Account
Apr 15, 2010
Apr 26, 2021
Ashley
Freeman
40
16
67 inches
145 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
On the night of December 29, 1999, in Welch, Oklahoma, 16-year-old Ashley Freeman was celebrating her birthday with her best friend, Lauria Bible. Lauria had planned to spend the night, a common occurrence for the two inseparable friends. However, the night took a tragic turn, and by the early morning of December 30, both teenage girls had vanished. A passing motorist reported a fire at the Freeman's mobile home around 5:30 a.m. After firefighters extinguished the blaze, they discovered the remains of Ashley’s mother, Kathy Freeman, who had been shot. Initially, Ashley and her father, Danny, were missing, leading to a brief and incorrect theory that Danny had harmed his wife and fled with the girls. The following day, Lauria Bible's parents, relentless in their search for answers, discovered Danny Freeman's body in the still-smoldering rubble of his home; he had also been shot. There was no trace of Ashley or Lauria. The investigation into the disappearance of Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible and the murders of Danny and Kathy Freeman spanned decades, marked by periods of frustration and false leads. Two convicted killers, Tommy Lynn Sells and Jeremy Jones, at different times confessed to the crimes, but their stories were later proven to be false and they recanted their statements. A longstanding feud between the Freeman family and the local sheriff's department, stemming from the deputy-involved shooting death of their son Shane, also complicated the early stages of the investigation, with Danny Freeman reportedly telling relatives to look at the sheriff's department if anything happened to him. For years, the case remained cold, leaving the families of the two missing girls in a state of agonizing uncertainty. A significant breakthrough finally came in April 2018 with the arrest of Ronnie Dean Busick. He, along with two other men, Warren "Phil" Welch and David Pennington, who were both deceased by the time of Busick's arrest, were implicated in the crimes. According to witness testimonies that emerged over the years, the three men murdered Ashley's parents over a drug-related dispute. Witnesses also came forward stating that the men had bragged about kidnapping, assaulting, and murdering the two teenage girls. There were disturbing reports from multiple sources about the existence of Polaroid pictures showing the girls bound and gagged. In 2020, Ronnie Busick pleaded guilty to being an accessory to first-degree murder. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in exchange for information that would lead to the recovery of the girls' bodies, but despite searches, their remains have never been found. Busick was released from prison in May 2023 after serving a fraction of his sentence. The case of Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible is a heartbreaking story of a birthday celebration that ended in a devastating tragedy, leaving a lasting wound in their community. The murders of Ashley's parents and the subsequent disappearance of the two girls sparked a decades-long investigation that, while leading to a conviction, has yet to provide the families with the closure of bringing Ashley and Lauria home. Ashley was legally declared dead in 2010.
Dec 30, 1999
Welch
Oklahoma
Craig County
3611
Craig County Sheriff's Office
Vinita
Oklahoma
Craig County
74301
210 West Delaware, Vinita Suite 101, 74301, Oklahoma
9182566466
County
Law Enforcement
99-0389
Craig County Sheriff's Office
Brown
Blue
Blue
06/17/2026
