This case is probably one of the most horrible and saddest cases that I have actually looked into. This is the case of the Oklahoma Girl Scout murders and the possible suspect Gene Hart.
Three Oklahoma girl scouts were murdered in 1977
On the morning of June 13, 1977, Michelle, Lori and Doris were all aged between eight and 10. They were all sexually molested and murdered. The three girls were all Girl Scouts. June 13th was actually the first day of that camp at Camp Scott.
The camp, which was located in Lotus Grove, was opened since 1928 for Girl Scouts, specifically to come and camp and enjoy the outdoors and explore the outdoors.
Two months before the murders took place, one of the tents at Camp Scott was ransacked and they stole some doughnuts and left the empty donut box with a note inside. A note that was left basically said that three girls on the camp would be murdered, but it was dismissed as a prank.
They just thought it was some dumb prankster who wanted to scare everyone in the camp. So on June 12 in 1977, the girls loaded onto a bus in Tulsa and drove 40 miles to reach Camp Scott for the two-week stay.
Lori, Doris and Michelle stayed in the most remote tent
Lori Doris and Michelle took tent number eight, which was in the Kiowa unit, which is where that group was staying. And number eight was the most remote of all of the tents. And you couldn’t actually see it from the counselor’s tent. A little past midnight, one of the camp counselors, Carla Willett, said she was woken up by a loud noise. She said it was something between a frog and a bullhorn and was kind of like a large, guttural sound. She woke another counselor, to see if she had heard the noise, but said that she had not.
The day before on the 12th of June, the counselors had seen some strange men walking around that they were a little bit frightened by. So Carla did decide to go and check the camp out with her flashlight. She didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, so she ended up just going back to bed. I will say that she shone her flashlight towards all of the tents. And when she showed her flashlight, it was said that the noise kind of like stopped. So she ended up going back to bed and a few other people that were staying at the camp said that they saw a strange orange light that night.
At six a.m. the next morning, Carla was on her way to the showers when she noticed the three bodies of the girls on the side of the trail, 150 yards from the tent. Alongside the girls, they found tape, rope, a gag and a flashlight.
Someone returned a missing shoe of the victim
What they didn’t find, weirdly enough, was one of the shoes from one of the victims bodies. And what makes this fact even weirder is that later on during the investigation, when there was hundreds of people searching for the girls and people that set up camp, like police officers that have set up camp in the camp to look for the girls, and that was manhunts everywhere, the shoe was returned to the camp and nobody saw who did it. Nobody saw anyone put the shoe back.
Somehow the killer managed to return the shoe while there was manhunts and searches going on.
And something that I want to mention, which is pretty crazy and totally unacceptable, is that Michele’s parents actually had no idea how she died. They found out from the news. So when authorities went to their house, they actually told them that she was in an accident. So they had no idea what had happened to their daughter or how it had happened until they watched the news.
By seven thirty a.m. on June the 13th, police arrive and the investigation into the murders begins. And by 10:00 a.m., the same day Camp Scott is evacuated and closed down and it has never reopened since. OK, so now let’s talk about some of the facts and some of the evidence.
Lori and Michelle were killed in their tent and Doris was killed in the woods
From the investigation, it was determined that Lori and Michelle had been struck and killed inside of their tent and that Doris had been taken into the woods before she was murdered. So Lori and Michelle died of blunt force trauma and Michele died from asphyxiation. All pipe and cord was removed from the bodies after the matter and before they were found. It appeared as though Doris and Lori had been sexually molested. On the wooden floor of the tent, it seems whoever murdered the girls tried to wipe it up with a mattress and towel, and then try to stuff the materials into sleeping bags.
Military boots footprints were found inside the girls tent, and it was also found that whoever it was that murdered these girls, also managed to break into the camp counselors tent. While they were in there, they stole a purse and some eyeglasses. It was determined that they basically walked through the entire camp to get to tent eight.
They walked past the counselors and everyone else in the unit to get to tent eight. Not far from Camp Scott, they found a few other pieces at which they thought were related to the murders. They found tape, plastic bag, flashlight, eyeglasses.
There were also DNA tests that took place, but they didn’t really help. There were three fingerprints found on the girls. However, all of the fingerprint testing and DNA testing that took place in 1987 was inconclusive.
DNA was too deteriorated to get an accurate result
In 2002, the prints and DNA were tested again, but they were too deteriorated to come up with an accurate result. In 2007, a semen sample from the girls body was tested, but there were no results. There was a partial DNA sample from a female, but it was unable to tell whether this was from the girls themselves.
Further, Jack Shroff who owned a ranch less than a mile away from the camp said that his home had been burgled and a few items had been stolen. Sniffer dogs led investigators to Jack’s home. When searching his home, they found a roll of duct tape and rope, which matched the items that were found at the girl’s bodies.
Several rocks, tire tool and a crowbar were also found at the residence, but none of these were to be determined if they were linked to the girls murders. Detectives also found a footprint which matched the one that was inside the tent. For a short while Jack actually did become a suspect. He took a polygraph test and eventually ruled him out as a suspect. That’s all the evidence I found, but I’m sure there’s more because this case is so massive. When researching, it’s really confusing to research, because the evidence is all over the place. So I’m sure I missed something. So if you know anything more, feel free to comment below.
