The murder of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman
Welch, Craig County, Oklahoma · 1999
Overview
On the night of December 29, 1999, Lauria Bible, 16, stayed over at her best friend Ashley Freeman's mobile home outside Welch, Oklahoma, for Ashley's sixteenth birthday. At about 5:30 the next morning firefighters found the home in flames. Kathy Freeman was inside, shot in the head; state agents first suspected her husband Danny of killing her and fleeing with the girls, until Lauria's parents searched the released rubble the next day and found his body too. Lauria's car sat in the driveway with the keys in it. The girls were never found. The case ran through national television, a recanted confession and a 2005 mine search that found nothing. In 2017 a new Craig County sheriff found a crate of old case files left by a previous administration. They led investigators to witness interviews that had been filed away: at least a dozen people said three men from a Picher-area methamphetamine circle, Warren "Phil" Welch II, David Pennington and Ronnie Dean Busick, had bragged about killing the Freemans over a drug debt, holding the girls for days and photographing them bound with duct tape. Welch died in 2007 and Pennington in 2015. Busick was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in April 2018, pleaded guilty in July 2020 to accessory to murder, and got 10 years after a dig he directed found nothing. He was released in May 2023. Lauria and Ashley remain missing.
How it was solved
There was no forensic breakthrough. There was a box of paper, and the people who had been in it all along. According to a probable cause affidavit reported by the Associated Press, Busick and the other suspects were linked to the case in 2017 after authorities recovered a crate containing reports and files about the original investigation from the office of a former sheriff. Craig County Sheriff Heath Winfrey, who took office that year, turned the notes over to the district attorney's investigator, Gary Stansill, who told the Tulsa World they had "proven to be extremely valuable" and had produced leads that produced more leads. People magazine reported that an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent had interviewed at least a dozen people years earlier who said they had knowledge of the missing girls, and that those findings had been filed away until new investigators, OSBI agent Tammy Ferrari and Stansill, took over the case. The affidavit said many of the witnesses had dated or lived with Welch, Pennington and Busick, that the men bragged about the murders and threatened to kill anyone who told, and that the motive was money and drugs. One witness said Busick "started running his mouth" about his involvement and that the girls "were kept alive for several days" in a mobile home. Others described Polaroids of the girls bound and gagged on a bed; a woman who lived with Welch after the murders said she found a briefcase of them. Investigators also tracked down a detective who had kept an insurance card found at the fire scene; it belonged to a woman who lived with Welch and often drove her car. With Welch and Pennington dead, Busick was the only suspect left to charge. Oklahoma officers served a warrant on him in a Kansas jail on April 22, 2018, the day he was due to be released on a probation violation. Prosecutors said they had believed from the start that he was an accessory rather than a principal, and in July 2020 he pleaded guilty to accessory to first-degree murder, admitting he had withheld what he knew about Welch and Pennington. His sentence would have dropped from 10 years to 5 if his information recovered the girls. A root cellar he picked from aerial photographs was excavated on August 18, 2020, and held nothing.
Sources
- Ronnie Busick Sentenced, Girls Still Missing (September 22, 2020)
“On December 29, 1999, local teenager Ashley Freeman turned 16. It was a night of celebration for her parents and for her best friend Lauria Bible.”
- Craig County Cold Cases: The Freeman Murders
“At approximately 5:30 a.m., Dec. 30, 1999, members of the Welch Fire Department were called to the home of Danny and Kathy Freeman at 7856 S. 4390 Road, Welch, in Craig County. Upon arrival, firemen found the mobile home fully engulfed by fire.”
- Newly Found Investigation Notes Provide Leads in 1999 Cold Case of Missing Girls (January 4, 2018)
“The cause of the fire was an accelerant that had been placed near the wood-burning stove, and investigators determined someone had driven down the Freeman's dirt driveway. Bible's car was still in the driveway, but the keys were in the ignition.”
- Case of girls missing since 1999 gets new look (January 26, 2016)
“Lauria's car, for instance, was parked near the charred remains of the home, her keys still in the ignition, and her purse, which contained money, was found among the ruins.”
- Affidavit: Suspects bragged about abducting Oklahoma teens (April 24, 2018)
“The affidavit said Busick and the other suspects were linked to the case last year after authorities recovered a crate containing reports and files about the original investigator from the office of a former sheriff.”
- Graphic Polaroids Lead to Arrest of Man Accused of 1999 Abduction and Murder of 2 Oklahoma Girls (April 27, 2018)
“In a probable cause affidavit released this week, authorities say that an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent interviewed at least a dozen people who say they had knowledge of the missing girls. Their findings had been filed away, and just recently resurfaced when new investigators took over the case.”
- 1999 Welch murder suspect Ronnie Dean Busick booked into Craig County Jail (April 25, 2018)
“Craig County District Attorney Matt Ballard said the three suspects kept the girls alive for a time after the kidnappings, though it's not clear how long, and even took Polaroids, showing them to multiple people over the years.”
- Mother of Lauria Bible speaks to alleged perpetrator (April 26, 2018)
“For the first time in 18 years of searching for answers, the mother of Lauria Bible spoke with someone accused of being directly involved in her daughter's disappearance.”
- UPDATED: Plea deal reached in Freeman-Bible murders case (July 15, 2020)
“Ronald Dean Busick admitted in court Wednesday that he withheld information from investigators about the involvement of Warren "Phil" Welch and David Pennington in the Freeman-Bible murders 20 years ago.”
- Investigators did not find anything at location Busick provided in missing Welch girls case (August 2020)
“"When asked why we should be looking at a root cellar, he mentioned that the other suspect David Pennington had made mentions that he had to fill in a root cellar shortly after the crimes," said Gary Stansill, District Attorney Investigator for District 12.”
- UPDATED: Busick sentenced in Freeman-Bible murder case (August 31, 2020)
“District Judge Shawn Taylor accordingly sentenced Busick to 15 years for the crime, with 10 of the years to be spent in lockup. The judge told the defendant that he would receive credit for the time he has spent in jail since his arrest in April 2018.”
- 'There Will Be Answers Today,' New Search Underway For 'Hell in the Heartland' Teens (April 27, 2021)
“Both the deceased suspect's relatives, as well as former neighbors, told investigators of the "possibility of a cellar type structure" on or near Pennington's former property in Picher.”
- Family Furious After Man Convicted In Welch Girls' Disappearance Gets Early Prison Release (April 28, 2023)
“Busick will be released May 19, with credit for time served after serving less than three years. His actual release date is May 21, but that is a Sunday.”
- Families, Politicians "Outraged" Over Early Release of Man Convicted in Bible-Freeman Murders (May 19, 2023)
“At the time, investigators with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation believed Danny killed his wife before running off with the girls, making him the prime suspect.”
- 26 years later, Oklahoma cold case investigation continues for missing Welch teens (December 30, 2025)
“Over the years, investigators have followed leads — including searching a root cellar based on information from Busick — but those efforts have so far turned up no new evidence.”