The serene innocence of a summer camp was shattered in 1977 when three young Girl Scouts were brutally murdered at Camp Scott, Oklahoma. Our hearts heavy, we navigate the complexities of this unspeakable tragedy, joined by former camper Michelle Hoffman, who offers an emotional glimpse into the camp's atmosphere before and after the dark events. From the excitement of the girls on their first night to the harrowing discovery the next morning, we piece together the narrative that has haunted Oklahoma for decades, leaving an indelible scar on the community and the nation.
As the episode unfolds, we scrutinize the investigation that focused on Gene Leroy Hart, a suspect whose trial riveted listeners far and wide, but ultimately left a trail of unanswered questions and lingering doubts. Theories swirled around the camp counselors and deep-seated secrets that might lie buried in Camp Scott's history. We pore over the details, exploring every lead and every shadow in the search for truth. This episode is more than a story—it's an ongoing quest for justice and a tribute to the lives of Lori Farmer, Michelle Guse, and Denise Milner, whose memories continue to spur our relentless pursuit.
The serene innocence of a summer camp was shattered in 1977 when three young Girl Scouts were brutally murdered at Camp Scott, Oklahoma. Our hearts heavy, we navigate the complexities of this unspeakable tragedy, joined by former camper Michelle Hoffman, who offers an emotional glimpse into the camp's atmosphere before and after the dark events. From the excitement of the girls on their first night to the harrowing discovery the next morning, we piece together the narrative that has haunted Oklahoma for decades, leaving an indelible scar on the community and the nation.
As the episode unfolds, we scrutinize the investigation that focused on Gene Leroy Hart, a suspect whose trial riveted listeners far and wide, but ultimately left a trail of unanswered questions and lingering doubts. Theories swirled around the camp counselors and deep-seated secrets that might lie buried in Camp Scott's history. We pore over the details, exploring every lead and every shadow in the search for truth. This episode is more than a story—it's an ongoing quest for justice and a tribute to the lives of Lori Farmer, Michelle Guse, and Denise Milner, whose memories continue to spur our relentless pursuit.
Hey crime junkies, welcome to Human Wreckage, the show that covers all murder cases solved and unsolved across the US. I'm Madison. In today's episode we will be discussing the mysterious and unfortunate murder of three Oklahoma Girl Scouts while at camp. This case was unsolved for almost 40 years. It is one of Oklahoma's most terrible and shocking crimes in history. We will review the evidence collected in this case, as well as discuss the devastation that's left on all the families involved. Be sure to listen closely for all the details and hear about a sneak peek into my next episode.
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On June 13th 1977, some odd 40 years ago, during the dark night of a thunderstorm, three unsuspecting innocent Girl Scouts were brutally murdered at Camp Scott in Oklahoma. This incident is marked as one of the most terrible and shocking crimes in Oklahoma history, and it kicked off an investigation that would last decades. The three Girl Scouts, lori Farmer, 8, michelle Geis, 9, and Denise Milner, 10, were all headed to their Girl Scout camp, anticipating two weeks of activities and fun. Camp Scott had been operated by Girl Scouts since 1928. Generations of girls had gone there for their annual two-week getaway. A previous Girl Scout, michelle Hoffman, states she never forgot her first time at Camp Scott when she was just nine years old, she reports. The first thing that she remembers is that it was dark there, stating if you've never been camping in a platform tent in the deep woods, it's a little intimidating. However, in the daylight Camp Scott is a beautiful campground, away from all the busyness of Tulsa. Hoffman loved the campground, so much so she returned year after year to hike, swim and sleep in tents, chaperoning the new groups of Girl Scouts.
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On Sunday, june 12, 1977, hoffman arrived at Tulsa Girl Scout headquarters. She remembers the parking lot being packed and excitement filled, the little girls waiting to board their buses to the campsite. She remembers seeing Denise Milner, as she was one of the only black girls going on the trip and she could tell that she was nervous. With the good intent of providing encouragement to Denise, hoffman walked over to where Denise stood with her mother, betty, and introduced herself. Betty explained to Hoffman Denise was feeling homesick and she wasn't wanting to go to the camp. Hoffman then offered Denise to come with her. They would ride down together. Although reluctant, denise went along and the girls soon boarded the bus, singing camp songs all the way to Cookie Trail.
