Skyla Whitaker 11, Taylor Placker 13, Murdered- Weleetka,OK(Murder Chgs)

[sleddogs]

Police are looking for any clues in the slayings of two young girls in rural Oklahoma. Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and her friend, Skyla Whitaker, 11, were found shot to death along a dirt road near the town of Weleetka on Sunday.

WELEETKA, Okla. (June 10) - The bodies of two girls were found shot to death in rural Oklahoma along a dirt road the best friends walked dozens of times to play and go to sleepovers.

By Tuesday, investigators had no suspects and were unsure of the motive for Sunday's killings of 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker.

Taylor's grandfather found their bodies after his wife got no answer when she called Taylor's cellular phone. The girls were sleeping over at Taylor's house and had decided to take a walk down the desolate road Sunday afternoon.

Peter Placker sobbed uncontrollably Monday as he tried to remember finding the girls' bodies about a quarter of a mile from his house near Weleetka, about 70 miles south of Tulsa.

"I can't describe coming up on it," he said. "I done it once and I can't do it again."

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/mystery-surrounds-young-girls-killings/20080610151309990001

Edit to add "murder charges" to subject line.  MB

[sleddogs]

2 Young Girls Shot To Death On Rural Road
Oklahoma Cops Seek Killer In Slaying Of Best Friends, Ages 11 And 13

(CBS/AP) The bodies of two young girls shot to death near the small town of Weleetka in Okfuskee County were discovered by the grandfather of one of the girls, along a dirt road the two best friends used dozens of times to play on and walk to sleepovers, according to grieving family members.

The bodies of 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker and 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker were found Sunday by Taylor's grandfather, Peter, after he became worried when his wife tried calling the girl's cell phone and got no answer.

The Oklahoman newspaper reported police were looking at "persons of interest" in the case. Authorities are also offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the killer or killers.

The girls, who were sleeping over at Taylor's house, decided to take a walk down the desolate road Sunday afternoon, something they were used to doing in their rural community. The Oklahoman said the girls were best friends and good students.

"I can't describe coming up on it," Peter Placker said, sobbing uncontrollably, as he tried to remember walking up on the scene, only about one-quarter mile from his house. "I done it once and I can't do it again."

Stan Florence, an inspector with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, confirmed the names of the girls. Florence said the victims were shot "multiple times" and it was unknown if they were molested.

"They were little girls, what possible motive could there be?" Sheriff Jack Choate told The Oklahoman. "You have to wonder, did they see something they were not supposed to? Were they at the wrong place at the wrong time?"

By Monday afternoon, at least 20 investigators were examining the crime scene and pursuing leads that came in overnight.

Meanwhile, relatives tried to make sense of the grisly killings in a community where some folks still leave their keys in their cars and residents who live 10 miles apart still call themselves neighbors.

Skyla was the carefree adventurer, the girl who walked barefoot almost everywhere and rode her bicycle down endless dirt roads. Where she went, her many cats followed, along with her pet goat. Skyla wanted to become a veterinarian, said her grandmother, Claudia Farrow.

To know Taylor was to love her, her grandfather said. She was the big-hearted girl who rescued helpless turtles crawling in the middle of the road and wanted to become a forensic scientist, like on the TV shows, said Peter Placker, who said he raised Taylor like she was his daughter even though he was her biological grandparent.

She was home-schooled until the family moved to Weleetka, located about 70 miles south of Tulsa.

"She was the best kid I've known," Placker said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/10/national/main4168258.shtml

[Bearlyhere]

Thanks sleddogs, I was looking to see if there was a thread for this tragedy.

This could have been any two children walking up the road.  That's the scary part for all parents. 

I hope these girls did not suffer.  Their family sure will.  God bless them and be with them at this time.  I am sure God is holding them both in one hand as he knows how much they love being together in all they do.  Please, God, wrap your arms around this family tightly and don't let go.

This community is shattered by this.  I hope they find the perp(s) responsible for this very quickly.  I know it won't bring back the two girls, nothing will, but the family and community needs this soon.

