anyone where Hart might
be hiding out his wife and daughter were in danger counselor Celia Stoll testified that two Girl
Scouts were scared when quote two mysterious men were near their tent sometime around the time of the murders
and Richard day testified that he saw a tall stranger near the creek the day before the murders Hart maintained his
innocence throughout the trial he stated in one press conference he gave before the trial that at the time
of the murders he was in Tulsa at his uncle's house the uncle conveniently died during the manhunt and couldn't
testify at the trial nevertheless even without an alibi the defense went on the attack and effectively under minded much
of the prosecution's case its witnesses testified that the hair and sperm evidence was not conclusive it claimed
evidence was planted the mirror and the pipe the photographs found near the cave
which had supposedly been seen in sheriff Weaver's possession before they were found it claimed a homosexual
female counselor could have killed the girls it even presented an alternative theory that another man had committed
these murders and although a witness who testified implicating this other man was
eventually charged with perjury the damage seemed to have been done the defense rested without Hart taking the
stand ten days after opening arguments the jury began their deliberations they retired for the night without a verdict
and was ready within 30 minutes of convening the next morning Wow March 29 1979 they were ready with their decision
a unanimous verdict of not guilty was their decision the courtroom erupted with cheers jury remarks about their
findings included quote a reasonable doubt and evidence wasn't there and the investigation was a screwed up mess
although some jurors indicated that they didn't necessarily believe Hart was totally innocent one juror told the
Tulsa world that all 12 had agreed after only five minutes of deliberation that heart should be found not guilty it
wasn't any one thing they stated there were too many loose ends too many things didn't add up in an Associated Press
interview a year later they quoted in the Tulsa world juror Leela Ramsay said none of us knew whether he did it or did
not do it we were shocked that they didn't have more evidence than what they had or
maybe as buddy fella suggested post-trial it was the fact that Hart was headed back to prison anyway to serve a
300-year sentence which wasn't admissible but which the defense let slip in front of the jury oh what a
party foul so the jury knew it could have quit and Hart if in fact he had done it he still wasn't going free so it
arguably didn't matter what the jury said prosecutors cried shocked and left in disbelief at the verdict they felt
they had their man right and they thought that they proved his guilt twenty years later when the oj verdict
came down two of the murder victims mothers said of Hart's trial in that of OJ Simpson's trial you would be
absolutely shocked at how many similarities there were in those two cases Sheree farmer told an interviewer
the alleged planting of evidence the race card all of that was played betty Milner said watching the OJ Simpson
trial was like it was happening to us all over again Simpson's attorney as we all know the late Johnnie Cochran he
talked about a bloody glove when he said if it doesn't fit you must acquit Garvin
Isaac's foreshadowed this 20 years earlier referencing the bloody boot print that was allegedly not Hart's size
saying quote you can't shrink your foot right according to reports the Hart jury
was not allowed to hear evidence regarding Hart's previous rapes prosecutors and law enforcement who
carefully pulled together the case against Hart weren't able to recover from what they called a gross
miscarriage of justice yeah but the the difference in this case is it look Oh Jay when he was found not guilty
he walked free in this case when Hart was found not guilty he was going to spend over 300 years in prison
right so there's there's a big difference there and you can't tell me that the defense didn't let that slip on
purpose you know the the jury was not supposed to know that because remember the prosecution was not
allowed to present his previous crimes of these rapes that he had committed well and think of it this way though the
jury took 30 minutes right 30 minutes the the second day right but my point is by that second day somebody because said
hey look go home and sleep on it tonight but it doesn't matter if he's found innocent or guilty he's going away to
prison for over 300 years if you think in those terms then then you know what does it matter if you rule them guilty
or not right and I think that's the big argument that's presented here because you have this this simple fact okay I'm
asked as a juror to determine beyond reasonable doubt you know that this guy killed these three girls well they
didn't really prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt I think it was a bit stacked against them that they didn't
have the technology at the time possibly right we'll get into some other alternative theories here later but this
simple situation of well I have this little part of me that says he might not have done this okay well if we say that
he's innocent all right all right if we say he's guilty okay he's he's going to serve
life sentences right he's already facing a life sentence if we say he's guilty and he actually didn't do it then the
real killer or killers are getting away with murder they will never be apprehended likely
for this case but if we say he's innocent we got nothing to lose other than we can't try him again right he's
already going away in the 18 months following the verdict 22 OSBI agents quit they quit their job Ted Lemke OSBI
an inspector he unprofessionally let's say commented publicly that there would be no further investigation and they
might as well close the case because the jury quote turned loose the man who committed the murders interestingly
after the trial the pair we'll return the items of clothing from their dead children what they were
wearing that fateful night this a clear indication that the investigation was effectively over right so the devastated
parents looked for other ways to obtain justice for their daughters in 1985 the farmers and Milner's filed civil
lawsuits against the magic council claiming its negligence was partly responsible for the deaths of their
daughters and seeking a five million dollar judgment at the civil trial testimony from former campers and
counselors included tales of thefts break-ins and strange happenings in the years and even weeks and days preceding
the murders a story came out that in 1976 three moms visiting the camp were asleep when a man looked into their tent
the story about the warning note in the donut box was addressed testimony was heard that on the night of the murder
screams were heard in the night tents were opened by strange men or a strange man and there were multiple sightings of
a strange man or strange men in the woods and girls were grabbed but in the end the jury ruled in favor of the
council so once again the parents were left with no closure [Music] for all of our old episodes download the
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[Music] [Applause] [Music]

Source: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-5xj92-a24840

Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders /// Part 2 /// 266

Part 2 of 3 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com 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 Consider our great sponsors when holiday shopping this season!

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Brief Summary

The episode details the Camp Scott murders, Jean Leroy Hart's trial, and the community's struggle for justice.

Key points

The Murders at Camp Scott. Three young girls were tragically murdered at Camp Scott, leading to a massive manhunt.
Jean Leroy Hart: The Suspect. Jean Leroy Hart, a convicted rapist, becomes the prime suspect in the murders.
The Search for Hart. A massive manhunt ensues for Jean Leroy Hart, involving hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement.
Local Beliefs and Mysticism. Hart's elusiveness is attributed to local beliefs in shape-shifting and medicine men.
Evidence Against Hart Piles Up. Investigators find incriminating evidence linking Hart to the crime scenes.
The Manhunt for Hart. A ten-month manhunt culminated in Hart's capture, surprising everyone involved.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

If you have something bad happen ask yourself how can this help anybody else.

Sherri Farmer's perspective on tragedy and service.

4:59WatchDec 19, 2018

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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