The last living suspect on the abduction/death of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman, Ronnie Busick, pleaded guilty on July 15, 2020 as an accessory to their murders. Part of his plea deal is to assist law enforcement in retrieving the bodies and if successful, will receive five years incarceration and five years probation. The deadline is August 31st.

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I still remember the footage from Hell in the Heartland where Danny's brother asks Busick where the girls are and he denies knowing anything.

Hopefully he leads them to the bodies. As I have nothing good top say about Busick, Welch or Pennington, I am going to end this post. Such a senseless crime. Even if they were after Danny, the girls were innocent. Lauria, especially, happened to be in the wrong place. If I recall correctly, she spent the night because it was Ashley's birthday. She ended up spending one extra night there (the night she was killed) after pleading with her parents to stay a second night (I may be incorrect on this).

Thanks for posting this update!

It would be nice to finally recover their bodies, but I agree that this is such a horrible and senseless crime, especially for the two girls. Their poor families have been through hell. This would give them answers but nothing will ever give them closure.

Thanks for posting this update!

It would be nice to finally recover their bodies, but I agree that this is such a horrible and senseless crime, especially for the two girls. Their poor families have been through hell. This would give them answers but nothing will ever give them closure.

For loved ones of victims of brutal crimes, there is no such thing as closure. The wounds never heal. They just find a way to deal with it as they try to go on with their lives.

That's a slam dunk plea deal in regards to Busick. It's a slap on the wrist in comparison to what he truly deserves considering he didn't just murder but put the two girls through multiple days of torture before finally ending their lives. But, much like with what we saw in the Jacob Wetterling case, the family is so desperate for answers after so many years of knowing nothing that they agree to this slap on the wrist. If the one less brick on their back helps at all, I'm all for it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/missing-welch-girls-busick-pleads-guilty-sentence-depends-on-finding-girls-remains/ar-BB16SEza

“In June 2005, investigators from ten agencies spent days searching in Galena, Kansas. It came after a serial killer, Jeremy Jones, had confessed to the killings and directed authorities to that area. The search came up empty. Jones later recanted his confession.“

Jeremy Jones can just f*ck off. He also pulled the same stunt with the Patrice Endres case.

Yeah that guy is a real ass.

These sick killers who want attention unfortunately have the ultimate trump card in their pocket knowing the desperation families have to find their loved ones. Too many have caught on that they can get attention by claiming to have information, then get their jollies watching the authorities go on fruitless expeditions. It's sickening. But you have to understand why the investigators do it.

Yeah that guy is a real ass.

These sick killers who want attention unfortunately have the ultimate trump card in their pocket knowing the desperation families have to find their loved ones. Too many have caught on that they can get attention by claiming to have information, then get their jollies watching the authorities go on fruitless expeditions. It's sickening. But you have to understand why the investigators do it.

If you haven’t seen “The Confession Killer” on Netflix, check it out. It’s about Henry Lee Lucas doing this very same sort of thing.

The last living suspect on the abduction/death of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman, Ronnie Busick, pleaded guilty on July 15, 2020 as an accessory to their murders. Part of his plea deal is to assist law enforcement in retrieving the bodies and if successful, will receive five years incarceration and five years probation. The deadline is August 31st.

Five years? What a sick miscarriage of justice. Busick should get the death penalty. :mad:

This case makes me so angry for so many reasons. This guy should actually have to pay for what he had a hand in. The others got away with it. And let's not forget the fact that the police found a car insurance card for a car belonging to Welch's ex AT THE SCENE and basically ignored it for almost twenty years. The girls were still alive at the time they found it. I realize it's easy to play Monday morning QB, but good God...

That, along with the whole "missing a body in the crime scene" after their initial examination...it really smacks of some spectacular investigative work :rolleyes:

This case makes me so angry for so many reasons. This guy should actually have to pay for what he had a hand in. The others got away with it. And let's not forget the fact that the police found a car insurance card for a car belonging to Welch's ex AT THE SCENE and basically ignored it for almost twenty years. The girls were still alive at the time they found it. I realize it's easy to play Monday morning QB, but good God...

That, along with the whole "missing a body in the crime scene" after their initial examination...it really smacks of some spectacular investigative work :rolleyes:

Yeah, the police did a horrible job at investigating this case.

Five years? What a sick miscarriage of justice. Busick should get the death penalty. :mad:

I can't help but wonder if somebody will be waiting for him when he gets out (to take him out).

For anyone interested, 'People Magazine Investigates' did an episode featuring this case last month. It's available to watch On Demand. The episode is titled 'Bible Belt Massacre.'

If it didn't already make you sick that Mr. and Mrs. Bible were the ones to discover Dave Freeman's corpse in the charred remains of the trailer because investigators somehow couldn't find it themselves the prior day, you'll also be furious over the key piece of evidence police were stupid enough to ignore for so many years that would have solved this case much sooner.

