| City/Town: • Locust Grove |
| Location Class: • Amusement |
| Built: • 1928 | Abandoned: • June 13, 1977 |
| Status: • Endangered • Private Property |
| Photojournalist: • AbandonedOK Team • Billy Dixon • David Linde • Johnny Fletcher |
First opening on August 11, 1928 as Camp Ma-Del-Co and running for just a two-week period. Costs ran at either $5.00 for the first five days or $9.00 for the entire ten-day stay. The camp and the 240-acres it sits on were owned by the Tulsa Scout Council, there were a total of twenty buildings on the property at the time of opening complete with plumbing and running water. Camp activities included swimming, CPR training, archery, pathfinding, bridge building, bird study, insect life, and leadership skills. Just a few short years later it got the name Camp Scott, it would keep this until and well after its closing.
Over the next almost five decades the camp held numerous events including the Rancho Festival, Water Carnival, and Oklahoma Academy of Science’s annual meeting and even at one point holding the State Conference of 1947. Continuing to teach kids vital skills and the greatness of the outdoors, attendance was all but low with attendance reaching 4,606 girls attending the camp in 1957 alone. In 1977, Camp Scott was celebrating its 49th year as a keystone of the Tulsa-based Magic Empire Girl Scout Council when tragedy struck.
In April of 1977 during an on-site cadet weekend, camp aide Michelle Hoffman found her and her campmates’ tent ransacked and some donuts that she had brought from home, emptied. In the empty box with the crumbs, she found a few pieces of tiny steno notebook paper with strange and threatening words written on them. On two or three pages was the word “kill” repeatedly written over and over again. Written on a fourth page was something even more threatening, “We’re on a mission to kill three girls.” Hoffman, concerned about the strange occurrence took the note to the camp director, who said she would check into it. She later learned that a group of girls at camp that weekend had supposedly confessed to doing the incident. Because summer camps are rife with ghost stories and such, the note was assumed to be a prank and discarded.
June 12, 1977, was the opening day of Camp Scott, hundreds of girls were dropped off by their parents for what they thought would be days of fun and the outdoors. Around 6 pm a thunderstorm hit the Mayes County area, and everyone throughout the camp huddled into their tents. In Tent #7 located within the Kiowa Camp area were three campers, Lori Lee Farmer (8 yo), Doris Denise Milner (10 yo), both native Tulsans, and Michele Guse (9 yo) of Broken Arrow.
“Dear Mom and Dad and Misti and Jo and Chad and Kathy. We’re just getting ready to go to bed. It’s 7:45. We’re at the beginning of a storm and having a lot of fun. I’ve met two new friends, Michele Guse and Denise Milner. I’m sharing a tent with them. It’s started raining on the way back from dinner. We’re sleeping on cots. I couldn’t wait to write. We’re all riding letters now ’cause there’s hardly anything else to do. With love, Lori” — Final letter from Lori Farmer
At around 6 a.m. the following morning, a camp counselor on her way to the shower found one of the victims’ body in her sleeping bag on the trail to the showers. The frightening discovery was soon made, all three girls in tent #7 had been murdered. The camp scott bodies had been left on a trail leading to the showers, about 150 yards from their tent. Two of the girls were bludgeoned to death and the third being strangled, and horrifically sexually assaulted. Between 2:30 and 3 a.m. on June 13, a landowner heard “quite a bit” of traffic on a remote road near the camp. A red flashlight found on top of one of the girls’ bodies displayed a fingerprint on the lens, but it has never been identified, as well as a footprint from a 9.5 shoe size was also found in the blood in the tent.
Word to other camps all across the state such as Camp Red Rock spread quickly and security was increased at all other locations. All of the girls at Camp Scott were sheltered from the news and evacuated from the property and brought to Tulsa for their parents to pick them up. The Magic Empire Council, owner of Camp Scott at the time came under immediate fire for contacting their insurance provider and attorney before notifying the parents of the deceased of what had happened to their children. Camp Scott quickly became a massive crime scene with the entire property scattered with police and the FBI. The case sparked the largest manhunts in Oklahoma history having over six hundred volunteers coming out to search and costing over $100,000.
After bringing in tracking dogs, police believed they had located the murder weapon on June 16, publicly revealing it to have been a crowbar. While no camp scott murders suspects had been officially identified yet, the press were already speculating that an escaped convict by the name of Gene Leroy Hart may have been involved. Police had also located a cave around a few miles away that appeared to have had someone living in it. Inside the cave were eyeglasses stolen from Camp Scott, duct tape that matched the tape found at the scene, a flashlight battery, and two photographs featuring three women that investigators linked to Hart. The cave was a few hundred feet from a cellar and foundation that had been Gene Hart’s childhood home. Writing on the wall of another nearby cave read, “The killer was here. Bye bye fools. 77–6–17″.
Gene Leroy Hart had been convicted in Mayes County of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two pregnant women. He was taken into prison on 10-15-1966 and given two ten-year sentences to be served concurrently. In 1973 he had escaped with two other inmates from Mayes County Jail, remnants of his childhood home being only a few miles from the Camp Scott site speculation of him being the murderer spread like wildfire. And by the end of the month, Gene Leroy Hart was charged with first-degree murder. On July 30, 1977 using the American Indian Movement as a spokesperson, Hart denied having any role in the girls’ deaths but said he would continue running out of fear that if he were to surrender he would “have the hell shot out of him.”
Hart was arrested finally found and arrested ten months later on April 6, 1978 at the home of a Cherokee medicine man after a local tip came in about his whereabouts. He was deemed fit to stand trial which was slated to start on March 19, 1979. Although the local sheriff thought Hart to be “one thousand percent” guilty a local jury acquitted him of the charges and he was found innocent on March 31, 1979. Hart would return to prison at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary serving 145 to 305 years for his previous crimes of rape, kidnapping and burglary, charges unrelated to the Girl Scout slayings. The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders is still to this day an unsolved crime in rural Mayes County, Oklahoma. On June 4, 1979 after only being back in prison for a little over a month Gene Leroy Hart collapsed from a heart attack and was pronounced dead at the McAlester Regional Hospital.
June 13th, 1977 was the last day that Camp Scott was open after nearly 50 years of hosting Girl Scouts, it closed its doors and never reopened. Two of the families later sued the Magic Empire Council and its insurer in a $5 million alleged negligence action when the girl scouts were murdered at the camp. The civil trial included a discussion of the notes from April 1977 that would be brought up among evidence cited in trying to prove the Girl Scouts should have been alert in advance to possible danger. The fact that tent #7 lay 86-yards from the counselors’ tent. The defense suggested that the future of summer camping, in general, hung in the balance. In 1985, by a 9–3 vote, jurors sided with the camp. Magic Empire Council decided to sell the entire property and remnants of the camp buildings in 1988
Richard Guse, the father of Michele Guse, went on to help the state legislature pass the Oklahoma Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights and the Oklahoma Victims’ Compensation Board. Sheri Farmer, the mother of Lori Farmer, went on to found the Oklahoma Chapter of Parents of Murdered Children a support group to help those grieving.
After years and years of multiple DNA tests with no definitive answers and the main suspect deceased, it seemed as though most citizens had just accepted that the case would never be officially closed. But as of May 2022 investigators say recent DNA testing has ruled out every single possible suspect, except one. Mayes County Sheriff Mike Reed has spent the last nine years digging into this case after Lori Farmer’s parents asked him to give the case a fresh look. Reed said there’s no doubt in his mind, that the evidence shows, Gene Leroy Hart is the killer.
“I pray that there’s something that we’ve done that gives the family a second of something that even resembles closure or acceptance or something I pray that. But as far as peace, there is absolutely nothing about this case that has given me one second of peace. Period. From watching the pain on the family to having to go through the crime scene before during and after, from watching the legal system to watching the parole board, to watching how this whole thing played out, to watching how people would use this to springboard their own personal agendas, there ain’t nothing about this whole thing that is peaceful. It is evil.”
Lori’s mother, Sheri Farmer, said “It’s a journey I wouldn’t wish on anyone. It’s shocking. It’s different than a death. It’s different than a loss because our daughter was murdered. It was intentional and she died with two other little girls that we don’t want to forget either.”
The conspiracy theories surrounding this case can now be put to rest. The case can now be closed after a long 45-year journey.
Article by AOK Photojournalist Emily Cowan.
We want to give a huge thanks to Kevin Weaver over at GirlScoutMurders.com for giving us a personal tour and his help researching.
THIS SITE IS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY AND IS NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, THOSE THAT TRESPASS WILL BE PROSECUTED.
Gallery Below of Camp Scott
[Photograph 2012.201.B0251.0822], photograph, June 2, 1978; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc340017/: accessed March 13, 2021), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.
“2 May 1940, 3 – The Oklahoma Daily at Newspapers.com.” Newspapers.com, www.newspapers.com/image/674423407/?terms=camp%20scott&match=1.
“27 Feb 1958, 3 – Sand Springs Leader at Newspapers.com.” Newspapers.com, www.newspapers.com/image/596786019/?terms=camp%20scott&match=1.
“29 Aug 1988, 55 – The Daily Oklahoman at Newspapers.com.” Newspapers.com, www.newspapers.com/image/451710826/?terms=camp%20scott%20open&match=1.
“3 Aug 1928, 1 – Grand Valley Times at Newspapers.com.” Newspapers.com, www.newspapers.com/image/587009105/?terms=camp%20scott%20open&match=1.
East, Michael. “Unsolved Mysteries: Horror at Camp Scott: The Girl Scout Murders.” Medium, 28 Feb. 2021, medium.com/the-mystery-box/horror-at-camp-scott-the-girl-scout-murders-78195eb3eb49.
“Girl Scout Murders: A Timeline of Events from the Murders in June of 1977.” Tulsa World, 8 June 2017, tulsaworld.com/girlscoutmurders/girl-scout-murders-a-timeline-of-events-from-the-murders-in-june-of-1977/collection_c2b5fa1d-1d3b-5aad-8ea4-07cab08c6701.html.
Tim Stanley Tulsa World. “Girl Scout Murders: Strange ‘mission to Kill’ Note Leaves a Mystery, Stirs Conspiracies.” Tulsa World, 8 June 2017, tulsaworld.com/girlscoutmurders/girl-scout-murders-strange-mission-to-kill-note-leaves-a-mystery-stirs-conspiracies/article_b480318f-eb5b-500d-8688-6d325f5c3b25.html.
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I have bought the books…read the papers and all info I could find. But unlike some I Oklahomans… have always believed Hart guilty. And, I believe he acted alone. Such a sadness that People in helping Hart hampered the investigation and prolonged the ending. Hart did not deserve the support… THE PARENTS of these children did! My PRAYERS and APOLOGY to the families! I have read comments from Jolie Farmer and believe YOU and YOUR FAMILY knew Hart was guilty… but, I realize it changes nothing…. I have also lost a child… I HAVE ONLY LEARNED ONE THING…THAT HEAVEN IS NOT A NURSING HOME! Prayers to you ALL
Wow.. I stumbled upon this case through a podcast.
I’m a criminal justice major at a university in Canada.
If anyone has any information or would like to share details on their recollections of this case, please feel free to contact me, I’d be very interested in hearing perspectives of what this case felt like back when it had occurred.
My heart truly goes out to every victim of this cruel crime, and I pray this never happens to anyone else out there.
Please feel free to contact me, I feel very strongly on this case for some reason. my email is nickyjaipersaud@gmail.com
Quite frankly, if that sheriff did not let Hart escape, not once, but twice–this may of never happened at all.
We went out there and ran into a bunch of settlers/ squatter types? like a meth paradise, Did you have the same?
Did anyone watch the special on News Channel 6?
I thought it was tent #8?
