The Disturbing Small Town Murders That Came Out Of Oklahoma
By Ashley|Published June 28, 2017
×
Ashley
Author
Ashley has lived in Oklahoma for 30 years and is the Oklahoma staff writer for onlyinyourstate.com. When she isn't writing about Oklahoma, she enjoys visiting the beach and exploring new areas.
Forty years ago this month, Oklahoma suffered one of its most horrific murder scenes near the small town of Locust Grove. The Girl Scout Murders of 1977 still remains unsolved to this day, and is one of the most disturbing crimes to ever come out of the state. Here’s a look back at what happened to three innocent girls at a summer camp in the hills of northeastern Oklahoma.
On June 12, 1977, the gates opened for the first group of 140 summer campers at Camp Scott in the small town of Locust Grove, Oklahoma. It was a favorite spot for Girl Scouts to gather and make new friends and create childhood memories.
Among them were Lori Lee Farmer, 8, Doris Denise Milner, 10, and Michele Guse, 9. The girls were all staying in tent #8 in the camp’s "Kiowa" unit – the most remote tent at the summer camp (a fourth girl was set to join the three campers in tent #8 the next day). There was no camp counselor in the tent with the girls that night.
The following morning on June 13th, a camp counselor was walking to the showers along a trail and made a gruesome discovery of the three girls from tent #8. The girls were found bludgeoned, strangled, sexually assaulted and murdered. Two of the girls had been killed inside the tent, while the other one was killed outside on the trail.
Camp Scott closed its doors on that day, never to reopen, after hosting nearly 50 years of Girl Scout camps. Many questions remain unanswered about the events that unfolded prior to, and at the time of the murders
Less than 2 months before the murders during a training session at the camp, a camp counselor discovered that her belongings had been ransacked and her doughnuts had been stolen. A note was left inside the doughnut box that someone vowed to murder three campers. The director of the camp considered the note a prank, and it was thrown away.
Gene Leroy Hart, a Cherokee, was arrested 10 months later at the home of a Cherokee medicine man and later tried in early 1979 for the murders, but was acquitted. Hart was raised 2 miles from Camp Scott. He was an escaped convict that had been on the run for 4 years, before being captured. He died shortly after his acquittal of an apparent heart attack. He wrote a note shortly before his death, professing his innocence.
These tragic murders still remain unsolved 40 years later. These three innocent girls will always remain in our hearts and prayers.
Do you think Gene Leroy Hart was responsible for the murders? If not, who do you think murdered the girls?
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