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Camp Scott was surrounded by densely wooded forests, occupying 410 acres of land with a creek running through it. All the units were named after Native American tribes. Each unit consisted of camper's tents and a counselor's camper tent. Tents sat on wooden platforms and held four cots for sleeping, while all four of the canvas sides rolled up. Hoffman often described arriving at Camp Scott as a sort of stepping off. Nowadays, I'm assuming that essentially means checking out or going off-grid. As you turn off the highway onto Cookie Trail, the road begins to narrow to the camp entrance. As you turn onto the dirt road, the wilderness would suddenly come to life with vibrant colors. It was a peaceful place, a peaceful place where children were safe until that fateful night in 1977.
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This year, hoffman was hoping to finally become a camp counselor, so she decided to escort Denise to her tent. Her tent was the Kiowa tent number eight. Hoffman was familiar with this tent as she stayed there many times before as a young scout. Denise was introduced to her tent mates, lori and Michelle, upon arrival at the tent. Although they didn't previously know each other, they bonded rather quickly, as most young girls at camp will do. Denise was also introduced to her camp counselor, carla Wilhite, whom, upon meeting, denise thought she was the most beautiful and radiant child, stating she was the only African American and first-time camper, and I remember thinking we would want to make sure that she had a good start and a great experience. Keep in mind this is taking place in the 70s, so some terms are a bit outdated. Hoffman later came back to the tent to say goodnight to the girls and assured that they all settled in nicely, only to discover they were already sleeping, likely from the excitement of looking forward to the fun and adventures they would be having the next day. Unsuspectingly, that night there was an early evening thunderstorm which had made it especially dark outside. One camp member, amy Sullivan, recalled writing in her diary by flashlight that night that it was the darkest dark I had ever known. I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or shut.
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On Monday, june 13th 1977, at 6 am, camp counselor Carla Wilhite was on her way to takea shower down the trail when she suddenly comes across and discovers the girls' bodies near the base of a tree about 100 yards from their tent. At first glance she did not see Lori and Michelle, as they had been inside their sleeping bags. Denise was found lying on top of her sleeping bag, deceased, obviously being stunned, confused and horrified by the sight, she turned and ran for help, deciding that shower wasn't so important at this time. She returned shortly to the camp director and nurse. At this point, the reality of what has happened finally sinks in, and Carla remembers being filled with a terrible fear. I'm certainly curious as to what she could have feared already. Later, autopsies have revealed that Lori and Michelle were killed by blunt force trauma to the head, whereas Denise had been beaten and strangled with some sort of ligature. All three girls have been sexually assaulted. Based on evidence, it was determined by investigators that the attacks took place inside the tent and all the bodies were later moved to the tree by which they were found.
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Immediately after the discovery, camp officials began sending the Girl Scouts home on buses and out of the camp, where police had begun investigating a triple murder. From what was supposed to be an exciting two weeks, away for the girls was a quick overnight and end to their stay. Amy Sullivan, one of the campers that was awake for the thunderstorm, remembers her parents being in Dallas and that her grandmother had to pick her up that afternoon. Sullivan states a few minutes later at a stoplight. I remember looking at her very closely. I asked her what happened, and with tears in her eyes, her grandmother responds with oh honey, three girls were killed at your camp last night. Now, poor little Amy is too young to process and register what the word killed means. So in turn, she responds to her grandmother simply questioning killed. Later that evening, amy Sullivan wrote in that same diary I came home from camp, three girls got killed. Sullivan later recalls crossing out the word killed and replacing it with murdered, not knowing what that word meant.