[Bearlyhere]

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20080610/Girls.Killed/


Joe Mosher, an uncle of Taylor Paschal-Placker, talks with a reporter near where his neice, Taylor, was found dead Sunday night, in Weleetka Okla., Tuesday, June 10, 2008.  A memorial with flowers and stuffed animals marks the location.

Girls found dead near small Oklahoma town
 6 hours ago

WELEETKA, Okla. — The bodies of two girls were found shot to death in rural Oklahoma along a dirt road the best friends walked dozens of times to play and go to sleepovers.

By Tuesday, investigators had no suspects and were unsure of the motive for Sunday's killings of 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker.

Residents remained on edge knowing a murderer could be in this close community of 1,000.

"Believe it or not, I have never pulled any shades in my house and I keep my doors unlocked," said Dena Priddy, a teacher's aide at the school the victims attended. "You just don't expect these things to happen here."

Taylor's grandfather found their bodies after his wife got no answer when she called Taylor's cellular phone. The girls were sleeping over at Taylor's house and had decided to take a walk down the desolate road Sunday afternoon.

Peter Placker sobbed uncontrollably Monday as he tried to remember finding the girls' bodies about a quarter of a mile from his house near Weleetka, about 70 miles south of Tulsa.

"I can't describe coming up on it," he said. "I done it once and I can't do it again."

Kevin Rowland, chief investigator with the state medical examiner's office, said the girls each suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest.

Full autopsy results were not available yet, but sexual assault appears unlikely, said Special Agent Ben Rosser of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. He noted the girls were clothed and had only been missing for a half hour.

Investigators were examining evidence, including tire tracks, shell casings, ballistics and shoe prints for any possible leads.

"We will bring all the resources we need to try to help in our investigation," Rosser said in an afternoon news conference.

But as of Tuesday afternoon, authorities had identified no suspects or persons of interest in the crime.

"Nobody we could put a finger on and say this guy's good for it," Rosser said.

A $14,000 reward was being offered for information about the killings.

Investigators suspect a local person was involved because the killings occurred in such an isolated area, Rosser said. Possibilities include that it was a random shooting, the girls had intended to meet someone or they may have interrupted a crime that was occurring, he said.

Skyla's family said she walked barefoot almost everywhere and rode her bicycle down endless dirt roads. Where she went, her many cats followed, along with her pet goat. Skyla wanted to become a veterinarian, said her grandmother, Claudia Farrow.

Taylor rescued helpless turtles crawling in the middle of the road and wanted to become a forensic scientist like the ones on TV shows, said Placker, who raised the girl.

"She was the best kid I've known," he said.

The murders particularly have shaken a community where some drivers leave their keys in their cars and people who live 10 miles apart call themselves neighbors.

"I can't put it into words," said Jake Fenley, Skyla's basketball coach. "This doesn't happen in rural middle America."

For Priddy, that fear means taking extra precautions: "I got guns loaded," she said defiantly. She also refuses to let her 14-year-old daughter out of the house.

On Tuesday morning, Taylor's uncle, Joe Mosher, drove up to the makeshift memorial at the place the bodies were found. Yellow crime scene tape had been torn away and thick patches of grass were matted down.

A rosary hung from a branch, and stuffed animals and a bouquet of flowers just beginning to wilt formed the grim reminder of innocence lost.

"It's the most tragic thing that I've ever seen," said Nell Mosher, Taylor's aunt. "They were just two precious little babies; they were good girls."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Nut44x4]

911-tape released and suspect sketch

Officials Release 911 Tape in Double Slaying of Oklahoma Girls
Officials released the first minute of a 911 tape in the double murder of two young girls gunned down on a rural road in the hope that it will spark new leads in a case that has stymied investigators for seven weeks.

"They went for a walk and they're both, they're dead!" a female relative screams to the 911 operator, begging her to "help me please."

Click here for a transcript of the tape. (GO TO LINK)

Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Whitaker, 11, were found shot to death June 8 close to Taylor's home in rural Weleetka, Okla.

