Search At Dead Suspect’s Property Underway For 2 Welch Girls Missing Since 1999

Crews were digging on an old property in Picher Tuesday, searching for the bodies of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman. The girls have been missing for more than 20 years.  

The crews were searching a property where one of the dead suspects used to live.  

"We know our suspect David Pennington moved in here about two to three weeks after the murder. He suddenly left Chetopa,” District 12 District Attorney Investigator Gary Stansill said.  

Investigators said Pennington's relatives gave them key information that has search crews looking for a cellar that could hold answers to the decades old murder case.  

Investigators are digging several feet deep, trying to reach undisturbed soil. So far, they think they found an old septic tank. 

Stansill showed News On 6 old photos of Pennington's trailer. Stansill said key information came from Pennington's stepdaughter, who was 10 years old in 1999.  

Now in her 30s, she told investigators Pennington never wanted her, or her mom, to go anywhere near a cellar on the property.   

"There was something over here he didn't want them to see. And so, add all this together, it leads us out here today where we've got to excavate this to satisfy ourselves,” Stansill said. “It's just another step.” 

Lauria Bible's mom Lorene is grateful to be at the search; she is out of the hospital early after a life-saving liver transplant.  

"Seven months ago, it went bad. I couldn't even do a whole lot. And now I can go again. So, I just think that the good Lord's using it, maybe this is time that we can bring the girls home,” Lorene said.  

"Today is nothing short of a God given miracle, that Lorene can sit here today full of energy, probably more than mine. That's a miracle,” Stansill said.  

Now family and investigators say they are hoping and praying for another miracle.  

"And it will be. It will be. Once we find those girls, it will be an act of God,” Stansill said.  

Investigators said the work at the site will likely go beyond Tuesday but with rain in the forecast they are not sure yet when they will be back.