An officer that has passed asked to keep this open he said he new who it was , the guy that wanted everyone to know he wasn’t the one but stayed around , I believe this they guy he meant , may he rest in peace now
Dear God Jesus Holy Spirit, Please Love, Bless, and Allow YOUR camping area to be healthy and reopening. Yes. Thanksgiving Thankful Thanks. IN EMMANUEL ALMIGHTY Jesus NAME ABOVE ALL names. Amen love Gary Don Nicholas:)
Who owns it now?
Gene Leroy Hart is the murderer and all the evidence points to him.
He knew the area well
He was an excellent outdoorsman
He was tied to the cave via the photograph of a woman at the jail he was at; he was one of only 2 people who had access to that photo and the other one has a rock tight alibi 500 miles away from the crime scene.
The cave where the photograph was found also had 1/2 piece of ripped newspaper; other 1/2 was found in a flashlight at the murder scene
Hart had a fetish for womens eyeglasses — eyeglasses from various tents were found strewn around the crime scene. When Hart was captured, look at his photos — he’s wearing womens eyeglasses
At Hart’s hideout house where he was captured later, a corncob pipe and a mirror were found which were verified posessions of girls at the camp site.
Hart had a violent criminal history against women
DNA evidence showed that there was a 1 in 7000 chance that someone other than Hart killed the girls. That was the best DNA testing available at the time.
Hart’s defenders always use the OJ defense — “the police planted everything because they are racist against Native Americans”
There’s zero evidence tying anyone else including other murderers in other cases to this crime scene.
Gene Leroy Hart did it.
May he rot in hell.
One of the lead investigators was a Native man, so that card is out the window! I don’t understand how anyone can investigate this story and come to any other conclusion. GUILTY
This murder details sound similar to BTK Dennis Rader idk but he was active during this time and only lived 3 hours away from the camp. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s thought of this but I had to say it publicly just incase with the way it sounds they don’t have much left to go on with DNA so it will be very difficult to find th ed killer now without a confession. Such a sad story I just learned about it today and its very upsetting. Even more so to think of the time TV hats went by with no closer and the person responsible was never found. I hope karma caught up with him some way.
I am so excited that you are falling about the story about camp Scott location. There’s been a legend about the camps Scott location and how back in the day it was just a place people can stay and now I came a horrified haunting reminder what happens thank you
Wow! I mean…. I- have no words . As much as I love scary stories and ghost hunting and stuff like that. Reading it sent chills down my spine. My great condolences to the family of those who were murdered.
Btw, by I have no words I meant it shocked me. Didn’t want any confusion or anger, lol.
Who owns the camp now? Would like to see if they want to make it into a camp for regular people
There is evidence that was later released, Hart was the man.
No one said anything about a boy camp near by till I read this. They really need to reopen this case. But then again that could be the reason they haven’t match all the dna
In 2008 the DNA tests were inconclusive but they found a female DNA link not of the three girls. Lori Farmer always thought a female could have been involved. Question the counselors like Celia Stall or Carla Wilhite. Somebody from that camp knows the truth.
Sheriff Weaver died this year. His vendetta is over. Maybe reopen the case and give the girls justice? Celia Stall needs to be questioned more.
I went to summer camp there one year and also a few other times later with my girl scout troop. Years before these murders there was someone stalking. He even came into at least one of the platform tents the summer that I was there about 6 or 7 years before the murders. As I remember it was said that this was not a new occurrence.
At least some of the counselors had guns then, and actually fired a shot at him. Too bad they didn’t hit him. From what I have read, it sounds like when the murders happened that the counselors were not as cautious, and did not react to screaming girls, just assuming that they were being silly.
6 or 7 years prior to the murders would put Hart in prison for his original crimes that caused him to eventually escape. He escaped four years prior to he murders and it’s hard to find info about what year he was imprisoned for the 2 women rape and burglary charges. If this did go on for years how can it NOT be the Cavaliers.
[…] Credit: www.abandonedok.com […]
[…] Credit: www.abandonedok.com […]
If anyone has any information they think would be vital to the case, we run a Cold Case Podcast and would love to speak with you. Speculation or not, Any information is helpful.
9185579378
I purchased a beautiful, rustic, 2 room, 16×16 foot cabin approx. 25 years ago from the Locust Grove area and had it relocated to a south Tulsa hill. I was not aware of the connection to Camp Scott until one of the house movers who assisted in the relocation of this structure informed me that it had , in fact, come from that campsite. It looks very much like the Ranger House..but it did not have a front porch. There were bunk beds inside and an antique couch. It has been utilized as a peaceful retreat for prayer for many years now. Anything that the enemy would try to taint, God surely is able to redeem for good.
Per your last sentence: if that is true, God surely was able to prevent this kind of evil in the first place. Your logic makes a mockery of this horrible triple-child-murder. (As does some post way up-thread that said something like, “…in Jesus name may God allow the killers to be brought to justice.” Again, if he could do that now, why couldn’t he have just prevented it in the first place?
I would just like to say, I went to see this place off of 82 and was overwhelmed by the feeling I got as I got close to the Camp. It actually surprised me how evil and scary this place really is. I turned around and left.
Here’s at least half of the case solved : piece of cake if you know anything about crime solving and body language and accessibility and motive etc etc etc https://youtu.be/GWRKbOL7lhI
You keep posting this video and it’s very interesting. I would love to see all that you have on her. Hart or no Hart he did not act alone. Bludgeoning and strangling 3 girls is no easy feat for any one person. Also there is a 9.5″ shoe size footprint at the crime scene. That’s al the small end for a man but also the big end for a woman. Would love to know her shoe size.
What is her name? The video won’t open
I stayed at Camp Scott many times. At least once or twice on Spring weekend campouts as the “little sister” of a Scout and daughter of a chaperone; three or four times as a young Scout for Spring and fall campouts; and for three two-week summer camping sessions.
I loved all the adventures I had at Camp Scott along with the “Vanilla” and “Chocolate” swim sessions in the pool, the camp tables and tripod stools we learned how to lash together, how to gather wood and quickly build hot campfires and the arts and crafts I experienced which were usually structured around nature.
My 9-year-old daughter was signed up for the second summer camping session at Camp Scott in 1977. She was disappointed she didn’t get to go to the camp where I had spent so many happy hours as a child but living in Broken Arrow, OK we knew of Michele Guse and were horrified by the news of the murders.
I can understand why the camp was closed but after 40 years something should be done to utilize the property. Letting the camp, it’s structures, and it’s purpose languish in obscurity only lets the evil perpetrator win.
I would think that something could be done to beef up security and still let the campers have their days in the sun with good friends and tent mates,
Do you ever wonder if the murderer has returned to this location? Dang do you think he's ever read about himself on this site?
The murderer died in prison in ’79.
Possibly..and if so it would have only bee one of them…
[…] Abandoned OK – Camp Scott […]
[…] For 49 years, Camp Scott was the site of happy faces, laughter, and a lot of joy, but all of that changed on June 12, 1977 when three young campers were brutally murdered in their cabin their first night there. A counselor found their bodies packed in their sleeping bags early the next morning. And that’s when Camp Scott itself died, too. The murders were so horrific and terrifying that the camp closed that sad day and never reopened. It’s now in private hands, but you can check out photos of the site at Abandoned Oklahoma. […]
This case has always haunted me. My girls are grown now but when my youngest was little I was a brownie troop leader. I was a single father raising my kids, my daughter wanted to be in Girl Scouts and the troop at her school had no leader. Anyway I did and she was and went to camp for years, her sister did not. When my girls grew up my oldest daughter had severe problems and I ended up raising her daughter. She was in Girls Scouts. She went to camp every year. She was sexually assaulted at a young age and has struggled with that since.
I live in Michigan and even when I was a GS leader and encouraged the girls in my troop to go to camp, no one in the scouting community ever told us about the Camp Scott murders. Until I learned about the Camp Scott murders I always felt Girl Scout camp to be the safest place to send her during the summer.. Now I wonder, I still believe Girl Scouts to be a great girls organization and wish more girls were involved in it today.
Like most the incident is haunting you would thik that with DNA today it could be solved. I am sorry for your loss Jolie, I know you have made your sister proud and that she is looking down on you and yours from Heaven.
I am from Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I am very familiar with the incident at Camp Scott and was taught about it at a young age. My mom was actually a member of the same troop as the three girls that were murdered. My mom was supposed to be on that camping trip, but she had gotten sick right before and was unable to go. I'm very thankful that my mom wasn't able to go on that camping trip, and I know she is as well. It has still, however, caused her to be terrified of tent camping, to the point where she wouldn't let me go camping anywhere without an adult and a large group of people until was 17 or 18 years old.
I am also friends with the family of one of the girls who was killed. One of the girl's sisters lives in Tulsa, and her family goes to my church. At one of our Church's summer camps, there is an award given every year in honor of the young girl, to make sure that she is remembered for the lively, loving, young girl that she was.
I actually remember reading about a little girl who was supposed to go to camp and she fell ill and wasn’t able to attend. As a result of this tragedy I wasn’t allowed to go to GS summer camp, I didn’t know about the murders then. I jhst remember mentioning my desire to attend camp and my mother’s face just like she would faint dead away, and I was informed I would not be attending camp! I am from Oklahoma by the way!
I'm involved in a paranormal investigation group. Is there someone I can contact in regards to going out to the property to investigate?
[…] First, nearly two months before camp began, one counselor who was present for a training session found her belongings had been vandalized and some food had been stolen. Within a now-empty doughnut box she found a handwritten note. The note claimed the writer would murder three campers. Thinking it was a prank, the camp director ignored it. […]
https://www.facebook.com/events/286466965144745/?…
Hi everybody. I discovered what happened in camp Scott recently, and I'm very impressed about it. However, the reason I write this is other. As many here, I think camp Scott should be opened despite the murders: if each place where somebody dies would be closed, almost all hotels and ocean liners, etc, would be abandoned. But I'd like to tell you the main reason. I'm from Spain, and I'm writing to say that the most FRIGHTENING, HORRIFYING AND INCREDIBLE tragedy never happened in a summer camp was here, in Spain. In July 11th, 1978, a year and a month after the murders of Camp Scott, a camp beside the beach in Tarragona named Los Alfaques was full of Spanish, French and especially German campers. A truck carrying propane gas did not used the turnpike to avoid taxes and passed alonf the secondary old road who pass beside the camping. Just when truck was at the entrance of camp, exploded. The expansive wave was like a nuclear bomb, bringing with it a temperature of more than 3632F (or 2000 grades). More than 100 campers died turn into carbon statues. Others saw the wave of fire coming and ran towards the beach, but the water of the shore boiled. Cars and gas bottles in cabins and caravans exploded. When help arrived, a half of the camp was carbonized, and corpses where everyplace as in a modern Pompeia, ones playing cards, others eating. The total amount was more than 200 deaths. Well, if I tell you this horror is because CAMP LOS ALFAQUES WAS CLOSED ONLY SIX MONTHS, IN SUMMER 1979 IT WAS OPENED AGAIN, AND REMAINS OPEN. Owners hate google results show the tragedy rather the website camp, but campers continue going there. It's certain many do not go because camp scare them, but many others go exactly because of what happened there, especially paranormal researchers in the months camp is closed to investigate. A place do not need to be closed or abandoned to investigate, and there is a lot of paranormal activity there: a lot. Usually witnesses say campers in the misty nights, on the roadside, with summer clothes in winter; witnesses are polices, doctors and many others you pass along that road. The first who saw ghosts were two reporters a year after, in 1979, when they stopped in the place one night to investigate after making a coverage about the tragedy. If you can't believe all this, please find it in google: almost all pages are in Spanish, but you can use the translator. I warn you images can impress you a lot. You only have to google and write Los Alfaques.