"It breaks your heart hearing it, doesn't it?" Jessica Brown, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said at a press conference held Monday. The agency released the first 1 minute, 22 second portion of the more than six-minute-long tape after consulting the victims' families.

"We’ve gotten so many leads in. We just need that right one," Brown told FOX News on Monday. "And we’re hoping that this will stir some emotion in the people or the person who has information that can help break this case."

"We know someone out there knows what happened or has a good idea of what happened and can help us with this case," she said.

Brown said investigators have received more than 500 leads in the case and eliminated 100 people in the case.

Officials had released a sketch of a person of interest in the case who they believe may have seen the person or people responsible for the girls' deaths, but Bureau of Investigation officials have been tightlipped since.

Click here for photos.

The man is described as an American Indian, about 6 feet tall, with black hair and a ponytail stretching to the small of his back. Investigators say the man was seen standing near a white Ford or Chevrolet single cab pickup with chrome striping and an Oklahoma license tag around the time and place the girls were shot.

The girls were shot a number of times in the head and chest with weapons of two different calibers, leading authorities to think two gunmen were involved. Investigators also believe that bullet casings collected near the crime scene could be linked to the homicides.

More than $30,000 in reward money is available for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,387201,00.html


Nancy Grace played the tape near the end of her show tonight....very chilling.

[klaasend]

http://www.koco.com/news/19682018/detail.html

New Evidence Found In Weleetka Slayings
OSBI May Offer Details In Monday News Conference

POSTED: 8:36 am CDT June 7, 2009
UPDATED: 7:29 pm CDT June 7, 2009


OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said investigators have found DNA linked to the slayings of two girls in Weleetka.

Spokeswoman Jessica Brown offered no details but said the evidence was "something of significance."

New Evidence In Weleetka Murders

More information may be revealed at a news conference scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday, the one-year anniversary of the killings of Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11. Eyewitness News 5 and koco.com will both offer live coverage of the news conference.

The girls were found shot to death on an isolated Okfuskee County road.

Authorities have said they don't know if they happened onto a crime in progress, were victims of an attempted abduction or were targets of a thrill killing, but Taylor's grandfather found them dead hours after they had gone for a walk.

Skyla had been shot eight times and Taylor five. Authorities believe two guns were used.

A drawing of a man with American Indian features seen near the crime scene was released, but that man hasn't come forward.

Skyla's father, William Whitaker, said he tries to remember how his daughter lived and leave details of the case to investigators.

Father Remembers Daughter One Year After Death

"It's frustrating that the person who did this is still on the streets," he said. "They are still out there and possibly have done this before."

He said he visits the memorial to the slain girls at least once a week.

"It gives me a chance to think about them," he said. "The good times we had and the things we did."

The memorial has grown in the past year and each piece has a story. A cross was added to the site last week.

Stay with koco.com and Eyewitness News 5 for the latest details.

[Nut44x4]

Shooting Deaths of Skyla Whitaker and Taylor Paschal-Placker – One Year Later
June 08, 2009
One year ago today, the lives of 11-year-old Skyla Jade Whitaker and 13-year-old Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker were snuffed out along a rural road in Weleetka, Okla. The brutal killings, which sent shockwaves across the nation, have been the subject of an intense criminal investigation that has involved over 7,500 man hours and 450 interviews; however, to date, not a single suspect has been identified.

"This coward has not come forward, but we do believe that there are other people who have information as to who this person or these people are," Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation [OSBI] spokesperson Jessica Brown said during a press conference this afternoon. "I don't know why they haven't come forward, but they need to. We are one piece of information away from making an arrest. These people who have the information can help us with that, and we plead for them to come forward. We have $36,000 as a reward in this case and they are eligible for that reward if they come forward and we can use their information to help prosecute this case. That is a lot of money and we hope that will get somebody to come forward."

In addition to the thousands of man hours and the hundreds of interviews that have been conducted, Brown said that investigators have submitted over 600 items to the state crime lab for analysis and that over 700 tests have been conducted on those items.

