Sixteen-year-old Lauria Bible disappeared after a house fire in Welch, Oklahoma. On the night of December 29, 1999 she was at a sleepover for her friend Ashley Freeman’s 16th birthday; the next morning the Freeman mobile home was engulfed in flames. After firefighters extinguished the blaze, the bodies of Ashley’s parents, Danny and Kathy Freeman, were found inside; both had been shot to death. Lauria and Ashley were nowhere to be found. Lauria’s car remained at the scene and her purse with driver’s license and money was left inside, suggesting neither girl left willingly.

Initial theories were confused, and the case went cold for years with several false leads and recanted confessions. Investigators later identified three suspects: Ronnie Dean Busick, Warren Phillip Phil Welch II, and David Pennington. Welch and Pennington were dead by the time they were named. Busick was arrested and later pleaded guilty to being an accessory to first-degree murder and received a ten-year sentence. Despite searches prompted by tips and information from Busick, Lauria’s remains have never been found.