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Until that day, as the news about this horrifying case would spread across the country, police investigators would comb the woods for clues, conducting hundreds of interviews and following up on dozens of leads. On June 23rd 1977, 10 days after the discovery of the girls' bodies, police named a suspect, a prison escapee that had been on the run for four years after his second escape from Mays County Jail a native of Locust Grove and a Cherokee Indian named Jean Leroy Hart, 33, also a convicted burglar and rapist who now was facing a three-first-year-degree murder charge. The district attorney announced that the investigators had found a nearby cave that contained what they believed to be items stolen from the camp. Authorities confirmed that the cave was indeed connected to Hart, who was known as an expert woodsman and also had many family members living in the surrounded area, one of which included his mother. On that day, the largest manhunt in Oklahoma history began. Finally, 10 months after the murders took place, on April 6, 1978, the manhunt ended. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation acted on a tip and concentrated on a remote home in the Cookson Hills roughly 50 miles from the camp. This is where they finally find Hart, in a rickety old shack, and they arrest him.
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The capital murder trial of Gene Leroy Hart forced all residents of Oklahoma to relive this gruesome nightmare all over again. The media was parked outside the courthouse offering spotty coverage of the case being held on the third floor courtroom presided by Judge William J Whistler. Leading the defense team was a former Oklahoma County public defender, now working for a private practice and recommended to the Hart family, garvin Isaacs. When Isaacs first met Hart, the defendant told him I want you to know one thing I didn't kill those Girl Scouts. Isaac said those were the first words out of his mouth. I believed him when he said that At this point the number of community members and supporters who also believed Hart was not guilty was steadily growing. In order to raise money for his defense, a community hog fry dinner was organized and supporters wore t-shirts that read Stop the Mays County Road Rail, as the community believed that Hart was being scapegoated by the police. The Cherokee Tribal Council even donated $12,500 to the defense fund for Hart.
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The trial begins 21 months after the murders occurred. The state's case depended on two types of evidence the items found at the cave and biological evidence. The items found at the cave, less than three miles away from the camp, included a pair of glasses, a roll of tape that matched the tape found at the crime scene and some pictures that were linked to Hart, who worked in the photo lab at the prison once. In addition to these discoveries was the biological evidence. The evidence consisted of semen and hair samples found on the girls and a footprint that was found in the mud after the thunderstorm. Unfortunately for this case, dna evidence would not be introduced until the 1980s and the hair evidence had been discredited as forensic technique. No fingerprints were also found at the scene of the crime.
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At this time, police admit that they didn't have conclusive proof that Hart committed the crime, so naturally the defense used this to their advantage and put the prosecution on trial. The hair was inconclusive. The footprint did not match the size of Hart's foot and the evidence found in the case was not convincing beyond reasonable doubt. On March 20th 1979, the jurors announced a verdict not guilty. In an attempt to console families, prosecutors assured them that Hart would not be going free. He still needed to serve over 300 years of previous rape and burglary charges. But on June 4th 1979, betty Milner received news that Hart was dead. He had collapsed after exercising and died of a supposed heart attack while in prison. Betty thought this was the last they would hear of Hart and his role in the murder of her daughter Denise. Unfortunately, 40 years later, hart's name would resurface.
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At this time, police had no intentions of pursuing the case for any additionalface. At this time, police had no intentions of pursuing the case for any additional suspects. As per usual, police had completely focused all of their time, attention and resources on one suspect Hart. They put all of their eggs in one basket and lost. Everyone wondered if a killer was still on the loose.
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It is later brought to attention and discovery that in April 1977, a few months before the murders of the three girls, hoffman was at Camp Scott for a special cadet weekend. During that weekend someone went into one of the campmates' tents while they were away. When they had all returned they found that the tent was in total disarray, stating our bags have been scattered all over the tent and some were outside. Hoffman had brought donuts to the camp. Whoever broke into the tent also emptied the box of donuts and left a note inside. Hoffman states there were four or five pages from a tiny steno notebook, and on the first two to three pages, written repeatedly was the word kill. And if that wasn't chilling enough to read, the second message in the notes read we're on a mission to kill three girls. At this point Hoffman took the notes to the camp director.
