New search starting for girls missing for nearly 20 years

WELCH, Okla. (AP) – Authorities in Oklahoma are starting a new search for two 16-year-old girls missing and presumed dead for nearly 20 years.

Craig County District Attorney’s spokeswoman Michelle Lowry says the search for Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible will begin Tuesday near the Picher area, about 85 miles northeast of Tulsa and where authorities have said the girls’ bodies are believed to have been dumped.

The girls disappeared Dec. 30, 1999, from Freeman’s home in nearby Welch. Freeman’s parents, Danny and Kathy Freeman, were found fatally shot in the burned home.

In April 2018, authorities charged 68-year-old Ronnie Dean Busick with four counts of first-degree murder in the case and said two other suspects are dead.

Busick has denied involvement in the case and is undergoing a mental competency evaluation.