Oklahoma Girl Scout murders

{{short description|Unsolved 1977 murder of three girls in Oklahoma}}

{{Infobox event

| title = Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders

| duration =

| date = June 13, 1977

| venue =

| location = Camp Scott, Mayes County, Oklahoma, U.S.

| coordinates = {{coord|36.162006| -95.166355 |display=inline,title}}

| also known as =

| type =

| theme =

| cause = Homicide by strangulation

| participants = 1

| outcome = Unsolved

| casualties1 = * Lori Lee Farmer, age 8;

| casualties2 = * Michele Heather Guse, age 9;

| casualties3 = * Doris Denise Milner, age 10

| reported deaths = 3

| arrests =

| suspects = Gene Leroy Hart

| accused =

| convicted =

| charges =

| verdict = Not guilty

| convictions = None

}}

The Oklahoma Girl Scout murders took place on the morning of June 13, 1977, at Camp Scott in Mayes County, Oklahoma, United States. The victims were three Girl Scouts, between the ages of 8 and 10, who were raped and murdered. Their bodies were then left on a trail leading to the campsite's showers, about {{Convert|150|yd|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} from their tent. The case was classified as solved when Gene Leroy Hart, a local jail escapee with a history of violence and rape, was arrested. However, Hart was acquitted in March 1979 after a jury unanimously returned a verdict of not guilty.{{Cite news |title=Convict Acquitted in Death of 3 Girl Scouts |work=The New York Times |date=March 31, 1979 |page=6 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/03/31/111089153.html?pageNumber=6 |url-access=subscription |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708164756/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/31/archives/convict-acquitted-in-death-of-3-girl-scouts-mother-bursts-into.html |archive-date=July 8, 2020 |url-status=live}}

Less than two months before the murders, during an on-site training session, a counselor at Camp Scott discovered that her belongings had been ransacked and her doughnuts had been stolen. Inside the empty doughnut box was a hand-written note, stating in capital letters, "We are on a mission to kill three girls in tent one." The director of that camp session treated the note as a prank, and it was discarded.{{cite web |last1=Palmer |first1=Griff |title=Survivor Didn't Like Tent Where Girls Died |url=https://oklahoman.com/article/2102373/survivor-didnt-like-tent-where-girls-died |website=The Oklahoman |access-date=October 6, 2020 |date=March 21, 1985}}{{Cite web |first=Cat |last=McAuliffe |title=The Horrifying Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders Remain Unsolved 45 Years Later |website=Ranker |date=2022-06-03 |url=https://www.ranker.com/list/oklahoma-girl-scout-murders/cat-mcauliffe |access-date=2024-09-17}}

DNA testing performed in 1989 was officially inconclusive, as it did reconfirm Hart{{snd}}a member of the Cherokee Nation{{snd}}as a suspect, but did not narrow the pool of possible suspects enough, showing that it applied to 1 in 7,700 Native Americans. DNA testing performed in 2017, taking advantage of a further 28 years of advances in testing, strongly suggests Hart’s involvement in the crime, though the case remains officially unsolved.

Discovery of the bodies

At around 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 12, 1977, the night before camp started, the girls huddled in their tents. Among them were Lori Lee Farmer (8), Doris Denise Milner (10), and Michele Heather Guse (9).{{cite news |title=Slain Girl's Services |agency=United Press International |work=The Bonham Daily Favorite |location=Bonham, Texas |date=June 17, 1977 |page=1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11657056/the_bonham_daily_favorite/ |access-date=June 13, 2017 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}} The girls were all residents of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa. They were sharing tent #7 in the camp's "Kiowa" unit, which was located the farthest from the camp counselors' tent{{cite news |last=Stanley |first=Tim |title=40 years ago, the murders of three Girl Scouts in Oklahoma stunned the nation, created shockwaves still being felt |work=Tulsa World |date=June 11, 2017 |url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/years-ago-the-murders-of-three-girl-scouts-in-oklahoma/article_684eb15d-6f53-52b3-9cb3-53314bb59320.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=June 13, 2017}} and partially obscured by the camp’s showers.

At around 6 a.m. on June 13, a camp counselor on her way to the shower saw a girl's body in her sleeping bag in a wooded area just outside the tent area. It was discovered that all three girls from tent #7 were missing. As counselors began searching, they discovered the girls from tent #7 had been murdered. Two bodies were inside a sleeping bag, crumpled towards the bottom of the bag, and one body was visible on the outside. They had been left on a trail leading to the showers, about 150 yards from their tent.{{cite news |last=Palmer |first=Griff |title=Jury Finds in Favor Of Scout Council Slain Girls' Parents "Shocked' |work=The Oklahoman |date=March 28, 1985 |url=http://newsok.com/article/2103189 |access-date=August 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501125839/http://newsok.com/article/2103189 |archive-date=May 1, 2018 |url-status=dead}} Subsequent testing showed that they had been bludgeoned and strangled. All three girls had been raped.{{cite news |last1=Keeping |first1=Juliana |last2=Bailey |first2=Brianna |title=Girl Scout murders in Oklahoma remain unsolved 40 years after tragedy |work=The Oklahoman |date=June 14, 2017 |url=http://newsok.com/article/5552738 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719015749/http://newsok.com/article/5552738 |archive-date=July 19, 2017 |url-status=dead |access-date=August 30, 2022}}

A large, red flashlight was found on top of the girls' bodies; a smudged fingerprint was found on the lens, but it has never been identified as it was too smudged for a positive identification. A footprint from a 9.5 size shoe was also found in the blood in the tent. Between 2:30 and 3 a.m. on June 13, a landowner reported hearing "quite a bit" of traffic on a remote road near the camp.