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Hoffman later learned that several girls had confessed to writing the notes and they were thrown away and forgotten about. This evidence hadn't been introduced during the criminal trial but was cited in the civil case as evidence that the Girl Scouts victims should have been alerted to the possible threat before checking in. Maybe if the notes were taken seriously, tucked away and remembered instead of dismissed, these three young girls would still be alive. Questions still remain about whether or not the girls who admitted to these notes actually had written them or if they just caved under the pressure of questioning, bigger question being if the killer did walk free, did they go on to kill others? Were they ever caught? During the original investigation, they found semen on a pillowcase that was near the girls' bodies. In 1989, the FBI tested the sample. Unfortunately, they were unable to rule out Hart because the tests were inconclusive. As DNA technology and testing advanced over the years, police continued retesting the items found at the crime scene in hopes of matching the killer's profile. Sadly, when the FBI retested the semen sample in 2008, they found too much time had passed and the sample was too degraded to create a profile.
Speaker 1:
Betty Milner didn't return to her daughter Denise's gravesite for over 40 years. She had gone to the cemetery but could not bring herself to walk over to the plot located right next to her late husband Walter. In January 2016, with the support and encouragement of her family and friends, she finally visited Denise's gravesite. Her daughter, crystal, convinced her to go to the cemetery as it was also Crystal's first time going In 1977, that day Crystal had lost her big sister. Alongside the ladies was Betty's granddaughter, denise, named after the sister. Crystal never got to know. Betty states that she was unsure if she would ever be able to return to the gravesite, but she is glad that she did, also reiterating that there is no closure without answers. Police have continued to work the case, but sadly, the 1977 Oklahoma Girl Scout murders remain a mystery and an unsolved case. Girl Scout murders remain a mystery and an unsolved case Until recent years, in 2022, when new evidence was brought to light.
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Sheriff Reed had spent his childhood in Mays County and was just a boy when the murders occurred. He would have never anticipated that he would be the one to solve the crime 40 years later. One year after Reed began re-examining the case, he and the OSBI consulted with the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, where 23 homicide investigators, fbi behavioral analysis and profilers assessed the case. After a month, every single one of them agreed that Jean Leroy Hart committed the murders. At this point, investigators suggested to families that DNA be analyzed. However, the testing would cost $30,000 and the sheriff's office did not have that. Surprisingly, residents of Mays County rose to the occasion and raised every cent that was needed. In 2022, the final results were in the answers these families had been seeking all these years were finally delivered. Authorities, with the approval of the families, released the news that the results strongly suggested Hart's involvement and ruled out every suspect except him. Finally, almost 40 years later, in 2022, these families get closure, knowing the man who murdered their daughters was arrested and died in prison, unable to harm any other girls.
Speaker 1:
Now let's recap this excruciatingly long journey. What an incredibly long journey for these families. I simply cannot imagine the amount of excruciating pain, frustration and confusion this has held over the victims' families. Three young girls went to a two-week stay at a camp known for being a safe space for children and didn't make it one night. What was supposed to be a fun and exciting adventure was a horrible nightmare. These girls were not only brutally attacked and beaten, but also sexually assaulted before being murdered. Attacked and beaten, but also sexually assaulted before being murdered. The distance between their tent and the camp counselor was not great enough for the attacker to not be hurt, but to his advantage, there was a thunderstorm taking place to cover up any suspicious sounds.
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Finding answers backed by evidence was such a process for this case, and they still do not actually have physical proof to clarify for a fact that Hart was the one who committed the murders.
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It is strongly suggested that he was the only suspect, but I have reason to believe a camp counselor is withholding valuable and important information and evidence that would officially and completely resolve this case. It is my personal belief that the camp is at fault. The counselors are at fault for this incident and, due to that feeling I believe one of the counselors was in some way involved there was not enough panic throughout the counselors. There was not enough outrage, fear or concern. Overall, it feels as if they were trying to sweep this under the rug and use a scapegoat. I wonder if someone was to do some digging and some more research, if there are other unsolved or unexplained cases revolving around the Girl Scouts camp. Thanks for joining me on this episode. I hope you enjoyed listening into my stories and I hope you'll return for my next episode, where we will dive into more solved and unsolved murders across the US, like the killer on the high bridge.