When Warren Welch, David Pennington and Ronny Busick went to the trailer to kill the Freemans, an insurance verification card of Welch's live-in girlfriend fell out of their vehicle. A private investigator named Tom Pryor found the card in the Freeman's driveway within days of the fire. That card led to Pryor being able to track down the car which had been dropped off at a salvage yard. Inside the car, he found rental receipts from Welch's home as well as teenage girls clothing. But when Pryor phoned the police/investigators and told them of everything he found, they refused to take any of the evidence. So Pryor saved it himself, hoping it would be useful eventually.

According to Busick, Ashley and Lauria were kept alive for two weeks, tied up, drugged and raped repeatedly before eventually being killed and disposed of. If it's true that they were kept alive that long, all that ignored evidence proves that the girls could have been rescued within days and they would still be alive today. Dave Freeman's brother was very emotional about that fact and it's something that will haunt him the rest of his life.

If police accept that insurance card as evidence right away, you quite possibly have all three men behind bars and the two girls rescued, maybe in less than a week. Instead, here we are 21 years later, two of the killers are now deceased, both girls are deceased and their remains quite possibly lost forever. Maybe the most incompetent police work ever. Those people should be ashamed.

For anyone interested, 'People Magazine Investigates' did an episode featuring this case last month. It's available to watch On Demand. The episode is titled 'Bible Belt Massacre.'

If it didn't already make you sick that Mr. and Mrs. Bible were the ones to discover Dave Freeman's corpse in the charred remains of the trailer because investigators somehow couldn't find it themselves the prior day, you'll also be furious over the key piece of evidence police were stupid enough to ignore for so many years that would have solved this case much sooner.

When Warren Welch, David Pennington and Ronny Busick went to the trailer to kill the Freemans, an insurance verification card of Welch's live-in girlfriend fell out of their vehicle. A private investigator named Tom Pryor found the card in the Freeman's driveway within days of the fire. That card led to Pryor being able to track down the car which had been dropped off at a salvage yard. Inside the car, he found rental receipts from Welch's home as well as teenage girls clothing. But when Pryor phoned the police/investigators and told them of everything he found, they refused to take any of the evidence. So Pryor saved it himself, hoping it would be useful eventually.

According to Busick, Ashley and Lauria were kept alive for two weeks, tied up, drugged and raped repeatedly before eventually being killed and disposed of. If it's true that they were kept alive that long, all that ignored evidence proves that the girls could have been rescued within days and they would still be alive today. Dave Freeman's brother was very emotional about that fact and it's something that will haunt him the rest of his life.

If police accept that insurance card as evidence right away, you quite possibly have all three men behind bars and the two girls rescued, maybe in less than a week. Instead, here we are 21 years later, two of the killers are now deceased, both girls are deceased and their remains quite possibly lost forever. Maybe the most incompetent police work ever. Those people should be ashamed.

Yeah, that stuff about the insurance card came out during the whole thing last year. That's what I was talking about, above. The worst thing (other than the horrible things that happened to the girls) is that absolutely no one will pay for anything. The guys who did it never paid, and the Keystone Cops will never have to pay for their absolute s***fest of an investigation. They let two girls get raped and murdered. They couldn't have had a better piece of evidence to lead them in a direction and they waited two decades before saying "Hey, maybe this is something, a-hyuck." :mad:

Yeah, that stuff about the insurance card came out during the whole thing last year. That's what I was talking about, above. The worst thing (other than the horrible things that happened to the girls) is that absolutely no one will pay for anything. The guys who did it never paid, and the Keystone Cops will never have to pay for their absolute s***fest of an investigation. They let two girls get raped and murdered. They couldn't have had a better piece of evidence to lead them in a direction and they waited two decades before saying "Hey, maybe this is something, a-hyuck." :mad:

It makes me wonder, did the location screw over everything? When you have an area such as this that's very remote, where there's way more farmland than actual residents, is this honestly the best police work you can get? Because GOD forbid there is a crises. I'd like to think even the worst police force in the country would have accepted that insurance card as evidence.

If I'm the Bibles, I am livid.

It makes me wonder, did the location screw over everything? When you have an area such as this that's very remote, where there's way more farmland than actual residents, is this honestly the best police work you can get? Because GOD forbid there is a crises. I'd like to think even the worst police force in the country would have accepted that insurance card as evidence.

If I'm the Bibles, I am livid.

I live in a very remote area, and when something like this happens, the local/county police are never the ones taking lead on investigating. It's always the State Police. I don't see why county PD got that case. Especially given they already had a history with the Freemans (not arguing whether or not the local police shooting their son was justified or not, though given their handling of a double murder/arson/kidnapping, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't), it should have been handled by a better equipped agency.

Unfortunately, all the Bibles will get is a halfhearted "sorry our ineptitude meant your daughter got assaulted, tortured, and murdered. Oh, and sorry you'll never have her body to bury."

EDIT: Upon looking back into it, apparently Craig County PD did defer to the Oklahoma BCI. How any crimes are ever solved in Oklahoma, if this case is indicative of the way they handle cases, I'll never understand.

