Welch Girls Still Missing As FBI Searches Mine Shafts for Bodies

Friday, January 7th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The search continued Friday for two 16-year-old Welch girls, now missing for more than a week. However, authorities still have no clues as to their whereabouts. Friday, local police and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents resumed what has become a most difficult search near Picher.

Divers returned for a second day of searching the same abandoned mine shaft located south of the small town. The search started because of a tip that the bodies of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman were in the area. But the search itself was difficult. Picher is dotted with 300 mine shafts, which connect to huge underground rooms, all filled with water.

The shaft that was searched Thursday and Friday was more than 200 feet deep. It was once used for access to lead and zinc mines which made Picher a boom town in the early part of the 20th century. In the summer of 1967, one of the mines collapsed causing several homes to fall into the crater, but no on was hurt.

The last of Picherâ€™s mines closed in 1962. However, mountains of chat still surround the community. The piles contain hazardous metals and because of the danger, the government has begun a multi-million dollar cleanup. Topsoil is being removed and replaced. The cleanup is expected to continue for years.

If someone did dump a body in a mine shaft, it would be difficult and dangerous to find. Divers left Friday without finding any bodies and will not return unless they get more specific information on what happened to the girls and where they now might be.

The F-B-I has dismantled its command post in Vinita while they still try to work the investigation. The F-B-I continues to ask for the public's help in locating the girls.