THESE KIDS WERE MURDERED! They did not just die. I would be scared to death too stay in such a place if I was a 10 year old or there about far from home in a place where such a thing happened. I for one would not reopen the camp. There are a lot of places in that area that could work as a scout camp.
Hey I came out to the old camp Scott property but couldn't find building like the great hall or anything like that… while walking down by the creek there was a ridge and my co-adventurers thought it all might be up there but didn't have a change to go look because it was dark.. does anyone know if all those buildings are low by the creek or up off the ridge?
I don’t think it looks scary and it would be a fun camp only f the girls didn’t die there
I lived in Chouteau, OK (not far from Locust Grove) as a child and remember the area well. After graduating high school, I lived in a Dallas, TX suburb – married with two daughter both of whom were Girl Scouts and I was troop leader for both. When my troops went camping – it was troop camping only. I had a large troop of 21 girls, an associate leader and a first aider – both had girls in my troop. Our troop camping consisted of a weekend in the fall and spring in fully enclosed buildings I never took them tent camping. The Oklahoma incident at Camp Scott was a nightmare still so real that I was afraid of tent camping. Our troop camped seven scouts plus one adult per building. We had wonderful camping trips; they earned many, many badges through troop camping and meetings in my home. When she was thirty, my younger daughter and her two children (6 & 8) died in a violent auto accident. I have since retired in Oklahoma. In so many ways, I sympathize with all three families and pray they have peace.
How wonderful and rewarding your scouting years sound with your daughters.
I am so sorry about the loss of your daughter and 2 grand children. May they remember your love as they are looking down from the heavens at you!
The best site for information on this is http://www.girlscoutmurders.com/
I know they recommend this site but it irritates me in a way because the camp was not abandoned. It was sold and has an owner and people still live there, at least they did last time I researched it. Someone Cry for the Children is a good book, but Tent Number 8 is not.
When we went to camp we always took the furthest tent.. There is nothing unusual about that.. We have spent more than a month at this point going over the pre-trial testimony and WOW! The police did NOT do a proper job.. Those poor babies need justice! I remember when this happened even though I was in another state.. My last name was also Farmer, (no relation that I know of).. Almost sickening that it is still not solved.. We are looking into finding someone who may be able to reopen this and get it done properly
[…] all I found were stories about the three Girl Scouts from Oklahoma who were murdered that year at Camp Scott. And, who could forget? Doris was 10. Michelle was nine. Lori was […]
Joli, I went to that camp 5 years before your sister was murdered there. I'm originally from Tulsa, and I don't remember how many times my Girl Scout troop went camping there, but I had so much fun there! It was so shocking and so horrifying about the murders. The fact that it is still unsolved only adds mystery. Bless you!
Excellent
This may be explained somewhere on the site or in these comments, but I read that the camp was abandoned in 1977, yet there are pictures of a rack for cigarettes with prices that are very much from the 2000s?
The land which the camp was on was bought by one of my friends & her husband & was reopened the pool & concession area in the late 90's & later closing it in the the early too mid 2000's.
I know that all the accounts of the discovery of the bodies state that camp counselor Carla Wilhite found them on her way to the showers. However, if the map shown at the top of this page is accurate, that is either impossible or at least HIGHLY unlikely. The counselors' tent is shown on THIS map right next to a building labeled as housing the shower facilities. Even the most cursory glance at the map quickly shows, therefore, that Counselor Wilhite would have had to CROSS the camp all the way over to the area of the murdered girls' tent to find the bodies BEFORE her shower. So, not only does this map NOT show that the spot where she found the bodies was on the way to the showers, it in fact shows the complete OPPOSITE. Anybody else notice this strange discrepancy?
She’s an accomplice for the Cavaliers.
I was within 3 miles of the okc bombing…my family and friends who worked around the building were not hurt…but it shook our souls…when it comes to the injustices of terrible crimes…especially against children it makes my blood boil….these beautiful little girls went to camp…they wanted to play..have fun…enjoy nature and friends…to laugh and explore….someone…I believe more than one…took their lives, their future, their goals and dreams….and those who hide the truth or protect guilty parties are just as guilty…the reason I keep up with this and many other cases is because I believe someone knows something…and hope that these little girls families get to get some sort of justice…which no punishment will ever be good enough….except hell which is even to good for some people….I don't ever think the camp should reopen…babies were murdered…its not a happy place..I have for the first time since the okc bombing went to the reflection pool…but can not make myself go into the museum itself…it took me 6 months just to leave my house after it happened…so what good can come from making a camp with so much pain a place for fun…God Bless the families….God knows who did this and His judgement will last forever
It's incredibly tragic that a place that held so many positive memories for so many people is now forever tainted.
Looking at these pics gives me a sick feeling in my stomach — mostly because this should have been a place that conjured up great memories of childhood. Not an abandoned footnote for a horrific crime.
The only solace is, it seems many Camp Scott scouts still have fond memories of a better time at this place.
This is one of those horrors that makes you wish you could turn back the clock. I wish those alums could have this place back the way it should be, instead of the way it is — that those girls had never been killed and this place wasn't here in pictures, abandoned and cold.
I went to the camp as a young girl two times. I went in 1973, 1974 and 1975. My parents felt it was a good camp for me to attend, however I remember hating it and being terrified every time I went. Times were different back then and people were more trusting. However, I remember everything about this camp as if I was there yesterday and I always felt scared and as a young girl of 10 years old never felt like the camp counselors were close enough and I remember writing letters to my parents and calling them crying and begging them to come pick me up. I remember the girls in my tent and I always heard noises outside the tent at night like someone was walking around and I slept every night with my head covered up because I was so scared. I dreaded it ever night and couldn't wait to go home. I would never allow my child now to go to a camp like this based on how it was laid out. The tents were not secure and anyone could have come and gotten me as a child as well. I feel blessed and fortunate that I didn't get killed. I always knew I was scared to death every second I was there. So, this has always haunted me even more knowing three beautiful girls were killed there only a few years after I was last there and knowing i always heard someone walking around by my tent. Was that the killer? Was he just trying to get the nerve to carry out the horrible act? It truly terrifies me to this day thinking about it.
Dana you could be on to something. He escaped in '74 (I think) do you remember hearing the sounds in '73? I imagined he had all year to scout the camp but perhaps he was stealing food to live in the woods at night. Did you alert counselors of the footsteps you heard? Im guessing they told you it was just the wind though…
Isn't it interesting how so many Oklahomans recall this tragedy like we do so many others, the Murrah bombing, the steakhouse murders, so many sad terrible things, but this one seems especially awful because the victims were children at a camp where everyone would have thought they were safe. I was living in Norman, just graduated from high school, and was a morning runner. I had gone out for a run the morning the little girls were discovered and my mother was waiting for me at the end of our driveway when I returned from my run and hugged me with tears in her eyes and told me about it. I had been a Girl Scout and she was a mother, and our whole state was in mourning. I will never forget it, and the fact the murders are unsolved makes it especially maddening.
I wish this website would NOT use a black background with white text. It is awful to try and read.
[…] Camp Scott Abandoned Summer Camp Photos […]
I was 15 when the murders happened. I had been a camper for 4 years there before.i remember the morning clearly, my mom who was a Girl Scout Leader and I were in the car together and heard it on the radio. I remember us just looking at each other in pure shock. We had stayed in Kiowa as a troop before, practiced backpacking all over the place and the two previous years I stayed there for primitive camp. On those two years we weren't even in the safe bounds of the camp, one on Lake Hudson and the other on Spring Creek. I loved that camp and many good memories. It broke my heart then and continues to break my heart what happened there. I knew a lot of counsellors there and as someone said, they were really kids to, college age. I went to a church camp to in the area outside of Tahlequah, I remember our counselors the summer of '77 having walking talkies and higher security. This was while they were looking for Gene Leroy Hart. I also knew someone on the jury and talking to her years later she said the evidence just left too much room for doubt. My prayer is someday so many of us see closure and peace. Still so haunting. I pray for peace for the Milner, Farmer and Guse families.
Despite all of chaplains and Keaton's differences they made audiences laugh for generations and still make people laugh today. I especially loved the film of chaplains entitled a dogs life. That's probably one of my favorites of his. Just watching him make a fool of himself while dodging the cops and trying to win the girl over. I feel like I see a lot of similar companies these days, but there's still something simply amazing about chaplains ability to still make audiences laugh today. Most people look at old films and think that they are going to be bored watching it, but something about the Chaplin comedies that are still amazing.Best regards,Michael Schwarz(405) 650-0005-AbandonedAR http://www.AbandonedAR.com
[…] camp was swiftly evacuated, and understandably, never re-opened[5]. (See recent photos of the abandoned site […]
Camp Scott will hold precious memories for me. Always loved going there. So true that the 3 little girls should never be forgotten but such a hortible crime could have happened anywhere. The camp grounds should not be blamed for this. The only one to blame is the person who did this. I will always remember the camp as a joyful time in my life along with a huge sadness for those 3 precious little girls. when my younger dtr was in Girl Scouts she never went to the new camp because when checking out the grounds it seemed so barren when compared to the beauty of what Camp Scott used to be. I will always hold Camp Scott close and dear to me.
Why do you have so many towns listed as ghost towns? Locust Grove is not one for sure. I grew up there. My parents live there. It's a small town, ok, but not ghost town. Walmart just went in. Dollar store, sonic, holiday inn, 3 gas stations several restaurants, laundry mat, he'll of a football team, mason fine…hell of a player. This is much bigger town than when I grew up there, but definitely NOT ghost town. The girl scout thing however sad it may be…there's a ton of made up stories. That's what we did at weekend bonus fires. It happened there, but that doesn't make it a ghost town. In fact, skedee is not ghost town either. In middle of nowhere, yes. It would sucks if u had an emergency. But, kids and people all around. I would like to find an ACTUAL ghost town. Meaning, a lot of the original architecture is there. Crumbled or standing. But NO people living there. Ghost towns are just that. Vacant.
Go check out the town of Picher,Oklahoma
I don't think a lot of ppl get that it's not Camp Scott anymore, not owned by the Scouts. Therefore "they" can't reopen it.
To Jolie Farmer,
I went to Camp Scott in 1967-68 and when I was there I was in the tent next to the one your sister was in called Quapaw, I of course didn't know your sister or the other two girls because they had gone to Camp Scott after I did,but when the murders occurred there and so close to the time I was there,I all but freaked out,just because that could have been me years earlier. I am so sorry for you loss, I was wondering if you have ever thought of getting the case opened back up and investigated by cold Justice??? Their very good at solving cold cases , I've always wondered about this case and didn't know if you'd want to get it opened up again, here is the website. http://www.coldjusticetips.com. It is also on TV. called Cold Justice. Please let me know , I have a friend who was a homicide detective in Tulsa his name is Charles Sasser , he says it has been solved but I don't really know, he is retired and is a writer living in another town but you can find him on Facebook. . If you do decide to do this I really hope everyone finds closure
The case is not closed, nor solved. The OSBI still considers it open, although no progress has been made. About 10 years ago, biological samples were submitted to DNA testing, but no conclusive results. A private donor just donated the funds to have the samples collected at the scene re-analyzed. Hopefully advancements in the DNA testing technology will provide some answers.
People ask why the camp has not reopened. The parents of the girls sued the Girl Scout Council for 5 million dollars each for the deaths of their daughters. That is probably one of the reasons for a delay in a possible reopening and the final decision was probably also the fear of copy cats since there was an issue at a Kansas Girl Scout Camp shortly after the Camp Scott murders. The old newspaper articles can give you some insight….even the smallest archived article.
The suit was thrown out and the camp was sold in the 80's.
Whomever bought the camp also tried unsuccessfully to reopen it at one time.
Do you have links or information RE: Kansas Girl Scout Camp issues?
Does anyone know who owns camp scott now?
Yes, the owner's name and number are on a sign at the edge of the property, or at least they were.