"We are doing a great deal to help solve this case," Brown said. "We do have evidence not new evidence but we do have good evidence. If we could get that one piece of information to help solve this case - that's what we need."

Brown said that her department still does not have a motive in the killings and that they probably won't until they make an arrest.

"It could be any number of things," Brown said. "If we knew the motive, I think it would be easier for us to solve it, but we don't know at this point in time." 

While a suspect has not yet been identified, Brown said that the OSBI believes that whoever committed the crime is from the Weleetka area.

"It is quite a remote area," she said. "If you been there, it is hard to find your way in and out, so a person would have to know the area pretty well to do that."

In addition to Brown, Skyla's father, William Whitaker, also spoke at the press conference.

"This is my first time speaking out in front of a group this large," Whitaker said. "I don't really know anything about the case [but] I do know about the girls. They were both really great kids. They were both active in their schools [and] they were both really smart. This is a horrible thing to happen to them … It is a day to day thing getting through the last year. Some days are a little easier than others, some of them you just don't even want to go forward, but if you have other children to take care of it makes it kind of difficult you know you have to stand up and be there for them and be there for your loved ones.  It might be your good day but it might be somebody else's bad day it hits everybody different ways at different times."

In regard to the person or persons responsible, Whitaker had this to say:

"I want them to turn themselves in. I want them to bring this whole thing to an end. It has gone on long enough. The family is hurt, the community is hurt [and] I just want it to be brought to an end.

Taylor's father, Peter Placker, echoed that statement/

"I want this to come to an end more than anybody else does," Placker said. "I mean I can't find a reason anymore to smile … I know no other way to explain it but pure hell. That girl meant everything to me.  The past year I spend most of the time by myself. I am afraid to show affection to my other family members because I am scared somebody else is goanna be next … the person's still out there. If they are crazy enough to do it once they are going to do it again."

more of what we already know at link...
http://blogs.discovery.com/criminal_report/2009/06/skyla-whitaker-and-taylor-paschal-placker.html

[Claycat]

Wow, this isn't a very long thread here, Nut! 

My hope is that there will soon be justice for Taylor and Skyla.  The rumors are flying fast and furious.

[MuffyBee]

Hi Claycat and welcome to Scared Monkeys

[Claycat]

Thank you so much, MuffyBee!

[Nut44x4]

10/27/09                 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           

Large Reward Renewed in Weleetka Girls' Murder Case

The substantial reward announced in July of $160,000 .00 in the Weleetka Girls’ murder case will be renewed for another 90 days starting Wednesday, October 28th.

June 8, 2008, 13-year-old Taylor Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker were gunned down just yards from Placker’s home near Weleetka.  OSBI agents continue to receive and follow leads.

Several donors came forward during the summer to add to an existing reward.  An anonymous donor has offered a $70,000.00 reward and two Tulsa area independent oil companies put up a combined $50,000.00 reward.  This put the total reward amount for information that leads to an arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the murders of the girls up to $160,000.00.  This includes a $10,000.00 reward offered by the U.S. Marshal’s Service, $10,000.00 from the OSBI, and $20,000.00 donated by the community.

Dexxon Inc. and LPD Energy Corp. as well as the other anonymous donor will make their own determination on rewarding the money they are offering separate from the OSBI and other law enforcement officials.

Anyone with information should call the state Crimestoppers hotline at 1-800-635-8477.  Callers can remain anonymous.
http://www.ok.gov/osbi/Press_Room/2009_Press_Releases/PR-2009-10-27__LARGE_REWARD_RENEWED_IN_WELEETKA_GIRLS'_MURDER_CASE.html

[Nut44x4]

Auction to raise reward money in Weleetka-area killings
 
BY MICHAEL KIMBALL Oklahoman   
Published: June 2, 2010

HENRYETTA — A bar in Henryetta will hold an auction Sunday to raise money for the reward fund in the slaying of two Weleetka- area girls two years ago.

The auction will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at Marvin's Place, 9720 Hornbeam Road, a bar employee said. There is no set time for the auction to end.

