Have 'The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders' Ever Been Solved?
Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders is the latest true-crime documentary series to land on Hulu.
Fronted by Tony Award–winner Kristin Chenoweth, the four-part series explores the horrific rape and killing of Girl Scouts Lori Lee Farmer, 8, Doris Denise Milner, 10, and Michele Heather Guse, 9 on June 13, 1977, at Camp Scott in Mayes County, Oklahoma.
The four-part series also explores the intricacies of the case, how authorities are still uncovering new leads and the impact of the killings on the victim's families.
In the immediate aftermath of the killings, the Mayes County police had one main suspect, convicted rapist and prison escapee Gene Leroy Hart but has the case of the Oklahoma Girl Scout killings ever been solved? Newsweek has everything you need to know below.
Have the 'Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders' Ever Been Solved?
Technically, no, the Oklahoma Girl Scout killings case has never been officially solved and nobody has been convicted.
However, due to the developments in DNA-based evidence since the 1970s, Mayes County police believe they have an idea of who the killer was.
On June 13, 1977, at Camp Scott in Mayes County the bodies of Farmer, Milner, and Guse were uncovered inside sleeping bags on a trail leading to the camp showers by a member of camp staff, who recalls her discovery in the Hulu documentary, Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders.
Three decades later, Gene Leroy Hart remains the main suspect in the killings.
Hart was a local man and member of the Cherokee Nation. He had escaped from prison in 1973 and had a history of sexual violence against women. He had been found guilty of kidnapping and raping two pregnant women as well as four counts of first-degree burglary, when he managed to escape.
He was arrested on April 6, 1978, 10 months after the killings. He was staying at the home of a Cherokee medicine man in Cookson Hills of Cherokee County, 50 miles from Camp Scott where the girls bodies had been uncovered.
As seen in Hulu's Keeper of the Ashes, the medicine man was unaware of Hart's alleged involvement in the killings.
Hart was charged with the killings but was found not guilty by a jury and acquitted in March 1979.
He did spend the remainder of his life in prison on charges relating to kidnapping, raping of two pregnant women and first-degree burglary. He had 305 years of his 308-year sentence left to serve following the trial.
To the detriment of the Oklahoma Girl Scouts case, Hart died at the age of 35 on June 4, 1979, from a heart attack.
Since then, the killings of Farmer, Milner and Guse have remained officially unsolved, despite numerous pieces of evidence that seemed to point toward Hart as the killer.
The Evidence
In the 1980s, a decade after Hart's death, a DNA test carried out on case evidence showed three of the five probes matched Hart's DNA.
The case remained unsolved, but there were hopes of a breakthrough in 2008 when DNA tests on pillowcase evidence appeared to show a partial female DNA profile.
Ranker.com detailed that although experts were able to confirm the DNA did not belong to two of the victims, they could not exclude the possibility the DNA could belong to the third victim.
Sheri Farmer, mother of Lori Lee Farmer, has always suspected there may have been a female present at the time of her daughter's death.
Speaking to The Oklahoman,Sheri Farmer stated: "I've always felt in my gut that there was a girl present. Given the DNA results, you have to wonder if there wasn't also a female who took part in the murders."
In 2016, Mayes County Sheriff Mike Reed raised $30,000 in donations to reopen the case and carry out new DNA testing, reported People.
In May 2022, the Hayes authorities announced more DNA tests had been carried out in 2019 that strongly pointed to Hart's involvement in the killings.
However, officially, the results are to be deemed inconclusive as no full DNA profile has ever been developed in the case.
The tests also eliminated several other suspects but could not fully eliminate Hart.
Sheriff Mike Reed of Mayes County said in a statement: "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."
In a separate interview with The Oklahoman, Reed added: "Going back to the very first [investigation], I feel like they did a good job. And I never doubted their reasons for naming Hart as the suspect. We sat through every day of the trial.... But it was not a perfect scenario to find him guilty, and we ended up with a not guilty verdict."
"But through the years and knowing what's been investigated, I feel comfortable that that was the person in the beginning and it is still the person who committed our daughter's murder. It feels like it gives us some peace, but certainly no closure," Farmer said.
Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders is streaming on Hulu now.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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