No. The owner who put up the sign died in 2015 and the new owner is a prick about letting people explore this piece of history.
A different kind of camping experience…
http://www.adirondackcabinplans.com/hiking-campin…
I was an Empire Girl Scout from Tulsa in the 1980's after this horrific tragedy. Thankfully, none of us as children were ever aware anything like this happened in any camp or to any Girl Scouts, or it would have ruined the experience of those fun times. I have the most amazing memories of camp, so please know that the love of camping for Girl Scouts did carry on in a new location after this incident. There are so many pieces of this case that are just bizarre and it does seem sad that they didn't have our methods of crime scene processing back then. I think the overwhelming awfulness of the crimes and a lack of sense of justice for the girls continues to make it a case of interest. It definitely doesn't seem to have been effectively solved for the public. Very sad.
Does anyone know if the sites pictured still exist today ?? I went in search of them today, but could not find the old campsite. I did find Camp Garland. Any help would be appreciated. I was at New Life Ranch the Summer of 1977 & remember how it shook everyone up there.
Shaun:
A lot of the fixtures are still there, although altered through the ages. Since the land was sold and has been in private hands for years, there are no trespassing signs everywhere. The pool, great house, red barn, etc are still clearly intact, but aged.
You can locate the entrance to the camp with a little sleuthing, but for the privacy of the owners, I suggest you go no further, if that far.
[…] azoblue: The Oklahoma Girl Scout murders […]
[…] azoblue: The Oklahoma Girl Scout murders […]
I am Lori's sister. It is interesting to read all these comments. While many of the things posted here are not true, I am deeply touched by the overriding theme….that you all remember my sister and the two other girls, that after all these years your hearts are still tender toward the victims and their families, and that your lives were also changed in some way on that fateful June night. I have never seen this website before. It amazes me that people are still so intrigued by this case. Why is that?
Joli, i was a teenager working at a girl scout camp in michigan when this horrific event happened. I remember exactly when a meeting was called and we were told of this and shock and tears is what i remember. That night we had to go to our units and sleep in the same type of tents. Camp was forever changed. The serenity of camp became flood lights and regular patrols, fearful of copycat crimes. Our hearts and souls went out to the families and we grieved along with you for the loss of the girls. This stays with me today and the girls will never be forgotten.
Karin, thank you for sharing that with me. It is interesting to me that you were so impacted by this event all the way in Michigan. I appreciate your kind words and thank you for remembering the girls after all these years.
And we pray it never happens again.
Jolie:
At the time of the murders, I was living in Muskogee and now live in Broken Arrow where the Guse's live. The reasons I am still interested and grieving with you at the loss, is that all three girls were all so beautiful and it bothers me that any person or persons could be so wicked as to do this kind of thing. I also shudder because my interpretation of the facts would have me believe that more than one person would have to have been involved that night and even if Hart were guilty, there is at least one additional person who is either dead and carried their crime with them to the grave, or alive with the knowledge of the horrible thing they did and got by with it. My heart goes out to the Farmer, Milner and Guse families for their loss so many years ago.
Joli, I stay connected to the case because 3 beautiful young girls lost their lives to a senseless crime. Who knows what those girls could have became! They came from loving families and the public who remember look at those faces fell in love with them too! I was only 4 when this happened…and I am 40 now…I hope there will be an answer to who killed these innocent girls some day! They and their families need justice and the killer(s) need to be punished!! I have a 12 year old daughter and I couldn't imagine what it would be like to just lose her…your family along with the Milners and Guses are always in my thoughts when I remember June 13…Bless you! Dawn Byrum
Thank you Dawn!
In my humble opinion, Crying Wolf helped deliver justice by making sure the guilty party would suffer death. It was no coincidence that on June 4th with thunder overhead, Gene died of a MASSIVE heart attack.
Joli, I'll try to word this just right. When all this happened in 1977, I had children Lori's age and a little bit older. I lived in a community, just across the lake from camp Scott. The name was Lake Crest. I was friends with some who lived in Locust Grove. The news traveled fast.Of course this scared us to know there was a killer amoung us.When Peter Weaver asked for volunteers to look for Hart, I went to Sam's corner to volunteer. Some of us especially the women left the search because we were told we could not arm ourselves. No gun's no anything. Well that didn't set good with me, when we were looking for a child killer.Just a few days after that, a neighbor and friend Laura Long was abducted from the parking lot of her job in Claremore. She lived next door to us in Lake Crest.She was found a few day's later, along a road in Claremore. All of this was very real to me. Laura's killer is still unknown. Pete Weaver polygraphed several suspects. One failed the test three time's. What a law we had back then.This killing of children in okla.That was just unexplainable. This is so close to my life. I have alway's followed these cases.I have been on the forum for many years, I feel like if we keep asking why and who did these awful thing's keeping it fresh in everyones mind, not forgetting or ever hoping for an end to this nightmare, that so many was dropped in at that time. This is not out of disrecept or being nosey, this is just part of my life. I will wonder and ask questions and till I die.If it's God's will, we will all have answers. I cannot speak for the others on the forum. I know your hearts hurts. With god's help we will all find peace in all of the children's life and not their death. Shelia Cooper My address is shelia.cooper@coxnet please feel free to talk
Thank you for sharing that Shelia. I may contact you some day to hear more. I appreciate your kindness.
iam part of the Girl Scouts of western Oklahoma , I ve been in Girl Scouts for about 7 or 8 years and this story defistated me , joli I'm so sorry for your loss and I can't imagine how horrible it must have been to find out your sister was brutally murderd at camp . I'm in awe of your bravery . keep on living your life and may your sister rest in peace
Dear Joli Farmer, my deepest condolences for you & your family. Being that I was born & raised in northeast Oklahoma, this tragedy has always been like an open wound that has never healed. In 1977 I myself would have only been 7 but still have vivid memories of my family talking about for years after. I also think the reason people are still intrigued by this case is because it really has no closure.
I was set to go to Camp Scott with the next group. I was scared and I have seen the toll it took on a certain family in Broken Arrow due to the lose of their daughter
Hi Joli – I am still tied to this case, because I was at that camp that night. It has haunted me since the night it happened. I also knew Lori Lee. She was in my 3rd grade class at Jenks, and I still have our class picture. Knowing her made the whole thing even more frightening to me as a child. I was unable to stay alone in my house from that point until I was about 15. This is a case that will probably stay with me until I die.
I was in college when all this took place; just 19 years old. I wasn't as well read about current events at that time. (even though this was national news) I saw something the other day in the media about this horrific event and decided to read the article. I live in a neighboring small town and have been in that area many times without realizing the history of what took place there. It brought sadness when I realized what had transpired.
I have granddaughters now and cannot even fathom something of this magnitude happening to them or any other child for that matter. I'm currently reading a book titled, "Ten Number Eight' given to me by a co-worker (a non-Oklahoman) who moved here shortly before the murders took place and did some extensive research on it. The book is somewhat all over the place but some things have just hit me the wrong way; the way parents were notified, how the Girl Scout Council won the law suit, law enforcement and how things seemed to be so botched during the investigation. (per the book)
My heart breaks for the parents and family of each of these precious girls because I love my own grown children and granddaughters so. I can't tell you why it interests me. I don't think it's so much an 'interest'; I think its just my tender heart knowing that three precious girls never made it back home.
I was a phlebotomist at St John's and saw the agony of you father at the time of the horrible event. My grandfather's sister and husband, Florence and Harry Scott had donated the land for the camp and others. My sisters had gone to camp there. As a physician now I still remember the event and the effect it had. I hope the kindness that I show each day reflect love for others.
Ma'am I dated a woman named Brandy Michelle Halsted. Now Brandy Michelle Leach. I have reason to believe Brandy's UNCLE JIM CAVALIER OR HER UNCLE JOHN COMMITTED THESE CRIMES. THEY LIVE AT THE CAVALIER RANCH ONE PROPERTY North of the camp. Gary Hart was sleeping with the Sheriff's wife so they blamed him. Even if Hart was guilty he had an accomplice. The 2 OSBI agents are making tins of money off of this tragedy from their books. So much money they opened their own movie production company , Barrister Studios. Brandy Michelle Halsted was raped and molested by her uncle but won't tell anyone,not even her therapist. I don't trust the Tulsa OSBI since all they care about is money from books and movies. I called the Oklahoma City OSBI and told them to get DNA from Jim Cavalier and John,yet nothing has been done. Brandy's mother Jacque Cavalier/ Easton knows who did it also. Jacque Cavalier/Easton owns 10 acres and the ranch house her father died and left her but refuses to go to her own property/home because of the"Memories." You can call me at 918-557-0678 Nathanael Kirk Taylor
Nathanael Its Tiger. email me.
nightywolfy123@gmail.com
https://youtu.be/GWRKbOL7lhI
Do you think it was Jon Charles Cavalier or James Cody Cavalier. This youtube link that Trev62 posted makes me think even more that it was one of the cavaliers because the men who were stalking the premise the night before had camo pants and military boots. There is military history in the Cavalier family. Google searches show they possibly lived at 9879 South 440 in Locust Grove, horrifically close to Camp Scott and an easy shot to the Kiowa tents.
Joli , I was a young mom of three daughters at the time this happened,I can't even find the words for this act of violence against these innocent children. I couldn't imagine the pain and suffering the families were going through,but I knew if, I lost even one of my daughters this way it would be something I might not recover from. Even though I didn't know these little girls,as a mother for the victims and their family my heart broke ,as did many others and it sent a new and frightening view of how dangerous the outside world could be and I kept a closer eye out for my own babies,so it made me appreciate each day I had with my children ,because you never know who maybe lurking around the next corner.I'm so sorry for your families lose and I think most of the country felt like apart of their innocents was stolen that evil day .
Joli I didn't know that Lari had a sister. I only new of her brother. The hole thing really bothers me still. Because the winter before my troop went to the very unit and stayed in the same exact tent your sister was taken to early from this world. I am so sorry that happened. I met your father one night when I was in the ER at St. Johns and told him the story that happened to me one night to the four other girls and myself. And our troop leader didn't believe us. I have wondered many times over the years that if our troop leader had believed us and reported what happened to us and to me that maybe your sister would still be alive.
I am reading up on this case Kim and I would really like to know what happened to you.
Kim, can you please share what happened to you and the four other girls?
Hmm if it has happened prior and the Cavalier ranch is positioned so nicely to have access to that tent, it makes you wonder how long the cavaliers have been doing this over the 50 years. I am still looking but the ranch is possibly the location at 9879 South 440 in Locust Grove. Google that and then directions to Camp Scott. They are horrifically close and the Kiowa tent is stuck out like it is meant to be.
Hi Joli,
I'm a reporter with Channel 8 in Tulsa. I'm pursuing a story on what happened in 1977 and the nearly 40 years since. I hope this message finds you well. I'd like to sit down and talk with you, if you'll give me a chance. Please email me at rabraschler@sbgtv.com and we can exchange numbers, if you would like to.
Thanks,
Ryan Braschler
Reporter – KTUL
rabraschler@sbgtv.com
Hello I was in Mayes county jail in 1999 and there was a man that was in there with me. As man that I believe was definitely off the rocker alittle bit but he did tlk bout all the time, he’d say something like, ‘ the girls are sleeping. No more camping there it’s bad. Or something to that effect. I can’t remember very well but I do know his name n I heard that they had him in for questioning as well. And this guy is from locust Grove . Please contact me. Thank u
I want to know more about this inmate and his comments, please. Was this inmate, Buddy Bristol?
Because it broke our hearts at the time, and it still does.