It's the bar's third auction to raise reward funds in the June 8, 2008, shooting deaths of Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Whitaker, 11, on a county road near Weleetka. No arrests have been made in the slayings, and authorities have never publicly identified a suspect despite continuing pleas for information.

Peter Placker, Taylor's grandfather, said the families are appreciative and thankful for the bar's efforts, which were organized by its owner out of compassion for the family. Placker moved to Henryetta after his granddaughter's death.

The bar is accepting donations for the auction.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is planning a news conference Tuesday, the two-year anniversary of the killings, to renew the plea for more information, OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown said.

The reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or people responsible in the deaths stands at $160,000, Brown said.

http://newsok.com/auction-to-boost-reward-in-killings/article/3465446?custom_click=lead_story_title

[Sister]

This is a very haunting case.  I guess there was no match to the DNA supposedly found.
What agony for these families.
I would have thought such a large reward would have brought forth some good leads.
Prayers for the families.

[Nut44x4]

FBI to Examine Unsolved Slayings of Oklahoma Girls
Updated: 48 minutes ago

Nov. 12 -- Authorities in Oklahoma have asked the FBI to develop a profile of the individual or individuals responsible for the deaths of two young girls who were brutally slain in 2008.

"We are hoping they can give us some information that we haven't found yet," Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown told AOL News. "They are the experts in behavioral analysis. We do not have that expertise, so that is why we are going to them."

Brown said that her agency decided to seek the assistance of the FBI "some time ago" but had to gather all of the information needed so the agency's behavioral profiling agents could do the analysis.

"You get to a point in the case where you are looking for help in any manner," Brown said.

The bodies of Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11, were found on June 8, 2008, in a ditch along County Line Road in Weleetka.

According to the Okfuskee County Sheriff's Office, Skyla had been spending the night at Taylor's house, and the two had decided to take a walk along the dirt road.

When the girls failed to return home, Taylor's grandfather, Peter Placker, went looking for them. He walked roughly a quarter of a mile down the road before discovering the girls' bodies, police said.

According to autopsy reports, Skyla had been shot a total of eight times in the neck, arms, shoulders, chest and abdomen. Taylor had been shot five times, in the face, groin and hand.

The county coroner found no signs of sexual assault, but he did find that each of the girls had been shot with two different caliber bullets. Investigators believe a .40-caliber handgun and a smaller-caliber weapon were used in the killings. Authorities have declined to release any other information on the weapons.

Investigators have checked out hundreds of leads and identified several persons of interest in the past two years, but they have been unable to determine who is responsible for the murders, Brown said.

"We have looked at similar crimes [but] we haven't found any in Oklahoma, necessarily," Brown said. "We have also looked throughout the country ... [but that] hasn't produced a lot of helpful leads."

While an FBI profile cannot be used as evidence in the case, it can be used to help police identify potential suspects, former FBI agent Harold Copus told AOL News.

"You need more than a profile to get a search warrant or make an arrest," said Copus, now head of Copus Security Consultants in Atlanta. "A profile is a road map that leads you from a crime scene to the potential perpetrator. Then, once you identify a suspect, you have to do all the work of making the case. But it certainly shortens the road map of how to get there."

According to Copus, agents in the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit have spent years studying psychology and interviewing hundreds of killers around the country. The profilers use their knowledge to determine how killers think and operate.

"Based on the case and similar crimes they have investigated, [a profiler] can determine a lot of different things about the psychological make up of this person or persons," Copus said. "The police can then go back in their interviews and possibly say, 'Wow, we missed this and we need to concentrate this person.'"

Copus added, "In my experience, the profilers are great at what they do. If I was the person who had done this, I would be shaking in my shoes knowing they are on top of me now."

Speaking with The Oklahoman today, Taylor's grandmother, Vicky Placker, said she is aware that the FBI has been asked to assist in the case.

"We just hope something comes from this," she said.

Brown is also hopeful that their assistance will ultimately result in an arrest.

"It is awful, and we are willing to do whatever it takes to get it solved, and the sooner the better, of course," Brown said.