Gene Lieber main suspect in Oklahoma Girl Scout murders
The major suspect, in this case, was Gene Lieber. Gene had previously actually been to jail for kidnapping and rape in 1966. But he was let out on parole in 1969, which in my opinion is disgusting. Not long after he was paroled, he was sentenced to another 50 years for burglary.
Gene was tied to these murders because the two photos of the women found in the cave, were actually taken by a prison guard at the Mays County Jail. Gene is the one who helped to develop those
However, all of the fingerprint testing and DNA testing that took place in 1987 was inconclusive in 2002. The fingerprints and DNA were tested again, but they were too deteriorated to come up with an accurate result. In 2007, a semen sample from the girls bodies was tested, but there were no results. There was a partial DNA sample from a female, but it was unable to tell whether this was from the girls themselves.
Jack was originally one of the suspects but was later ruled out
Further, Jack, who owned a ranch less than a mile away from the camp, said that his home had a few items have been stolen. So sniffer dogs led investigators to Jack’s home. When his house was searched, they found a roll of duct tape and rope, which matched the items which were found at the girl’s bodies. Several rocks, a tire tool, and a crowbar also found at the residence. But none of these were able to be determined if they were linked to the girl’s matters. Detectives also found a footprint that matched the one that was inside the tent. And for a short while, Jack actually did become a suspect. He took a polygraph and test and I guess they ruled him out as a suspect because of that.
It’s actually kind of confusing to research, I guess, a lot of places. And the evidence is all over the place. So it’s kind of hard to put everything together. So I’m sure that I’ve forgotten some. And if you know anything about this case, feel free to put that down below.
Now I’m just going to go ahead and talk about the major suspect in this case, which was Gene Hart. There was another man that was questioned before Gene as a suspect. He was found seven miles from Camp Scott. I don’t know what his name is, but he was basically living out of his car. They questioned him and then they decided that he wasn’t a suspect. I just thought I would mention that. So Gene had previously actually been to jail for kidnapping and rape in 1966, but he was let out on parole in 1969, which in my opinion is disgusting.
Gene Hart quickly went back to jail after being paroled
Not long after he was let out on parole, he was sentenced to another 50 years in the county jail for burglary. That was four different burglaries that happened in Tulsa, which he was tied to and then convicted for. But he managed to escape from this jail four years before the Girl Scout murders took place. So Gene was tied to these matters because the two photos of the women who were found in the cave were actually taken by a prison guard at the Mayes County Jail. And Gene is the one who helped to develop them.
Gene’s mother lived not far from Camp Scott. Gene was raised in Lotus Grove. He was an outdoorsman and from hundreds of leads that police received and looked into, most of them led to Gene after connecting him to the photos that were found of the two women. Police searched for him for 10 months before finally apprehending him. They found him at the home of a Cherokee native. Gene, important to mention, is also a Cherokee. Now, here’s where it gets a little complicated. The search area is native to a lot of Cherokees. They are native to the land and have been there since forever, basically. So in the search for Gene, they had bloodhounds searching for him.
Cherokee were attempting to protect Gene Hart
They were sniffer dogs searching for him. They were spent trying to find him and a medicine man who was like a Cherokee native as well. Gene Hart is part of the Cherokee natives. He said that he placed a curse on the bloodhounds and that they would soon die. And he placed this curse between the 16th and the 18th of June. Weirdly enough, on the 18th of June, one of the bloodhounds died. And actually, I’m pretty sure several of the sniffer dogs did pass away.
Gene Hart ended up being acquitted for the murders
When he went to trial for the murders, he was eventually acquitted because lack of evidence to tie him to the murders. He did, however end up back in jail for a 300-year sentence for the crimes that he had previously committed. I guess a lot of the evidence seemed to point to Gene.
I guess a lot of the evidence seemed to point to Gene, especially at this point in the story. You guys probably think so much of the evidence points to him, but there were a few inconsistencies with him being the murderer. So the first is that Gene had previously had a vasectomy. So his friends and family who believe that he was innocent, which they really, really believe that he was innocent, they said that it couldn’t possibly be him.
Gene Hart may have killed with a partner
The semen and the sperm couldn’t possibly be his because of his vasectomy, although Gene did end up passing away from a heart attack not long after he started his new jail sentence, he was working out and ended up dying from a heart attack. But after he died, they performed an autopsy and found that the vasectomy was actually not successful. The footprints that were found inside the tent did not match Gene. They were too small to be his foot. And the thumbprint that was found on the flashlight could not be.
It was also widely agreed that more than one person was involved in this matter. In fact, that was actually two different notes that were used in these murders when tying up the girls. So it’s highly probable that there were two murders. So even if Gene Hart was involved, we still don’t know who the other killer was. This could mean which I’ve heard some people believe that one of the Cherokee natives could have been involved. This is why they actually helped him out and put a curse on the dogs and why they were trying to defend him.
But honestly, I’m not 100 percent sure. He is pretty much the main and only real suspect. No one else has any idea to this day who could have done this, why they would have done this. So that is everything that I have for you today. Let me know what you think of this case. If you have any theories as to what happened, whether you think Gene did it or not, I would love to hear your opinions.