Joli,
I'm a student studying criminal justice and cold cases. In my free time I often find myself spending hours researching cold cases and other cases involving terrible incidents and horrifying situations. I had a peaked interest in the case of your sister and the other two young girls. As being 1/2 Native American (Cherokee specifically) the involvement of Gene Leroy Hart intrigued me. I have personally been to the camp site. Being a born and raised Urbexer (Urban Exploration, if you aren't farmiliar), I found myself and a few friends taking a road trip down to Oklahoma to see the site for ourselves. I took many pictures and found myself going over everything at the camp site. What happened to your sister boggles my mind everyday, and it's situations like this that push my mind deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of cases such as this. Words cannot describe how sorry I am for the loss of your sister and the other girls. I can say, that myself, and many others, have had their lives changed by what happened on that horrific day, and it has pushed me towards a future that involves me spending my life trying to understanding why these things happen, and doing my best to help prevent them in the future.
With much love,
– Taylor
https://youtu.be/GWRKbOL7lhI
Tell me she looks guilty here’s the answer or rather at least half of it I’m willing to bet
The Cavaliers would need an accomplice in the camp. It was probably her.
The YouTube link is inactive. Are you aware of a current active link?
The interest will be there until the person or persons responsible are caught and punished for these heinous crimes on three innocent children. At the time my daughter was the age of one of the girls. My heart hurt for the families of all of them for what they were having to experience.
Because you and most of all Lori and her two friends matter
Joli, I worked with Michelle Guse’s father. He was such a kind man. The families of the victims have stayed in my thoughts through these years. I was 7 when this happened, and I was terrified to be alone. May God bless you, your family and all of those affected by this horrible act.
I am interested in this and any additional information you have. Please contact me.
I am Lori's sister. It is interesting to read all these comments. While many of the things posted here are not true, I am deeply touched by the overriding theme….that you all remember my sister and the two other girls, that after all these years your hearts are still tender toward the victims and their families, and that your lives were also changed in some way on that fateful June night. I have never seen this website before. It amazes me that people are still so intrigued by this case. Why is that?
I have a troop of high school aged Girl Scouts in Indiana. We did a program on Girl Scout history and some of them found this story. They actually wanted to name a garden they want to work on as a project in memory of the girls since it will take about two years to raise the funds and get it organized and that will be the 40th anniversary, but I told them the families probably wouldn't want a gesture like that from strangers so far away. But yes! Yes! The girls are not forgotten by their GS sisters even now.
I think the families would appreciate the gesture that their girls have not been forgotten
Joli,
I was pregnant with my first child when this heinous crime happened. I remember watching the news reports with tears in my eyes. I have so many great memories of Camp Scott and all the fun that my girlfriends and I had. My heart ached that those 3 innocent girls died at the hands of a devil(s). I believe many women my age lost hope of ever sharing and experiencing the great times as a Girl Scout leader with their daughter (like I had had with my mom), or ever allowing their daughter to go on a camp out with the Girl Scouts. As the investigation unfolded, I heard rumors that Pete Weaver felt so guilty that he had not re-arrested GLH, even though GLH moved freely about Locust Grove, that he ruined evidence by planting more evidence against GLH.
I will always keep you and your family in my prayers. I can't even imagine the pain you and your family have gone through. May God's love bring you peace.
I think people have alot of curiosity about this tragedy. I also think many people feel as though it’s a shared tragedy because while you lost your sister they lost a beautiful time shared in their lives, wonderful memories and neverending friendships. It was all gone suddenly without warning. also I think for the most part people believe GLH was the killer others think there were 2 killers and so people feel unsure like it’s not settled.
There isn’t a day that passes that your sister doesn’t find her way into your thoughts is there? As long as she is remembered there will always be hope of the truth coming out. Its been 9 years since I last visited this site. Ive told this story at least a hundred times. Someday some sense will be made of all of the information and the false statements will be gone. I wish you the best.
Went to Camp Scott every summer from 2nd grade through my senior year in H.S. as a counselor. Great time of my life. Beautiful, well run, wonderful facilities, good group of kids and counselors. No ghosts, no fears. Snakes, tarantulas, scorpions, animals. Expected in an Oklahoma summer in a primitive environment. My father designed the new Great Hall in the 60's. the tragic events occurred several years after my summers at Scott had ended. Looking back, I still feel a fondness for the many years of happiness spent there; but I also share the tragic memories created a decade later, and unfortunately they wrote the miserable unforgettable history.
I love the Pics of your site bring back memories of when i was going to camp garland as a boy scout. I'll never forget the time i first went to the site and some scout leaders pointed down a hill and said "down there is where 3 girl scouts were murdered". I don't remember sleeping more than 3 hours total the first few days there. After growing up and now living closer to the area i have stumbled on some important information i believe will be useful to you and people reading this site. A publication from the newspaper "Daily Progress" from Claremore, OK. No. 180 March 11, 1998 article named "Jailhouse informant tells conversation with murder suspect" tells the story of how they eventually found the real killer (Karl Myers) of those poor souls.Please update your site to enlighten future site dwellers and readers of that crappy made book. Poor detective work is worldwide we're and they are only human.
I grew up in Stillwater Okla.and now live in Tulsa and was 10 when this happened and remember hearing My parents and family talk about it and how horrific it was….I have been a professional Psychic 20+ years and would love to walk through and see If I pick anything helpful up…I do hope the families have found whatever Peace they have been able and allowed to find. Open to discuss the lingering effects via the paranormal aspects of the area etc. jjettfanpage@yahoo.com
My mother has known and worked with the father of Lori Farmer, and knew him when this happened. I was not yet born. She tells me that to this day, he just isn't the same person anymore, that he looks so sad all the time 🙁 I watched the documentary and it was so sad. How do you move past the loss of your child? I can't even imagine.
I have lived in Muskogee most of my life and was 9 when this happened. I work at CN and took a different position last year. Part of my job is to audit cash accounts aroung the 14 county CN area. 2 are in LG. I've driven right past this several times now. Went to google earth and located it. Drove past it last week. The Rowland Ranch sign is still there.
Although I was too young to remember this (I was 2 at the time), I grew up hearing about this case. We lived very close to Camp Scott and in fact some of Gene Leroy Hart's possessions were found on our property. A few years back I found a copy of Someone Cry For the Children and read it. I remember the part about an accomplice of Hart's (can't remember his name at the moment) talked about Hart watching a woman with two small children hanging laundry outside, and how she never knew how close she came to being raped. My mother always had the feeling that this was her. Whether or not it was, it still is eerie to read it and think about, even after all these years
If it was up to me Id reopen this case.Theres far too many loose ends.Its sounds to me this was pinned on the closest crazy guy.Its all a little too neat.Im a dad,hunter,and spent many years in the scouts.And went on numerous campouts.So yes kids do sleep very soundly at times.But were talking scout camp here in the middle of the woods at night.No one heard anything?Everyone was asleep?We hardly ever slept much at scoutcamp.We were to busy talking and eating our smuggled in junk food stash.I swear my scout leader could hear our tent being unzipped at night a mile away.So no one checked on the kids at night?It had to be someone who was very familiar the camp.To be able to get around in the dark and unseen and unheard…..
he was familiar. He was in the woods for years after escaping
This case was never closed. OSBI (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations) still considers it open. DNA testing was performed about 10 years ago, and a private donor just donated funds for the biological evidence to be tested again. Hoping that advancements will give some answers.
Is anybody else as suspicious as I am of Carla Wilhite? She heard scratching on a screen door during orientation week. She was the counselor to investigate the light out in the woods. She was the first to find a body on her way to the shower, even though she took an interesting route to the shower. She only found one of the bodies. The other two were way to close for her to see and her answers are squirrelly. Then finally, her eyeglasses were photographed with the bodies.
She sure was a big part of this whole thing. I still wonder if she wore size 7 shoes.
I'm not saying I think she was a murderer. I'm just saying I'm certain she didn't get any more than five hours of sleep that night and I wonder if she got any. Peace!
I watched the documentary, and I too felt something just wasn't right with her, something just does not sit well, her actions aren't logical, it just doesn't add up, still bothers me all the time.
That is a terrible thing to say. She was just a kid herself. She's had to live with this for the rest of her life. I am SURE she didn't intend for this to happen.
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inside job! I too was a girl scout camping at nichols park in Henryetta ok. at the same time this happened ,I remember this well.
I was 11 years old that summer,AND THE SAME WEEKEND, at camp DACKATII, CAMPFIRE CAMP in okc,,,,, my parents showed up out of Nowhere at camp to pick me up,,,,,, They told me what happened,,, and ive been fascinated about this my whole life,,,, i went to the Library last weekend and picked up this new book,"TENT NUMBER EIGHT " WHAT I DONT UNDERSTAND, IS WERE THE GIRLS IN A REAL "TENT" ? MY Dad said HART had several womens eyeglasses that he took,,,, including one of the girls glasses,,,,,,,, jolie
They would have been in Platform Tents, raised wooden platforms off the ground ( of varying heights) w/ a ridgepoles running front to back, draped in heavy Canvas Frabic attached to framing outside w/ cordage & w/ flaps that could be tied down to bolts in the platform , or tied together, or tied open during the day.(from what I've heard & pics I saw).. those are the kind I slept in during my 8 ys at GS Camp in OKC, our layout was diff tho, each of our units held 8 tents arranged in a senicircle facing the Counslers tent & most of our units had a Lodge as well for various activites… so were they in a "real" tent? that depends of what YOU consider a Tent..
I have read multiple articles and comments regarding this horrific crime. The strange thing is some articles are stating it was tent #8 yet more recent ones are reporting tent# 7. Also, maps of the camp site differ. I wonder why this is.
It was Tent #8, that's what I've always heard
It was tent #7 but in some reports they had counted the counselors tent as tent #1. To the campers and staff the campers tents in Kiowa were 1 thru 7. Counselor tent had no number.
Tent #8. There is also a book available called tent #8. Roughly $30 bucks on Amazon basically an updated version of someone cry for the children.
LBG…born & raised in locust grove
Citizen of Locust Grove Okla.
While I am no sleuth, and don't care to get into the debate over who murdered those innocent girls, I would like to put my two cents in about the camp itself.
Being a former Girl Scout, both as a Brownie/Junior and a Leader in a troop, I recall the one camping experience I had. Looking back, I am glad I live in Virginia and did not know about the murders until many years after they were committed and after my Scouting days were done. It would have scared me silly, despite the fact I was made to sleep in the tent with my troop leader at the time.
That being said, I think the camp ought to stay closed. Every aspect of it. I understand that there are a lot of people who will disagree with me. However, I have to say I do not think it would be respectful to the three girls who had their lives brutally taken from them. Also, spirits tend to linger where they died. Especially in a situation such as this.
I cannot help but wonder if the camp is haunted. If the owners agree, it would be an interesting place for an investigation. On that note, does anyone know if any paranormal investigations have been done at the camp? It would be something that would interest me. I am someone who can sense energies sometimes, and as I have gone through these photographs I can almost hear the girls crying. It's sad.
I have good friends who live on site now…their house is just 20 yards from where the bodies were found. No, the place isn't haunted. It's run wild with hogs and deer and beautiful-ness. One of the most beautiful places I've been to. Many of the outhouses and shower houses still stand, the red barn still stands, though it is in very rough condition. The lodge is currently under renovations, the current owner is going to rent it out.
After visiting them and staying the night there last night I had to do some research on the subject, and found this site. I remember hearing about the murders when I moved to the area, some 11 years ago, but didn't know where the camp was located. Now I do, and myself, my husband and our children will be spending a good amount of time there this coming summer. It is definitely beautiful and not haunted!
HI,
I'm French and i'm working on a documentary project about ghost towns around the world and more particularly about the Scott Camp. This story is as sad as fascinating and I would like to know if you can help me contact the owner on the site.
I would like to go there and shoot and tell the story of the place.
Are some buildings or landscapes that are still as they were in 77 ?
Thank you very much for your help.
