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Latest Dig for Missing Welch Girls Comes up Empty

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The latest search for two Green Country teenagers missing since December 1999 ended in more disappointment.

Investigators on Tuesday dug out a root cellar near a burned-down home in Picher, looking for the remains of Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible. They did not find anything there.

They were acting on a tip from Ronnie Dean Busick. The 68-year-old pleaded guilty last month to an accessory charge in the girls’ disappearance and Ashley’s parents’ murders. Gary Stansill, an investigator for District Attorney Matt Ballard, said while Busick told authorities there was a "75% chance" they’d find the girls there, the area looks very different now than it did more than two decades ago.

"I’ve heard that even former residents, people come out here and there’s no landmarks. Everything’s gone. And so, it makes it very difficult, even for people that used to live here, to find where things used to be," Stansill said.

Stansill said investigators are disappointed they didn’t find anything but will keep searching, including on tips from Busick.

"If the girls are recovered from anything that he gives us, his sentence will be reduced. So, I believe he’s trying. To what degree, I don’t know, you know? But he did direct us out here," Stansill said.

Investigators have more searches for the girls planned. They have also searched several mine shafts in the Picher area this year.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.
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