Ep 48 Girl Scout Murders pt 3

Jess and Tiff discuss the sweltering heat in Oklahoma and how it affects their daily lives. They mention the possibility of indoor recess for students due to the extreme temperatures. They also talk about their upcoming ghost tour in Oklahoma City. They then discuss the manhunt for Gene Leroy Hart, who was charged with triple murder. They mention the discovery of caves and evidence found inside, as well as the divided opinions in the community regarding Hart's guilt or innocence. Hi I'm Jess and I'm Tiff and we're your curious cousins where we talk about everything kooky and spooky in the state of Oklahoma. Welcome to episode 48. Welcome. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. In the throes of getting my classroom back in order. In the sweltering heat. Oh my gosh we went to the Sepulpa Aquatic Center yesterday and it's a really nice like three water slides, zero entry, lots of like fountains and things. It was really nice and when I got into my car when we left about 3 o'clock it did say it was 108 outside. I know it's disgusting. It just I mean thankfully it wasn't very humid yesterday. Today was I thought really humid but it's just so hot. It's such an oppressive heat. Yeah. So it was a good day to be at the pool for sure. Oh I bet. Yeah it's just I work inside all day. Yeah. Like I work out in the shipping area and so the bay doors are constantly opening and closing so like it can get really hot in there sometimes. Yeah. When trucks come in but. I'm sure. Anyway. I know you know and school starts in two weeks and if this keeps up you know we'll have to have indoor recess. We won't be able to go outside. Oh really? So we can't go I believe anything over 95 we won't go outside. Well that's probably good. Yeah. I mean you know we don't usually I mean we don't have sunscreen on the kids. Right. Stuff like that. So it's just it's miserable for everybody and there's we have shade on our playground. We just don't have enough shade for everybody to be entered. Well with them running around and being crazy like I can imagine the heat stroke. Yeah. When it's that hot they don't want to do it. They just sit there anyway so why waste our time just sitting outside when we can play some board games inside. So that's kind of nice on my Amazon wish list my teacher wish list I have lots of indoor activities and games for them for like indoor recess and I got I got them so I got all of them so I'm really excited for the kids to be able to do that during those indoor recess days. Well I think it's supposed to start cooling down sometime this week a little bit. Word on the street. I don't think like permanently but at least a little while. I have I mean I don't know. Maybe. I just said slow down. I mean it's just the beginning of August so I know that. Yeah. Well do we have any business? I don't think so. Nope. We'll be gone next weekend for our ghost tour of Oklahoma City. Yeah that's right. I'm really excited. I am very excited about that. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Yes. Let us know if you guys are gonna join us and go out there. I mean it's only $12 one night. Yeah. Something like that. $12. Yes. So it starts at 8? Something like that I think. Yeah. So it will be so fun. I know I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be it's been a while since we've gone on an adventure. I know. I know. So this will be fun. Yes. So today we're talking about part 3 of our Girl Scout murder. Yes. We're covering the manhunt for Gene Leroy Hart and then his trial. And so Jess is going to cover the manhunt and I will cover the trial part. So Jess you want to. Yeah. Let's get on it. Dive right in. Here we go. Okay. So sources are the same. Yeah. I'm not even going to go over them. Manhunt. On June 21st 1977 a burglary took place at a rural grocery store near Locust Grove. Food and cigarettes were stolen. Tiff I know you you talked about this in part one but I'm gonna just kind of try and go over it a little. That's our resident turtle Gus. He is out. He's in a box right now just chilling. Tiff I know you talked about this in part one but I'm gonna try and briefly go over it again. Okay. It's been a couple weeks. So Larry Dry I talked about him last week. He was the one who escaped with Hart twice and from the Mays County Jail. He actually identified Cave 1 to the authorities and that was also known as the Cellar Cave and because it was the cave was a few hundred feet from the cellar and foundation that had been Jean Leroy Hart's childhood home. And they used it as a hiding place both he and Hart after their first escape attempt I believe it was from the jail. So let's talk about this cave a little bit because you talked about it in your episode but it's important the things that they found in there and how they pertain to his man hunt. But this is the cave where the authorities found two photos of two different women that were determined to have been from like a wedding or something like that. And it's thought that Hart may have developed the photos while he worked as a photographic assistant at the Granite Reformatory. And that you know. Weird. And that was when he. So weird. Right. I don't know. Because he had like good behavior. Right. So that was one of the jobs he could work. I just think it's weird that one of the jobs that were available at the correctional facility was picture development because there's a part of me that would be like oh I don't know that I want inmates to have access to my family photos. Well okay. I did read in one source. Now you decide to be. One second. Watch him be like. Let me out. Let me out. Not the jail. Oh he's a mess. So in one source I think I read that he the photographer was an inmate but he was able to moonlight I guess I don't know if that's the right word as a like wedding photographer and stuff like that. And he wanted Hart to be like his assistant that would go out and help him and stuff like that. But the authorities were like nah. He can help you in here but he's not going outside. So anyway these photos it was thought that he or I think I already said that. Yeah. When he developed them when he was an assistant and I had read that he kept them like I don't even know if. Well I don't know. Anyway he kept them because they both looked similar to his ex wife you know because she divorced him while he was in prison. And they also found newspaper dated the same as the one that was in the flashlight at the