Magali
Remember when The Rowland's decided too open the pool & concession area in late 90's early 2'000's?!!!
Juanita &Gary Rowland thought they would give it a run.
It didn't stay open long but still it was very popular even being a born & raised LG person I remember all the chatter so it was interesting.
If spirits lingered and "haunted" where they died then no one would ever go into a hospital. They would be so packed full of spirits the hauntings would be constant!
the camp was on sacred grounds 🙁
most likely 'inhabited'
so your saying that a "sacred area" or grounds decided too manifest into pure evil & make someone murder these girls??.. Please
Oh please..
Locust Grove oklahoma citizen
Born 1976
being born & raised & grown up including swimming & spending spring & summer in the original pool & concession areas it's not any more haunted than any other that being said you do get a dark unsettling feeling while being on the property.
LG oklahoma
Local citizen
Just a FYI… This place is not abandoned and has not been camp Scott since sold in the 80's!! It is privately owned and people live on the property and hunt on the property. The owner really has issues with people just showing up and walking around the land. So please call and talk to the owner first… His name and number is on the sign right before the old camps entrance..
obviously like your web-site but you need to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very bothersome to tell the truth then again I will definitely come back again.
You found a grammatical error? Those are such a pain in the ass. Now I have no idea who did this murder. Come to think of it, you're last sentence was somewhat suspect. Do you live in Locust? Are you Native American? Things that make you go hmm.
I can't believe I have been a girl scout all this time and I've only recently learned about this.
Also, is the ranger station still in use? Because that swing set does not look like it's been there since 1977. My granny had one just like that when I was a child. However, by the time I was a teen it was completly rusted through.
those are the pictures of camp scott but i do not understand why it is on aok as there are people liveing there to this date im sure they dont appreceate all the people comeing in and out wanting to walk around i went out there and there are no tresspassing signs everywhere
I just wonder who else may have had easy access to those tents, so easy that they would not have scared those youngsters in a thunderstorm like that one that night. I was never able to get Sheriff Weaver to give me an anwer to that question of anyone else.
There was never any hesitation in his mind that Gene Leroy Hart was the murderer, and I taked with him everyday for months afterward and his feeling never changed. But I still had those nagging questions; why were they all alone in the tent during a thunderstorm? Why no one checked on them all night? How would hart have sneaked into that tent which I believe had a wood floor, and not alerted any of the girls and no screams would have been heard by anyone.
Seriously…carried out by a swift demon
Sometimes people who are already frightened can become unresponsive to another horror happening when they are in this state. Imagine that dark cold rainy night, no lights in the tent and some bogeyman shows up! Horrible! I slept in platform tents many times in the summer. One time, my mother, who was a girl scout leader, dressed up in a halloween costume and looked in the tents. There was pandemonium, screaming and running girls everywhere. However, there were some who were literally paralyzed with fright. They neither moved nor made a sound. I knew it was my mother. I had seen her wear the costume before but it made no difference to the level of fright I felt when I saw that blue faced figure in a man's suit peering into our pitch black tent! Scary memories. Even scarier now that I know what could and did happen!
I have never written about this before but having been a worker at day camp overnights back in the late 60's I always had to sleep between two tents to insure that city kids didn't get scared or out. But in a thunderstorm it seemed odd to me that no counselor was at theior tent or took then into a tent with other campers.
This looks used since 1977. Those trusses in the great hall kitchen look brand new and cigarettes weren't $4.40 in 1977… (also, that Gatorade cooler looks newer than 30+ years).
The pool was opened to the public by the landowners about 15 years back.
In order to believe Hart did NOT commit these murders, you have to be willing to believe all the evidence was fabricated. As to the evidence supposedly left behind when Hart escaped, the Sheriff produced signed property receipts showing Hart took these items with him one of the few times he got out of jail by not escaping. Multiple items tied Hart to the nearby caves, and he had connections in the area. I've never heard anyone say that the perpetrator's hair that was bound up in the tape used to bind the girls was planted. That hair was as near a perfect match as you can get, so it's safe to assume that it was at least black hair. Bill Stevens, one of the other popular suspects, had brown hair, not black. Bill Stevens was also verified as being in Seminole at the time of the murders. Seminole is not close to Camp Scott. People who think Hart was not involved at all should be helping O.J. find his wife's real killer.
In response to your post, I personally know that the medicine man was falsely accused of these horrific murders. If anyone disputes his innocence feel free to look up the story of a little known serial killer named "KIller Karl" Myers. Specifically a search for a Claremore, OK newspaper publication called the "Daily Progress" No. 180-March 11, 1998.by editor Lisa Willhoite. The article describes the arrest and conviction of the serial killer Karl Myers and how he committed a few of the crimes but its documented now that he killed atleast 5 people 3 being the girls at Camp Scott. I have fond memories of Camp Garland as a Boy Scout myself and i don't wish bad reports of Cherokee "Medicine Men" getting a false rap due to hysteria or poor cop work at the time. I personally know the gentleman that put Myers behind bars and on death row for these murders and believe that from his statements he is telling the 100% truth about the facts of this horrific crime. Its a shame that it had to happen and that the camp closed down due to it. FYI: O.J. was found guilty in the civil trial woot!
My issue is that from a psychological perspective, his actions make little sense. He had raped pregnant women before. Moving from grown women to children is odd. Sexual predators have their "thing" that gets them going, its very rare for it to be more than one thing. Especially when we're talking adults vs. children. I'd be willing to bet it wasn't him.
I've wondered the same thing. If Hart was an adult female predator, then why was he considered also a child predator. Some child predators kidnap and keep under lock and key, a child to which he does unspeakable things year after year, but when they start getting too old, they search for another victim. Hart simply didn't fit the pattern although he was certainly not a person one would want to be buddy buddy with.
It's not really that odd if he was an escaped convict he had access only to certain things and some people's 'fetish' is simply sadism, which doesn't always hold boundaries the way you think it does.
Obviously you are not familiar with the area or the culture in North East Oklahoma. Gene Hart was not deprived of anything during his four years as an escapee’. And therefore was not desperate to the point he would change his M.O!!
And the question that always haunted me from the time the crime happened is why would you risk committing another crime when you spent the energy to escape prison and risk getting caught doing something and be put back inside. Why risk that after 4 years of freedom, why not commit an act much earlier than that?
Measures of central tendency. That's why.
I'm looking for the exact location, can someone please email me.
I wonder why was the 3 little girls so seperated away from everybody else. That's why they was easy prey
Easy to molest by those they trusted.
If an adult had been there, one more body would probably have been found. This was just an isolated incident by a crazy person.
Check this out…a friend sent it to me today…
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/07/06/e…
This story intrigued me after seeing the headline about the movie being made. I have one question after looking at the pictures. What is with the bones in the picture that is listed under the "red barn" heading? I found that strange and nobody here mentioned it.. Maybe I'mmissing something??
they are horse bones
I thougt they were human too at first. But they're too large.
How sad, and it hits a nerve with me because I used to go to sleep away camp in New york from the time i was about 6 to 17 but we slept in bunks (cabins) and there were four counselors to 8 campers in the same cabin. and growing up I never once thought something like this could happen. Camp is supposed to be a safe and fun place for children to experience nature and make new friends. Looking at the layout of the camp I am wondering why on earth would parents send their kids here? did the parents ever get a tour of the camp? I mean look how it's spread out, the couselors had their own cabin to sleep in while the children slept pretty much outside in just a tent??? And god forbid if a camper had to use the bathroom they had to walk to the latrine, and most likely without an adult. I could see how it was possible for the murderer to sneak in and out of camp and no one heard a sound. Not safe at all, I think the camp should remain closed. Opening it would mean opening fresh wounds for the parents of the victims and residents. It doesn't surprise me that they want to make this into a movie.
Good saying because i agree 100%.Why was it layed out like that.
Right…I certainly would not feel good sending my child to that campground after that happened. The only use I could see them using it for would be a day camp where the kids go home at night.
It looks as if some utilization of the campsite went on (for storage) and the phone in one of the pictures was not vintage 1977. I don't know if the upcoming film is going to be done by a legitimate person or not; there is so much controversy. The campsite could be used for adults but that would sensationalize these murders. I say leave it as it is. As for the civil suit against the Girl Scout entity I wonder if there wasn't some backwoods justice going on given that the plaintiffs lost.
I remember all of this because I was a girl scout at the time it happened.After this happened we camped out near Moore ,Oklahoma with fathers of the girls acting as armed guards—basically this event ended the "sweet and innocent" childhood part of my life. I would love to see this "cold" case solved once and for all.
About 10 years ago my husband and I rented the Ranger house. We didn't last there long nor did I know as much about what happened there as I do now after visiting your site or I would never have lived there. So creepy and very sad. I also use to swim in the pool when I was younger.
I love looking at the old photographs. Boy, do I remember the great hall. It was filled with such sounds of happiness and giggles.
I'm going to look for my old photos of my camping experiences at Camp Scott. I should find some of my fellow campers so we can come up with more "scathingly brilliant" ideas to torture camp counselors It was always so much fun. ((((Cheshire grin)))
Having spent much of my formative youth at Camp Scott in the mid 1960's, I remember the layout of each encampment to be the same with one tent quite far away from the rest. And none of us campers ever wanted the "isolated" tent.
I made a post earlier about this. The property was sold-Camp Scott could never be again since the Council sold the land. They also tried to sell the parcels that HJ Scott deeded to them as long as they wanted to use the land for the samp. Also, it was not an eerie place and I was in the Kiowa unit when I attended in the 60's. By the way-whoever got onto the property to commit the murders knew it quite well and would have known how to enter it. It was not that easy to get to it without going through the normal entrance ways. I know as I am one of the "Scotts"–They did not reopen the camp because of the lawsuit brought against the Council. The Boy Scout Camp Garland is a neighbor to the property. There is speculation that whoever committed the murders came by the property through Camp Garland. No one will ever know unless the people who committed it are found.
Since Boy Scout Camp Garland is well east of OK 82 and the site of Girl Scout Camp Scott is just west of OK 82, it doesn't seem at all that someone would come from Camp Garland to commit these heinous murders which happened on the far west part of Camp Scott. Also, since the three caves and the burglarized farm house were just west and southwest of Camp Scott and closest to the Kiowa area where the three girls' tent was, it is more likely that the perp(s) came through the back gate on the west side of Camp Scott, entering, leaving or both.
First of all, I find white on black with this website, very hard to read. Also, I can barely see when these comments were written. That being said, I just heard about this. I probably read about it, or heard about it, when it happened, but just re-read it this year 2011. I am commenting because I have noticed when reading lately and from inside information into the Jon Benet murder, plus reading for the first time the Keddie murders, and then this one, that I realized all of them have different stories. The scenes at each of these cases were very confusing. Everyone was saying something different, and I was reading different things all the time. I realized that in ritualistic killings, this is what they do. The people involved do this to cover up their involvement, and to give the impression that the blame be put somewhere else. Many people in high places probably were involved in this, i.e., the police, and people living in the area. Many people who have darkness in their minds and hearts will believe a lie about the fact they will have money, and power, if they do these horrendous things. They are given high positions for these kinds of crimes. Many people are usually involved in the cover up. This is definitely a cover up. Just from reading what I did. I have known people who were involved in satanic things, however, never murdered anyone. They got out of it by the grace of God and became Christians. If the people who did this are reading this, and are still alive, you will be held accountable for your actions. Also, when crimes are particularly gruesome, you know that they were ritualistic in nature. Getting back to Jon Benet, if you all remember how confusing everything was, and they still have not found the killer. I personally think the father did it. He was molesting Jon Benet, and she was beginning to tell people, i.e. her teachers. The father was told to shut her up, and he did. His oldest daughter also died under very mysterious circumstances. I, of course, don't know for sure, but he could very well be involved with the prince of darkness. All of you out there must realize that these types of crimes are happening all the time, and it will only be getting worse, when people dabble in the occult.
