New search announced for long-missing Oklahoma girls bodies

PICHER, Okla. (AP) — Authorities have announced a new search for the bodies of two northeast Oklahoma girls missing since 1999. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and Craig County District Attorney Investigator Gary Stansill say investigators will search a cellar Friday on vacant land in the former town of Picher where a suspect in the girls’ disappearance lived at the time. The search is for the remains of Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible, who were 16 when they disappeared from Freeman’s home near Welch on Dec. 30, 1999. Freeman’s parents were found dead in the burned rubble of the home and Ronnie Busick of Wichita, Kansas, pleaded guilty to an accessory to murder charge in the case in August.