Town changed, even with girls’ killer behind bars

WELEETKA, Okla. (AP) – Some residents of the small central Oklahoma town of Weleetka say their community has been forever changed by the deaths of two young girls who were gunned down on a backcountry road in 2008.

The slayings went unsolved for years until Kevin Sweat was questioned in the death of his fiancee and police connected the cases. On Thursday, 28-year-old Sweat pleaded guilty to all three murders.

Sweat said he shot 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker to death, believing they were "demons" out to do him harm. And he admitted guilt in the death of his fiancee, 23-year-old Ashley Taylor.

One Weleetka resident says folks here are still cautious about traveling down certain roads and parents keep close watch over their kids – as if the killer were still free.