When asked whether investigators fear the killer or killers could strike again, Brown replied, "Absolutely."

"If they are willing to kill two innocent children in cold blood, I don't think there [are] any limitations," she said.
http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/fbi-asked-to-profile-killer-of-two-oklahoma-girls/19714954

[Nut44x4]

Interesting talk here regarding the death of a woman and her killer....seems things point in this direction????

see comments
http://www.newson6.com/story/15272397/okmulgee-man-charged-with-murder-in-fiancees-death

[cartfly]

Interesting talk here regarding the death of a woman and her killer....seems things point in this direction????

see comments
http://www.newson6.com/story/15272397/okmulgee-man-charged-with-murder-in-fiancees-death

WOW!! Thanks Nut! I am bringing the comments over from the article before they "go poof". This guy "Kevin Sweat" needs to look into this guy ASAP, imo....hopefully, they bring in the FBI on this.

Quotes in the comment section of the above article:



Guest:
Just want to make a correction to a comment, Kevin's grandparents is the ones who live next to the victim's family of those little girls, & his father also lives about 6 miles from there.

michael:
9:38 PM Aug 16

Burn him. Eye for an eye. We need to lose this crap about "oh, we can fix them and make them better...and put them back into society."" Slap on the wrist and out the door to do it again. That's how our justice system works.

Jennifer:
1:21 PM Aug 16

Funny you should say that MorIsInteresting. This is unsubstantiated, but I've heard Kevin's father actually lives next door to the grandparents of one of the two Weleetka girls who was killed in 2008. It was said that a gun was recovered from the fathers home that "matched" the gun that killed one of the girls. It was unclear to me if matched meant caliber or ballistics. I'm guessing caliber. Anyway, supposedly Kevin killed Ashley for threatening to turn him in for the two girl's murders.

MorIsInteresting:
11:40 AM Aug 16

Interesting post by MoreisMor! Now I'm wondering when it says "his father's home near Weleetka" if this guy had anything to do with the murders of those two little girls there! I hope they check into any possibility of him being a suspect.

MoreisMor:
9:40 AM Aug 16

The defendant, Kevin Joe Sweat, told authorities that on July 17, he cut the victims throat and pushed her into Nichol’s Park Lake. However, authorities searched the location and were unable to find the 23-year old woman’s body in the lake. Within the public records they state that Sweat went on to tell authorities he went to his father’s home near Weleetka to burn some notebooks and video tapes in a fire on the north side of the property. OSBI and Okmulgee Police officers went to the location to search the site. Upon searching the site the officers discovered adult human bones and pieces of prescription glasses that matched Ashley Taylor’s and clothing belonging to a female from the burn pile.

Kat:
8:50 AM Aug 16

Not sure why the link keeps breaking. Go to their site and it won't take much to find the article. Such a sad story.

Kat
8:49 AM Aug 16

http://henryettafreelance.com/v2/content.aspx?ID=35610&MemberID=1991

[cartfly]

Dear MODS:

Would this case be better suited in "Unsolved"??

[cartfly]

[cartfly]

The following link has many pictures of the girls as well as the crime scene and memorial site.

http://www.taylorandskyla.net/welcome.html

[cartfly]

Interesting talk here regarding the death of a woman and her killer....seems things point in this direction????

see comments
http://www.newson6.com/story/15272397/okmulgee-man-charged-with-murder-in-fiancees-death

Hi Nutt,
I did some snooping and found that the family of this young lady, (Ashley Taylor) that was recently murdered, is also friends on facebook with the family of Taylor Paschal -Placker.  Taylor's mother posted recent condolences to Ashley's father, Michael Taylor. On Michael's facebook he talks about this Kevin Sweat killing his daughter. There is no mention of Kevin Sweat being a "suspect" in Skyla and Taylor's murder on either families profile. But I sure hope they do look at him.
I am not sure if it is appropriate to post the families FB links, but I can if required/needed. They are not private. I just thought this was interesting. It does appear that they are "recent" friends on FB.