Really? Prince of Darkness? There may be some kind of cover-up going on here, but don't polarize "non" christians as murders and devil worshipers, and the good people as christians. This kind of thinking is ridiculous.
Mr. Ramsey's older daughter died in a car accident, while in another state nowhere near him. You say he was "told" to shut her up about his own alleged molestation? That doesn't even make sense.
You're kind of a schmuck, aren't you?
Hart did kill those girls. It's obvious he did. One of the reasons he got off was because the prosecutor(sp?) couldn't find anyone better to testify against him than an indian medicine man.
Actually in ritulistic killings things are very controlled, and not easily figured out, unless you know what you're looking for. To the girl scout murders, it wasn't ritulistic at all. These three girls were killed by a sick sadistic person. People who practice Shamanisem (sp?) usually do it for good. There first rule like with Wicca is harm none. Native American medican used to harm people always comes back to desstroy the person who weilded it for wrong. And if you want to talk about vicious crimes, take a look at some other murderers. Not all of them were invovled in the occult. Most people who kill people are sociopaths, they don't care about anyone or anything.
Agree completely. You will not find a more benign way of faith than Wicca. Harm none…how that supports the claims made above are beyond me. Maybe this person should actually do some real research in Shamanism and Wicca before they smear them.
The killer of these poor souls is "Killer Karl Myers". I know this because i have a newspaper clipping from 1998 telling me about his serial killing self getting put on the stand and found out by a friend of mine who was in jail with him at the time. Karl Myers died last December of 2012 of a heart attack while on death row. he was tried and convicted of killing two woman unrelated to this case. A website serialmurderers.com tells of his story and identifies that he also killed the 3 girls scouts in camp scott. The same murders that the cherokee man was wrongfully charged with. I'm not saying that the Cherokee man is innocent of other crimes or is a saint but, he did not commit this crime in question. And i believe your right on Jon Bennet. Doesn't take a paranormal approach to see that in 90%+ cases like that are done by family members or people closest to the victims. It's sad that poor police work have hindered the advancement of decriminalization. Only science of sociology and forensics can truly pinpoint the guilty in the world and not bad D.A's against Defense Attorneys that get paid to lie or turn a blind eye to justice and ethical fortitude for the victims in the world.
More importantly, it would be dangerous. Camp Scott was designed in the 20s, and what was safe then is not safe now. As Barbie also points out, the layout was bad. I noticed this looking at the map on this site. Each section was pretty isolated, and the individual tents were not that close to each other or the counselor. With "copycat" criminals so common these day, I don't think it's a good idea. At the risk of sounding trite or insensitive, the old camp seems oddly peaceful and I truly do believe these 3 girls are in a much better place now. It's better to let it be.
I posted once about how these pics don't have a creepy feel, and Hannah hit it on the nail; the old campgrounds don't seem angry or scary, but sad, as if they regret what happened here as much as anyone and miss the old days. But as Barbie points out, there was a different vibe shortly before the murders. There were definitley warnings. Stolen articles, ominous warning notes, an effigy of a man found hanging by his neck, shadowy figures…
But while the place may not seem menacing now, I hope it is NOT reopened. There is obviously still a lot of interest in the murders, and reopening Camp Scott would re-sensationalize them in a way that would not be a good memorial for the victims and perhaps be insensitive to their surviving family members.
I agree I remember I was camping out in the back yard when this happend even though I was 45 miles away it was still scary for a 13 year old .
I do feel that to re open the camp would cause a media circus that would cause more harm than good besides would you want to send your kids to a camp that a horrific murder took place I know I wouldnt
This website has a lot of great work put into it. Thank you.
Also, I agree that these photos don't bear the same creepy vibe as some other photos of abandoned places do. They seem to be sad and saying, come back, please enjoy the area again.
While what happened to the girl's is horrible and tragic, I do agree that the camp should be reopened. The facilities and area is beautiful, and it's a shame it's sitting there wasting away. It was a place for many years before of joy, learning and laughter. If we keep it closed, it lets Gene Leroy Hart (as he in all likelihood murdered the girls) and what he did win, and stands as a monument to that, and not the girls themselves, who are what should matter in this. The girls I think would want this place reopened as such, in honor and remembrance of who they were and what they probably enjoyed, and not how they died.
I agree completely!!! He wins if nothing is done with this great property,
I have done some reasearch into this case with everything available to me. Has anyone ever checked out the recovered photo a little closer. I believe this picture to be of Betty Crawford, or a close relative thereof. The forground may be one of her daughters, I am going on memory here now as I have not been able to locate a photo of Betty, all of my originals were destroyed in a fire several years back. I spend a lot of my time looking at cases like this due to my mothers dissappearence over 20 years ago. If anyone can help mo on a Photo of Betty Crawford circa 1977 or earlier I would appreicate it, feel free to call me directly at 918-253-7890.
No matter your percent that Hart was guilty,the articles found in the cave were left at the prison when he escaped,they did not hand them to him when he sneaked away.
I worked at the Girl Scout office when the murders happened. I was only in my 20's but I remember the tour of the camp I was given as a new employee. Even as a young adult I was struck with how dangerous the camp layout felt to me. I thought, "I would not let a child of mine come here." There was a haunting uneasiness about the place before the murders. I have always felt Hart did not commit the murders and it was someone who lived close around the area. My hope is that they are not there anymore. I would like to see the camp utilized for the good of people. Redeeming it. May the true murder(s) be revealed in Jesus name!
Ma'am they live one property North at the Cavalier ranch. I dated Brandy Michelle Halsted and she admitted her uncle raped and molested her. He was the one that committed these acts I know it! Her uncle's name is Jim Cavalier,it either him or John. Not Jon Cavalier the grandfather but John Cavalier the uncle. Her mom Jacque Cavalier/Easton owns 10 acres and a historic ranch home her father Jon Cavalier died left her. Jacque said she doesn't want to come to her own property/home because of the "Memories." Jim Cavalier and Jacques's brothers need to be tested for DNA samples. They are still alive. All those Tulsa OSBI Agents care about is making money off the books and movies from their movie production studios,Barristar studios…..
It's a small world. I met the cavaliers including daisy years ago. I was married to her great nephew. Wow, never thought about that. They were such nice people. He had fought in WW2.
I can vouch for Nathanael. Jim Cavalier IS responsible and he didn't act alone.
Is it Jim, the brother of Jon “Pee Wee” Cavalier?
Or possibly PeeWee’s son James Cody Cavalier. Take a look at Jon cavalier’s obituary on tributearchive.com
Did this Jim Cavalier you suspect go by the name Jimmie?
well the letter that was discarded said we that means more than one and the fellow they believe did it would not have admitted to anything if he was protecting someone else
There’s an article from Channel 8 out of Tulsa in which Jim Cavalier states that he may have been on the jury when Gene was tried? That just gave me the creeps.
If you look at the obituary for Jon “Pee Wee” Cavalier, at tributearchive.com, you can see a huge list of names and many people (brothers and sons) are named Jim or James or John, I even see Jacque in there. I would love to hear your thoughts on of those names/people you think did it.
I’m leaning towards Jimmie S Cavalier.
The brother of Pee Wee, listed in the obituary as the 1 brother Jim Cavalier.
The Jimmie name is from google and it shows he has a wife Margaret who goes by Peggy, the wife of the brother in the obituary.
Did this Jim Cavalier you suspect go by the name Jimmie?
I know I’m posting alot but 40 years ago says that Jon Cavalier the Grandfather would be in his 30s so his children would be most likely too young. Unless this Jim Cavalier was a teenager when he commited these crimes. I’m wondering if it is Brandy’s greatuncle the brother of Jon the grandpa: Jim Cavalier married to Peggy Cavalier.
Man. Reading more and more about this stuff. So James C Cavalier is only in his 30s according to what I am finding and Jon C Cavalier is 78. It is so hard to find info about this family. They have so many similar names and they all seem to share so many of the same P.O. Boxes.
So Jon Charles Cavalier and James Cody Cavalier are brothers but the recordss are saying they are like 40 years apart in age. Doesn’t seem right. I hope you see this and can shed some light on the true full name of the accused.
Sometimes siblings are generations apart especially with re-marriage.. change of life children….extra marital affairs incest etc.
We now know DNA evidence has just now finally proven Gene Leroy Hart was in fact the killer. The evidence is indisputable. The Cherokee Nation was hiding and protecting him.
DNA evidence has recently proven that Gene Leroy Hart was in fact the killer. The evidence is indisputable. His DNA was all over the evidence and crime scene. The cave he was hiding in was just a feet away from the foundation of his childhood home. There was no other suspects DNA anywhere.
I went to camp Scott the year before the murders and stayed in the same tent. It was such a peaceful, happy and magical place.
in the letter it said we that means more than one
Never did believe Hart commited this crime,everything found linking him to the scene,photos and drivers license were left at prison when he escaped.
New DNA says otherwise, it was definitely Hart!
What new DNA? There is no such thing revealed yet, previous tests proved that it might be him as well as someone related to him
Good Job Kevin Keep me updated .
If those photos are suppose to be of Camp Scott in Locust Grove, Okla the Rangers house is wrong! That is not the house I grew up in!
Teresa Woodward
Teresa,
Could you contact me? I am Kevin Weaver. I maintain the site girlscoutmurders.com My friend Susan and I took the abandonedok crew out to the camp the day that they took these pictures.
Would you consider contacting me? I would love to ask you some questions about your memories, growing up at the camp.
I think I can clear up the problem with the labeling of the ranger house. What they have labeled as the Ranger House would better be called the Director's House. This is where Barbara and Richard Day were living during this final camp session in June of 1977.
I have some photos I would love to to show you of what is left of the house where you grew up! I have some good photos.
Contact me: herrweaver@yahoo.com
Teresa…hope this gets to you…I was very close to your dad…Uncle Benny….and think of him often and never had the chance to tell you what a great person he was…it is sometimes later than it should be when we express such sentiment…He is greatly missed and greatly remembered. Donna
Don't see a way to contact the webmaster of the Girl Scout Murders site so thought I would post here that many of the links on that site need to be fixed as they point to the local machine where the site was/is being developed. Although there are some issues, the new site seems much cleaner than the previous site if memory serves me. If someone with this site has contact with the Girl Scout Murders site, you might mention their link problems.
Having family in the Locust Grove, Mazie and Murphy, I remember driving through area and seeing more law enforcement in one place than I ever saw before or since.
I run the site and I am in the process of re-linking many of those article and photos. I have been doing further research and I haven't been looking after the site as much as I should.
Respectfully, the murder of the three girls was horrific, to say the least, but I wish they would reopen the camp.
Long before these murders took place, Camp Scott was a place filled with gaiety and laughter, not to mention, it was an educational experience. Friendships were made, such camaraderie around the camp fires, and when hiking, there was always the possibility of seeing one of the boys from the nearby camp.
The photographs I see on the many websites about Camp Scott, I have those same photographs, but mine contain my camping buddies standing beside me, and that's how I choose to remember my fellow baby boomers and our experiences.
Camp Scott deserves to be remembered for what it truly meant to the hundreds of girls who visited the camp each summer.
Bootsy, if you ever read this, know that I've been looking for you all these decades.
Well said Suz. If you are the Suz I think you are you know already that I am a fan of the way in which you express your feelings about this special place. Thanks for putting things in perspective for me again. – Kevin
how do i get there?
You and Bootsy totes hooked up.
They need to reopen this. The past is the past. Just saying…
The past is not the past when it comes to 3 babies that were murdered.