If police accept that insurance card as evidence right away, you quite possibly have all three men behind bars and the two girls rescued, maybe in less than a week. Instead, here we are 21 years later, two of the killers are now deceased, both girls are deceased and their remains quite possibly lost forever. Maybe the most incompetent police work ever. Those people should be ashamed.

According to this (https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/two-girls-went-missing-from-welch-almost-two-decades-ago-why-did-it-take-so/article_81c1129a-f42d-5790-9430-431473c1219c.html) article, the FBI knew about the existence of the insurance card and interviewed Welch's girlfriend on January 3rd, 2000.

I live in a very remote area, and when something like this happens, the local/county police are never the ones taking lead on investigating. It's always the State Police. I don't see why county PD got that case. Especially given they already had a history with the Freemans (not arguing whether or not the local police shooting their son was justified or not, though given their handling of a double murder/arson/kidnapping, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't), it should have been handled by a better equipped agency.

Unfortunately, all the Bibles will get is a halfhearted "sorry our ineptitude meant your daughter got assaulted, tortured, and murdered. Oh, and sorry you'll never have her body to bury."

EDIT: Upon looking back into it, apparently Craig County PD did defer to the Oklahoma BCI. How any crimes are ever solved in Oklahoma, if this case is indicative of the way they handle cases, I'll never understand.

The FBI was involved in the investigation early (https://www.newson6.com/story/5e36861d2f69d76f6209bb57/fbi-search-for-missing-welch-girls-goes-national) on.

According to this (https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/two-girls-went-missing-from-welch-almost-two-decades-ago-why-did-it-take-so/article_81c1129a-f42d-5790-9430-431473c1219c.html) article, the FBI knew about the existence of the insurance card and interviewed Welch's girlfriend on January 3rd, 2000.

But the same article says the OSBI was lead agency, not FBI. And when given the location of the car Welch was using, the agent in charge, Steve Nutter, said they weren't going to bother checking it out because "it had gone through too many hands."

They had this evidence, and they had people saying Welch and the others had bragged about it, but instead they still went off pursuing other dead end leads.

It's absolute bulls***, and it's a real shame Nutter can't be brought up on some kind of charge or be subject to a lawsuit or SOMETHING. He had the evidence and just sat on it. There is absolutely no way anyone is that inept. That had to be intentional.

But the same article says the OSBI was lead agency, not FBI. And when given the location of the car Welch was using, the agent in charge, Steve Nutter, said they weren't going to bother checking it out because "it had gone through too many hands."

And the PI hired by the family, Pryor, says that he went to the OSBI about the card and that they ignored him. Then 4 days after their disappearance, the FBI interviewed Welch's girlfriend. So how did the FBI find out about the insurance card if this piece of evidence was ignored? From the same article:

“As far as that goes, the FBI had some notes (about the existence of the insurance card). I wonder why they didn’t follow the leads? I never was contacted by the FBI or the sheriff’s office.”

As it turns out, a court affidavit filed earlier this year by a new OSBI agent and a District Attorney’s Office investigator who began actively re-investigating the case in 2013, revealed that FBI agents had documented the finding of the insurance card and even interviewed the car’s owner.

I am willing to believe the theory that the OSBI fully believed initially that Danny was responsible for his wife's murder and the abduction of the girls, and downplayed (or outright ignored) evidence implicating others, but I can't buy into this PI, years later, saying that had they just listened to him about this insurance card (and since the FBI documented it, they did) that the girls could have been saved.

According to the affidavit (https://www.fourstateshomepage.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2019/07/Busick-Information-and-Affidavit-CF-2018-56.pdf), the FBI interviewed the owner of the insurance card (Welch's girlfriend at the time of the murders) and she said that Welch had no association with Danny Freeman. But roughly a year after this interview, Nutter interviewed another ex-girlfriend of Welch's who told him about the polaroid pictures. About 6 months later, Nutter interviewed the owner of the insurance card and she reiterated that Welch knew the Freeman's, and she left Welch because he became violent towards her.

So if I'm reading this right, the OSBI did follow up on the insurance card lead, but did so roughly a year after the murders. And the affidavit gives no context as to what brought about the 2nd round of interviews a year later, but I did find this (https://groups.google.com/g/alt.true-crime/c/j1sGaKtm1Fs?pli=1) article from January 2nd, 2001. So the second ex-girlfriend most likely reached out after that article was published. If there's anything to be more incensed about, it isn't that the insurance card lead wasn't followed up on, but the information provided in 2001 about the polaroid pictures, the girls being held captive for a few weeks, etc. was completely ignored. It seems as if Nutter disregarded this after re-interviewing the first ex-girlfriend.

If there's anything to be more incensed about, it isn't that the insurance card lead wasn't followed up on, but the information provided in 2001 about the polaroid pictures, the girls being held captive for a few weeks, etc. was completely ignored. It seems as if Nutter disregarded this after re-interviewing the first ex-girlfriend.

That's what I meant when I said the thing about them having the testimony of others. It's as though he went out of his way to avoid this particular theory, instead investigating dead ends that...I mean, if he had "evidence" to point at someone else, how could he completely ignore actual physical evidence AND testimony from people and not bother following up on that?