Aftermath

Camp Scott was evacuated and was later shut down.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

= Suspect =

Gene Leroy Hart (November 27, 1943 – June 4, 1979) had been at large since 1973 after escaping from the Mayes County Jail. He had been convicted of kidnapping and raping two pregnant women as well as four counts of first-degree burglary.{{Cite web |last=TV |first=Molli Mitchell Senior |last2=Reporter |first2=Film |date=2022-05-25 |title=Who is Girl Scouts Murder Suspect Gene Leroy Hart and Where Is He Now? |url=https://www.newsweek.com/gene-leroy-hart-who-killed-girl-scouts-suspect-hulu-1710060 |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=Newsweek |language=en}} Raised about a mile from Camp Scott, Hart, a member of the Cherokee Nation, was arrested within a year at the home of a Cherokee medicine man. He was represented by Garvin A. Isaacs, a local Oklahoma attorney. He was tried in March 1979. Although the local sheriff pronounced himself "one thousand percent" certain that Hart was guilty, a local jury acquitted him.{{cite news |last=Broyles |first=Gil |title=Jury acquits suspect in Girl Scout murders |work=St. Petersburg Times |agency=Associated Press |date=March 31, 1979 |page=3A |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19790331&id=zc5aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QXwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5628,6229620 |access-date=June 13, 2017 |via=Google News Archive}} As a convicted rapist and jail escapee, Hart still had 305 years of his 308-year sentence left to serve in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

On June 4, 1979, two years after the murders, Hart collapsed and died of a heart attack at the age of 35 after about an hour of lifting weights and jogging in the prison exercise yard.{{cite news |title=Autopsy shows Hart died of heart attack |work=Lawrence Journal-World |agency=Associated Press |date=June 6, 1979 |page=13 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/anonymous-crime-clipping-jun-06-1979-304072/ |access-date=June 13, 2017 |via=NewspaperArchive.com}}

=Civil suit=

Two of the families later sued the Magic Empire Council and its insurer for {{US$|5|link=yes}}{{nbsp}}million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|5|1985|r=1}}{{nbsp}}million in {{Inflation/year|US}}), alleging negligence. The civil trial included discussion of the threatening note and the fact that tent #7 was {{convert|86|yd|adj=off}} from the counselors' tent. In 1985, by a 9–3 vote, jurors decided in favor of Magic Empire.

= DNA testing =

In 1989, DNA testing was conducted that showed three of the five probes matched Hart's DNA. Statistically, DNA from 1 in 7,700 Native Americans would obtain these results.{{Cite news |first=Robby |last=Trammell |title=DNA Tests Link Gene Leroy Hart to Girl Scout Deaths |work=The Oklahoman |date=1989-10-25 |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1989/10/25/dna-tests-link-gene-leroy-hart-to-girl-scout-deaths/62593131007/ |access-date=2024-09-17}} In 2008, authorities conducted new DNA testing on stains found on a pillowcase, the results of which proved inconclusive because the samples were "too deteriorated to obtain a DNA profile".{{cite news |title=DNA Testing Inconclusive in Girl Scout Murder Case |work=KOTV-DT |agency=Associated Press |date=June 25, 2008 |url=http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=8545813 |access-date=June 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221234731/http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=8545813 |archive-date=December 21, 2016 |url-status=dead}} In 2017, {{US$|30000|link=yes}} (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|30000|2017|r=-2}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) in donations were raised by the sheriff in order to do new DNA tests using the latest advances in testing.{{cite news |last=Pelisek |first1=Christine |title=My Daughter Was Killed at Girl Scout Camp: How an Okla. Mom Seeks Justice 40 Years After Slaying |work=People|date=February 1, 2018 |url=http://people.com/crime/girl-scout-murder-mom-lori-farmer-speaks/ |access-date=February 23, 2018}} In 2022, authorities made public that DNA evidence strongly suggests Hart's involvement.{{Cite news |first=Tim |last=Stanley |title=DNA points to longtime primary suspect in 1977 Girl Scout slayings, sheriff says |work=Tulsa World |date=May 6, 2022 |url=https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/dna-points-to-longtime-primary-suspect-in-1977-girl-scout-slayings-sheriff-says/article_14e58afe-cc85-11ec-ba16-d35876c08fff.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-05-07}} Sheriff Mike Reed of Mayes County said, “Unless something new comes up, something brought to light we are not aware of, I am convinced where I’m sitting of Hart’s guilt and involvement in this case.” Reed said the results of the DNA tests have been known since 2019, but did not go public with the findings until asked to do so by the victims' families.