I will check it out
I am Bootsy. We stayed in Kiowa tent and had so much fun. We got kicked out after our second trip to Camp Scott. I told my friend to call the Camp Leaders husband a sonofabiscuiteater. She had never heard any kind of cuss words and didn't know she was doing anything wrong. We went on to stay friends for many years after that. That would have been 1968 or 69.
P.S. Suz, if I had only known my go go dancing was that impressive I might have gone into it professionally…lol.
I have so many wonderful memories of Camp Scott both with my Girl Scout troop and also from a summer camp experience. Such great memories that I am sad that it was closed after the horrible event that occurred. I understand the concern for safety and the traumatic event were the cause. With respect for the three girls, their families and friends it is understandable but still very sad that a plan could not be developed to reopen the camp.
Suz, I'm 62 now, and I remember going to Camp Scott every fall and spring in the mid 60's with my Tulsa troop just for a weekend holiday. I loved it. At night we slept in the tents, 4-6 girls each and there was no adult with us. There were few lights at night. I can remember having been assigned a "bathroom buddy" who was supposed to accompany me (and I her) to the outhouse after dark. Well, I woke my "bathroom buddy" up to walk with me, and she promptly refused and fell back asleep. I made the walk to the latrine by myself with only my flashlight. It was very dark, and the walk seemed long. At 11 years of age, I was scared. After what seemed to be 45 minutes, thankfully, I made it back to the tent. Those were simpler, truly innocent times. My brother and sister and I used to go trick-or-treating without any adult. We never dreamed anything like what happened at Camp Scott could ever happen. Today, there is no way a child can be alone in public or left with a stranger watching him or her. And there is no way that any child camper sleeps without
adult supervision right there. Although there have always been sick people who prey on innocent children, it took the 1977 horrific murders at Camp Scott in rural Oklahoma to "wake up" many people to that possibility.
Today I live in Saint Louis, MO, a much bigger city than my native Tulsa, and violence is a part of the landscape. You hear about it everyday in the news. I'm so sorry those poor little girls had to become martyrs to make people aware of "stranger danger". It was indeed, the end of the innocence. I miss the good times at Camp Scott. It should remain a memory, good, but also terrible. A new Scout camp in a different location should take its place.
in the news.
My brother was in the Boy Scout camp at the time of the murders. It is sad they closed it down because the kids did enjoy the fun times they had there
My father worked the case against Hart. Speaking with him about the investigation and reading about it over the years, I'm 100% sure Gene Leroy Hart commited these murders. He was an evil spirit of a person. I was never allow to go to girl scout camp growing up even though I was a Brownie and Junior because my father wa so traumitizsed. The camp my girls go to looks just like this one, but of course it's not delapitated. This doesn't give me the creeps like the other properties. Its just very very sad. It's so strange how some of these properties covered in the site look like life just stopped and everyone just left one day. The Girl Scout Murders was a sad sad event. You should try to find the book " Some One Cry for the Children." It's out of print, but I think the libraries still carry it.
"Someone Cry For The Children" is a very intense, very well-written book that is available on Amazon. I highly recommendthe book. If you didn't think Hart was guilty before reading this book, you will have no doubt of his guilt after reading the book. I was a frequent camper at Camp Scott in the early to mid 1960's. Many great memories!
"Tent Number 8" will certainly bring doubts to your intellect about Gene Leroy Hart being the sole perp, if even guilty at all. Even though "Someone Cry For The Children" was a good book there are some facts it just simply seems to ignore, like the simple logistics of how the crime went down. Lori Lee Farmer and Michele Guse were murdered in the tent and then carried 150 yards in their sleeping bags. Doris Denise Milner was led with her sleeping bag, or carried to the same location and then killed. I don't believe one person could have done that.
I certainly agree, from day one I've always thought this does not look like a crime that could be committed alone, how would you possibly wrangle three girls by yourself? You'd be liable to have one get free for sure….
you're disgustingly massive used to play a physical sport and you basically have demonic powers. You could strangle two of them at the same time with one hand rather quickly before the 3rd would wake up. I would say it was all Gene.
They were also bludgeoned so I supposed one person could do that at the same time too? The foot print did not match, nor did the fingerprint. He was guilty of raping not murder nor were they children that he raped. Criminals tend to have a certain type as their victims and rarely stray from that preference. Hard to believe he would change course and target children.
It’s possible. They were small children and sleeping. They were also in sleeping bags, which hinder movement.And it was dark. However it was not quiet that night. There were other girls making noise at various times. They think that Lori and Michele were killed in the tent. He could have killed them before they even woke up. Look at what Ted Bundy did in Florida. He beat four women ,killing two of them. And they were adults. Killing two small children in sleeping bags wouldn’t be that hard. And Denise probably would do what he told her because she was scared.She is probably the one who cried out for her mother.So he had his way with her and then killed her.And then sexually assaulted the other girls bodies before dragging the sleeping bags outside.
I agree w/Robin. Three very young girls would be sure to obey any adult, especially a male! Just as Ted Bundy did, Richard Speck controlled 8 adult women, all nurses or nursing students I. Chicago, killing all, except one who hid under a bed. He killed them one at a time, after raping them. He simply lost count of how many he had! So please don’t say one demented, sick freak of nature wouldn’t be able to control 3 very young, obedient girls. Besides, I understands DNA has settled the matter as Hart IS the killer. People Magazine has a 2 part special on television now. I saw it on Discovery+. My heart goes out to those lovely families and I pray for peace for them.
Kawee, are you in CA or was your father in later years. My cousin mentioned to me last night she had met someone who's father worked the case. My cousin is about 75 years old and attended the camp. Her sister was a counselor also-anyway-we're looking for a copy of the book if ever find one please let me know.
My sister was at the camp the week before the murders. My family followed the investigation and trial closely. I was very young at the time, but it all made a huge impression on me. I read the book when I was in college and had a hard time sleeping after that. I will never forget the faces of those girls in the newspaper. I never let my girls go to G.S. camp and I thoroughly inspected the safety of their church camps before allowing them to attend. Hart definitely committed the murders. Even though he is gone, the horrific crime will never be forgotten.
I just finished reading "Someone Cry For The Children" (Jan 2013)….had looked & looked everywhere – found it on ebay ("Tent #8" is there as well) but as a Tiak Council GS out of Seminole, that sadly, was my last year in GS's…but as an adult I was involved in Law Enforcement, so in reading the book…I was familiar with the terminology used & I must say the authors Michael & Dick Wilkerson, and all involved – I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night until I had the killer in custody, which Gene Leroy Hart had priors against him that fit the profile & evidence the OSBI had in possession – pointed right at him, but we know it had to be proven. Plus GLH had so many relatives in the Locust Grove area, whether directly or distant relation – and then the task of trying to find an indifferent juror who hadn't been influenced by all the media exposure – and then we have all the people coming out of the woodwork claiming to have been the one(s) responsible (in fact, my son in laws' father works as a correctional officer & I was commenting about reading the book to him, on 1-11-13, in which he replied that an inmate who had told other inmates of the McAlester State Prison that he was the *real* man who was responsible "for killing those 3 girl scouts", had passed away a few weeks ago…was it another prisoner seeking fame and/or early parole? We'll never know…) for killing those precious little girls 35 yrs ago…Now, this in which I'm about to say is merely my opinion, but I feel in my heart that the Medicine Man whose identity was protected by the authors by being given a fictional name of "Crying Wolf" was correct…that the God of the Red Man & the White Man will know the truth and the evil one guilty of committing those hainous acts would have the demise of death…in which we know GLH life on this earth after he started serving his sentence for the previous crimes he committed against the women in 1966 and escapes from Mayes County Jail….we may never know the answer to our questions – and we may never have closure to this case…but let's please not forget those 3 little innocent girls who arrived hours earlier with anticipations of friendship, laughter, and fun…only to have their lives & their families lives halted forever by a sick individual, and GS's of America changed forever…..Kawee, God bless the work & effort your dad did on this case to help get evidence, facts & spending hours checking leads (only to discredit most of them when he followed-up on them)…Thank you – and if he's still living, please tell him a former Girl Scout says Thank You! God Bless!! Rest In Peace little Lori, Denise, and Michelle….
Thank you for your words.
The thing that bothers me is that he was in jail and had escaped before.And yet he managed to escape again. They should have done a better job to keep him locked up since he was a violent sexual predator. If they had those girls would probably be alive today.
I've lived in the area all my life. This is a story that I grew up with. The camp is only about 6 miles from my home and I have visited many times. About 8 summers ago, the owners opened the swimming pool and placed a large sign out by the hwy promoting it (the sign is still there, but has been covered up). Of course, no one in the area was interested. Its sad to see what it has become. It hasn't changed in the last 15 yrs.
I would be very interested in contacting the owners. I live in Siloam Springs, Arkansas and I woud be very interested in paying the owners to let me and a group of my friends camp overnight in this place.
Mike,
Like you I also live in Siloam Springs, grew up here. Just wandering if we happened to know eachother. Like you this place is very interesting to me.
Even in its derilict state, you can see Camp Scott was a pretty cool and fun place. Some of the pictures on this site have a creepy feel to them but, strangely, not these. It's almost as though the goodness and innocence that dwelled here still pervades over the horrendous act that closed it. It Hart did in fact commit these crimes, he not only destroyed the lives of three little girls (bad enough!) but he also ruined what could have been a great life experience for other little girls who would have gone to this camp. What a sorry legacy for someone to leave!
Is there any way of contacting the owner of the camp? My friends and I would like to walk through it. ( very respectfully that is) Would that at all be possible? Thanks! =)
I found your site via either TulsaGal of TTM and recently signed up for your rss feed. It’ll take a while to get through the archives here but I will eventually.
I got to thinking about the Camp Scott murders two or three years ago and did a web search to refresh my memory. It was a surprise to see you feature it a few days ago. Those three girls are hard to forget. And should be.
Photos of derelict buildings and areas have long interested me and this is the Oklahoma motherload. Nice work.
Great post. I remember all of this very well. I turned 19 3 days after the murders (yes I'm OLD) and followed all of it closely. Fascinating photos.
I was a girlscout during this time…I remember it clearly! We were all afraid after this happened.
Me too—after this we had dads go on our camping trips with us and they were armed with guns–they took turns watching over us through the night—-it seemed then that the time of childhood innocence was over.I was a girl scout from the Moore,OK area.
My good friend Melody was there in tent 6 closest to tent 7 . She was scared her whole life over it
NEAT!!!! Very informative. Looks like an eerie place!
I really like the layout of this post. The maps are great. And the pictures being separated helps as well!
Good job guys! I grew up hearing about these murders and this place but never even knew the name of the camp, only that it was close to Locust Grove. I really enjoyed the pics.
Good job on this! Kevin has done a great job on his site, but another site people should check out is http://girlscoutmurders.yuku.com, where Kevin has contributed some interesting things. It has been dedicated to these murders for a few years now and several members there have been dedicated researchers of the case for many years before the site was opened.
great job guys! very respectful and well researched. i did a research paper in college about camp scott and gene hart. i wish that he just would have admitted his guilt and let the families of the young victims have the peace they deserve.
Looking at the facts of this case, when studied for a bit it is kind of strange that one person could have pulled this off. Its my guess that there had to be a minimum of two perpetrators to make this possible. The boot print didn't belong to Hart. Now I am not trying to stand up for someone like him, but I don't think just one person could have done this. Hart would have written something more complex on the wall of the cave, more of an insult. Now I do have another person in mind that was in the cookson hills area in that timeframe. Actually if you put the pair with Hart you have the correct number of perps. One of these even had the correct boot size. All had been convicted of sex crimes, but the letdown is I'm not sure if any of these people are still living. Two of them I know are deceased, the third I haven't reaserched yet, but if he is alive I am going to try to speak with him at some point in the very near future.
My parents told me this story when I was younger. I always thought it was something they made up. Definitely want to check this place out!