A 66-year-old Kansas man was arrested Sunday and charged in connection with an 18-year-old cold case. Ronnie Dean Busick is accused of killing a couple and two teenage girls in Welch, Oklahoma, in 1999.
Busick denied involvement in or knowledge about the deaths of 16-year-olds Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible and Ashley's parents, Kathy and Danny Freeman. The couple's remains were discovered with bullet wounds to the head in their burned mobile home on December 30, 1999, but the teens have yet to be found, Tulsa World reported.
The suspect was charged with four counts of first-degree murder with malice aforethought, four counts of accessory to first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, one count of arson and one count of accessory to first-degree arson. He was transferred from the Harvey County Jail in Kansas to the Craig County Jail in Vinita, Oklahoma, on Wednesday.
Busick reportedly told Tulsa World Wednesday that he would "only talk to the families" about where the girls' remains are located. However, when Lauria Bible's uncle, Lonnie Leforce, yelled, "Tell me where my niece is," Busick denied his involvement in the killings or knowledge of where the teens' remains are.
According to KFOR, Busick is just one of three men accused of the murders. Craig County Sheriff Heath Winfrey discovered previously unknown notes and documents in December 2017 that referenced the murder from the previous sheriff.
Following interviews with several people who had knowledge about the murders and the missing girls, investigators determined that Busick, Warren Phillip "Phil" Welch II and David Pennington were responsible for the murders.
Investigators believe Busick, Welch and Pennington murdered the couple, set the mobile home on fire and kidnapped the two girls, KFOR reported. In a court affidavit, authorities said they believe the girls were kidnapped, tied up, raped and held in a mobile home for a "matter of days" before being strangled to death.
Court documents show that more than a dozen people claimed they knew or had seen evidence of the murders. The probable cause affidavit cited more than a dozen interviews and many of the people interviewed dated and lived with the alleged killers.
The three suspects reportedly bragged about the slayings and threatened to kill anyone who reported them to police, witnesses said. Both Welch, 61, and Pennington, 56, have since died.
Lorene Bible, Lauria's mother, said Monday that it was "time to bring the girls home." She added: "Hopefully I will get to look at him [Busick] right in the eye and say to him, 'Tell me where my child is.'"
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