Legacy

Richard Guse, the father of one of the three victims, went on to help the state legislature pass the Oklahoma Victims' Bill of Rights. He also helped found the Oklahoma Crime Victims Compensation Board.{{cite news |last=Palmer |first=Griff |title=Victim's Father Given Award |work=The Oklahoman |date=January 17, 1985 |url=http://newsok.com/article/2095020 |access-date=June 13, 2017}}

Another parent, Sheri Farmer, founded the Oklahoma chapter of Parents of Murdered Children, a support group.{{cite news |last=Jackson |first=Ron |title=Three Girl Scouts were murdered thirty years ago |work=The Oklahoman |date=June 10, 2007 |url=http://newsok.com/article/3064626 |access-date=June 13, 2017}}{{cite news |last=Olson |first=Pam |title=Shadow of doubt |work=Tulsa World |date=June 9, 2002 |url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/shadow-of-doubt/article_ef518cfb-8b62-5da0-8fbd-a5a779c282d2.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=June 13, 2017}}

As a result of the Supreme Court case. McGirt v. Oklahoma (2021), which determined that crimes involving Cherokee natives on Cherokee lands in Oklahoma fell under tribal rather than state sovereignty, new details about the killings are being investigated by the Cherokee Nation.{{cite news |first=Allison |last=Herrera |title=1977 Northeast Oklahoma Girl Scout murders case gets fresh look in wake of 'McGirt' ruling |work=KOSU |date=2023-07-06 |url=https://www.kosu.org/history/2023-07-06/1977-northeast-oklahoma-girl-scout-murders-case-gets-fresh-look-in-wake-of-mcgirt-ruling |access-date=2024-08-17}}

= Documentaries =

A 1993 documentary called Someone Cry for The Children: The Girl Scout Murders, based on the book of the same name by Michael and Dick Wilkerson, was released. The documentary is narrated by Dale Robertson and Johnny Cash. It was directed by Michael Wilkerson.{{Citation |last=Wilkerson |first=Michael |title=Someone Cry for the Children: The Girl Scout Murders |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5912102/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt |type=Documentary |publisher=Barrister Productions Inc. |access-date=2022-05-08}}

A four-part ABC News documentary series, titled Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders, about the case was released on Hulu on May 24, 2022, a few weeks before the 45th anniversary of the crimes. It is hosted by actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth, who was an 8-year-old Girl Scout in 1977 and had planned to go on the camping trip but became ill and did not attend.{{cite magazine |first=Rachel |last=Schonberger |title=Kristin Chenoweth reveals shocking connection to Girl Scout murders: 'I should have been on that trip' |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=2022-05-16 |url=https://ew.com/tv/kristin-chenoweth-oklahoma-girl-scout-murders-hulu-docuseries/ |access-date=2024-09-17}}

References

Bibliography

{{Cite book |last=Michael and Dick Wilkerson |title=Someone Cry for the Children: The Unsolved Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders and the Case of Gene Leroy Hart |publisher=Doubleday |year=1981 |isbn=0-385-27152-2 |location=New York}}
{{Cite book |last=McCoy |first=Gloyd |title=Tent Number Eight: An Investigation of the Girl Scout Murders & the Trial of Gene Leroy Hart |publisher=Tate Publishing & Enterprises, LLC |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-61777-632-8}}
{{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=C.S. |title=The Camp Scott Murders: The 1977 Girl Scout Murders |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-5001-5735-7}}

External links

[http://newsok.com/article/3064626?mp=1&pg=2 "Three Girl Scouts were murdered thirty years ago"] in The Oklahoman
[http://www.voicesofoklahoma.com/interview/mcdonald-nancy/ Voices of Oklahoma interview with Nancy McDonald.] First person interview conducted on July 13, 2010, with Nancy McDonald, board member when the Girl Scout murders took place.
[http://www.tulsaworld.com/specialreports/girlscoutmurders/ 40 years after the Girl Scout murders] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810063104/http://www.tulsaworld.com/specialreports/girlscoutmurders/ |date=August 10, 2017 }} in the Tulsa World. The World has the definitive series on the murders published June 2017.
[http://www.campscottmurders.com "Murdered Girl Scouts at Camp Scott"]

Category:1977 murders in the United States

Category:1977 in Oklahoma

Category:Mayes County, Oklahoma

Category:Unsolved mass murders in the United States

Category:Child murder in Oklahoma

Category:Deaths by beating in the United States

Category:Deaths by strangulation in the United States

Category:Rapes in the United States

Category:Mass murder in Oklahoma

Category:Mass murder in the United States in the 1970s

Category:Girl Scouts of the USA

Category:June 1977 in the United States