For more than 100 Girl Scouts who arrived at Camp Scott near Locust Grove, Oklahoma., on June 12, 1977, it was supposed to be two weeks of fun. But an intruder entered through the back of a tent in the darkness of that night, killing and sexually assaulting three girls — Denise Milner, 10, Michele Guse, 9, and Lori Farmer, 8. About 100 yards from their tent under a tree were left their strangled and mutilated bodies.
Looking for clues, law enforcement scoured the wooded area. Investigators found near the bodies a red plastic flashlight with a piece of garbage bag taped over the lens. To keep the batteries from rattling, a newspaper was stuffed inside.
Officers descended on a nearby cave just days later, after receiving a tip from local squirrel hunters, where they discovered a roll of masking tape with a piece of plastic adhering to it that corresponded with the tape found on the flashlight at the crime scene.
This gruesome crime has gone unsolved for decades, although detectives at the time believe they know who the culprit is. They, unfortunately, couldn’t prove their case.
Below we explore many of curious true-crime fan’s questions as they relate to the murders.
9 FAQs About the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders
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#1 Who killed the Girl Scouts in Oklahoma?
Investigators say recent DNA testing has ruled out every single possible suspect, except one, but no one has ever been convicted of the girl’s deaths. That individual is Gene Leroy Hart.
A few years ago, evidence was tested and re-tested for DNA, and now, for the first time, the results are being made public. After Lori Farmer’s parents requested him to revisit the case with new eyes, Mayes County Sheriff Mike Reed has dedicated the past nine years to delving into it. He asserts that every piece of DNA evidence has been taken into account and there is no doubt in his mind; Hart is shown to be the killer by the evidence.
In 1978, Hart was arrested, tried and then acquitted for the brutal murders. Sheriff Reed states that in 1978, DNA evidence wasn’t presented to the jury, but if it had been, there’s no doubt in Reed’s mind that Hart would have faced conviction.
#2 Is Camp Scott in Oklahoma still open?
Camp Scott, the 410-acre Girl Scout reservation where the three girls were murdered in 1977, closed shortly after the tragedy and has never reopened.
In 1982, Bonnie Brewster, executive director of the Magic Empire Council of Girl Scouts based in Tulsa, said that no decision on the future of the camp had been made. She pointed out that, at the time, retaining the camp for the foreseeable future is the only decision made. Brewster mentioned the council introduced security measures at other camps but declined to specify the changes that have been made.
In 1988, the Girl Scout Council sold Camp Scott, which, to date, is now used as a hunting ground.
#3 Is Gene Leroy Hart still alive?
Gene Leroy Hart died at the age of 35 from a heart attack in prison on June 4, 1979, just two months after the trial for the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders in 1979.
Reports indicate he died after exercising in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary prison yard.
His defense team argued that the hair samples discovered at the scene of the crime, on some duct tape, did not belong to him. They also accused racial profiling and argued that the evidence against Hart was circumstantial.
After the murder trial, Hart was sent back to prison on charges linked to his earlier accusations of kidnapping, first-degree burglary, and raping two pregnant women. He had 305 years out of a 308-year sentence remaining to serve, indicating he would spend his life’s remainder behind bars.
#4 Who were the victims of the Girl Scout murderer?
Lori Lee Farmer (8), Michele Heather Guse (9), and Doris Denise Milner (10) were the three victims. All the girls resided in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, a Tulsa suburb.
Sharing tent #7 in the “Kiowa” unit of the camp, they were situated farthest from the tent of the camp counselors and partially hidden by the shower building of the camp.
Around 6 a.m. on June 13, a girl’s body in her sleeping bag was seen by a camp counselor on her way to the shower, which was a short distance away in a wooded area. It was found that all three girls from tent #7 were missing.
#5 Was DNA testing ever done in the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders?
In 1989, DNA testing that was conducted showed three of the five probes matched Hart’s DNA. Statistically, just one in every 7,700 Native Americans would obtain these results. In 2008, stains found on a pillowcase were submitted for new DNA testing, the results of which proved inconclusive because the samples were too deteriorated to obtain a DNA profile.
In 2017, the sheriff raised $30,000 in donations to do new DNA tests using the latest advances in technology. In 2022, it was made public by authorities that DNA evidence strongly suggests Hart’s involvement.
Sheriff Mike Reed of Mayes County stated that unless something is brought to light, he’s convinced of Hart’s guilt and involvement. Reed also said the results of the DNA tests have been known since 2019 but did not go public with the findings until the victims’ families had given him permission to do so.
#6 What documentaries have been made about the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders?
‘Someone Cry for The Children: The Girl Scout Murders’ is a documentary that came out in 1993 that is based on the Michael and Dick Wilkerson book of the same name. This documentary is narrated by Johnny Cash and Dale Robertson.
‘Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders’ is from award-winning singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth who returns to her hometown to investigate Oklahoma’s most infamous murders. Keeper of the Ashes tells the true story of three young Oklahoma girls found murdered after their first night at a sleep-away camp.
#7 What did the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders’ note that was found say?
Less than two months before the murders, during a training session on-site, a counselor at Camp Scott found that someone had ransacked her belongings and stolen her doughnuts. Inside the box of empty doughnuts was a note written by hand, stating in capital letters, “We are on a mission to kill three girls in tent one.”
The director of that camp session considered the note as a prank and discarded it.
#8 Where were the Oklahoma Girl Scout murder victims found?
As the search for the missing girls began, it was soon discovered that the girls from tent #7 had been murdered. Inside a sleeping bag, two bodies were crumpled towards the bottom of the bag, and one body was visible on the outside.
The girl’s lifeless bodies had been left about 150 yards from their tent on a trail leading to the showers. Testing later showed they had been bludgeoned and strangled. All three girls had been raped.
#9 Were Camp Scott organizers sued?
According to The Oklahoman, in 1986 a jury ruled that the murders of three Girl Scouts at Camp Scott near Locust Grove in June 1977 were not due to negligence on the part of the Magic Empire Girl Scout Council.
By a 9-3 vote, jurors found in favor of the Magic Empire and their insurance company, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., in the $5 million lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed shortly after the murders by the parents of Doris Denise Milner and Lori Lee Farmer, accusing the Tulsa-based council of failing to provide sufficient security measures at the camp to have prevented the murders.
Jurors deliberated for nearly five hours before arriving at a verdict.
