Young Girls found dead near small Oklahoma town
Pastor Dale Morgan
Young Girls found dead near small Oklahoma town*
By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS,
Associated Press Writer AP - Wednesday, June 11
WELEETKA, Okla. - The bodies of two girls were found shot to death in
rural Oklahoma along a dirt road the best friends walked dozens of times
to play and go to sleepovers.
By Tuesday, investigators had no suspects and were unsure of the motive
for Sunday's killings of 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker and
11-year-old Skyla Whitaker.
Residents remained on edge knowing a murderer could be in this close
community of 1,000.
"Believe it or not, I have never pulled any shades in my house and I
keep my doors unlocked," said Dena Priddy, a teacher's aide at the
school the victims attended. "You just don't expect these things to
happen here."
Taylor's grandfather found their bodies after his wife got no answer
when she called Taylor's cellular phone. The girls were sleeping over at
Taylor's house and had decided to take a walk down the desolate road
Sunday afternoon.
Peter Placker sobbed uncontrollably Monday as he tried to remember
finding the girls' bodies about a quarter of a mile from his house near
Weleetka, about 70 miles south of Tulsa.
"I can't describe coming up on it," he said. "I done it once and I can't
do it again."
Kevin Rowland, chief investigator with the state medical examiner's
office, said the girls each suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head
and chest.
Full autopsy results were not available yet, but sexual assault appears
unlikely, said Special Agent Ben Rosser of the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation. He noted the girls were clothed and had only been missing
for a half hour.
Investigators were examining evidence, including tire tracks, shell
casings, ballistics and shoe prints for any possible leads.
"We will bring all the resources we need to try to help in our
investigation," Rosser said in an afternoon news conference.
But as of Tuesday afternoon, authorities had identified no suspects or
persons of interest in the crime.
"Nobody we could put a finger on and say this guy's good for it," Rosser
said.
A $14,000 reward was being offered for information about the killings.
Investigators suspect a local person was involved because the killings
occurred in such an isolated area, Rosser said. Possibilities include
that it was a random shooting, the girls had intended to meet someone or
they may have interrupted a crime that was occurring, he said.
Skyla's family said she walked barefoot almost everywhere and rode her
bicycle down endless dirt roads. Where she went, her many cats followed,
along with her pet goat. Skyla wanted to become a veterinarian, said her
grandmother, Claudia Farrow.
Taylor rescued helpless turtles crawling in the middle of the road and
wanted to become a forensic scientist like the ones on TV shows, said
Placker, who raised the girl.
"She was the best kid I've known," he said.
The murders particularly have shaken a community where some drivers
leave their keys in their cars and people who live 10 miles apart call
themselves neighbors.
"I can't put it into words," said Jake Fenley, Skyla's basketball coach.
"This doesn't happen in rural middle America."
For Priddy, that fear means taking extra precautions: "I got guns
loaded," she said defiantly. She also refuses to let her 14-year-old
daughter out of the house.
On Tuesday morning, Taylor's uncle, Joe Mosher, drove up to the
makeshift memorial at the place the bodies were found. Yellow crime
scene tape had been torn away and thick patches of grass were matted down.
A rosary hung from a branch, and stuffed animals and a bouquet of
flowers just beginning to wilt formed the grim reminder of innocence lost.
"It's the most tragic thing that I've ever seen," said Nell Mosher,
Taylor's aunt. "They were just two precious little babies; they were
good girls."