OSBI Releases New Details In 1999 Disappearance Of Two Craig County Teens

Ashli Sims, News On 6

WELCH, Oklahoma -- The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation released new information Thursday about vehicles seen in the area where two Craig County teenagers went missing more than a decade ago.

12/30/2009 Related story: Ten Years Later, Welch Girls Still Missing

While the mother of one of the missing girls is glad to see the agency hasn't given up on her daughter's case, she says she can't help but wonder, why now?

Lorene Bible has never let go of a flame of hope that one day she will find out what happened to her daughter, Lauria, and Lauria's best friend, Ashley Freeman.

"My main objective is to find Lauria and bring her home," she said.

Eleven years ago, Lauria went to spend the night at Ashley Freeman's home in Welch and never came home.

Ashley's parents were found shot to death and their home burned to the ground. The 16-year-old girls were never seen or heard from again.

Now the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says they need the public's help to find two vehicles spotted near the scene of the crimes.

An OSBI spokesperson says a dark-colored sedan was seen heading east and a dark-colored, heavy-duty pickup truck was also identified, heading north, both around 5:30 in the morning on December 30th, 1999.

"Just makes you want to think, why wait eleven years? What have you done with this information for the last eleven years?" Lorene Bible said.

OSBI says the tip about the car wasn't released earlier, because it was vague. And the second tip about the truck came from a recent interview.

Lorene Bible says a film crew was shooting a documentary in the area several weeks ago and that might have helped shake loose new information.

"I do. I hope any tidbit," she said. "You never know if that's what it's going to take to get people talking."

Bible says she refuses to give up. She says a piece of advice that she got from the host of America's Most Wanted has fueled her over eleven years of promising leads and empty searches.

"John Walsh said, 'You have to fight. You have to be your daughter's voice.' And I have done that," she said.

A Craig County judge declared Ashley Freeman legally dead on October 18, 2010.   Lorene Bible says that's a step she just can't take, because that would be a sign that she'd given up all hope.

OSBI asks that you call 1-800-522-8017 with any information about this case.