crime scene. Same edition same day. Yeah I think broken eyeglasses were found a piece of green plastic with duct tape attached was found that matched the plastic that was found on the garage. Yep. And I just kind of these were similar to what they found on the flashlight at the crime scene. So anyway two days after this burglary happened where the food and cigarettes were stolen. Cave number two was discovered just west of Camp Scott. So when authorities searched the cave they found cans of food that had been stolen from the same store that had been robbed two days prior. They also found the cigarette that had been smoked by someone with type O blood which was Hart's blood type. However this was is the most common blood type in the US. Do you have type O? What? Do you have type O blood? I honestly don't know. I do not. I've never. I think we test like we did the blood testing thing in high school. But I don't I honestly don't remember what mine is. So I don't know. I did. I am not. My mother is. I think my mom is actually O negative which I think is rare. Yeah. Yeah. I honestly have no idea. I probably should get that. Yeah. Checked into. I have the same as my dad. I thought you asked me if I had a typo like like like I had a typo in my notes. It took me a minute. Another mongoloid type hair was found which matched hair found on the tape that had been used I believe on Denise Milner. Yes. And this cave was located on a ridge that actually overlooked the house of Hart's mother. Yes. So on June 23rd 1977 at Sheriff Weaver's request Sid Wise the local district attorney issued a warrant for Hart's arrest for first degree murder. This was just the beginning of the manhunt that would ensue for Jean Leroy Hart. And when the D.A. announced that Hart would be charged with triple murder this immediately divided the small town of Locust Grove into two different groups. So the first group were those who thought Hart was being used as like a scapegoat by Sheriff Weaver. And the second group are those who believe that he was 100 percent guilty. Like I said this through Mays County into a giant uproar those who thought Hart was innocent began to vocalize their opinion to the media and they were pretty resolute in their beliefs that the D.A. had the wrong man. And a lot of Hart's old classmates remembered him as a quiet good looking football star. An old flame said that he was the perfect gentleman. Local restaurants and gas stations actually set out jars to collect funds for Hart's defense. Those who were in support of Hart just thought as Sheriff Weaver was embarrassed that Hart had escaped jail twice and the sheriff was just out for revenge. And I see that. I could see that. I could see that he had a bone to pick because he had escaped twice. People even went out of their way to say the sheriff planted or tampered with evidence just so that he could frame Hart. And I think what I'm personally having a hard time with is the fact that this good old boy I'm doing quotes here raped two pregnant women. Right. Tied them up and left them in the middle of nowhere so that he could come back and do who knows what. Right. And then he played dillydally. And yes. And then he was convicted. He was sent to jail for it. Gets on parole for good behavior. And then he becomes a petty thief. Yeah. And like but here's the thing is this community that's so like oh the sheriff's just out to get him yet. He can't get it like when he gets paroled from all this. He can't get another job in the same community because he has racist attached to his name. So good point. You know like I'm having a hard time getting. Where were they out helping. Yes. Finding a job. And you know and then he starts burglarizing people. Right. He does. He gets caught in sentence for that and escapes jail twice. And yet it's like oh well this he's being framed. OK. Make it make sense. You know what I mean. Right. Like regardless he was still wanted and you still should have him. Because he still had time to serve in jail regardless. Right. He was innocent or guilty of these murders. He still needed to pay the piper. Right. What gets me is he he pled guilty. Right. He confessed to the kidnapping and the rape. And yet you're going to tell me like he was you know OK we're not going to get into that. But you know what I mean. Like it just boggles my mind. But anyway I get at the time that there are maybe still some prejudices. Right. Against certain groups. Yes. Of people. But that shouldn't negate the fact that Hart was a convicted felon. Right. And he was on the loose. Right. So I'll get off my soapbox. Anyway. The Cherokee Nation came together and supported their fellow citizens. Over time they would donate twelve thousand five hundred dollars to Hart's defense fund to ensure that he got a fair trial. At the time Hart's 21 year old brother Millard who had quite a bit of contempt for the cops already made the following statement. He said quote every time something goes wrong the law always goes to Jean. Which I thought was interesting. So here are some things that Jean Hart is innocent group believed. The two photos of the women that we keep mentioning. This group thought that because all personal belongings were taken from prisoners when they were booked into the Mays County Jail. Sheriff Weaver would have had to have been the only one to have access to those photos. Now I want you to keep that in the back of your mind because we're going to kind of come back to this. I come back to it too. I visited as well. During the trial phases. Therefore it was believed that when two squirrel hunters discovered the cave and went to the authorities where they were then accompanied back to the cave by State Trooper State Trooper State Trooper Newton Trooper Newton who had been part of the rest of Hart when he for the kidnap and the rape of the two Tulsa women two years. Or sorry. Trooper Newton who had been part of the rest of Hart when he had kidnapped and raped the two Tulsa women years earlier possibly still had like a bias against him. So they thought Sheriff Weaver must have flipped Trooper Newton the photos as he headed out to go to the cave with the squirrel hunters and he somehow dropped them in the open when they were searching and where the hunters would then see them and find easily find the photos. So that was just a lot of a lot of steps just to plant two photos. Right. Right. Because you know. And how would you know if this trooper would even follow the suggestion. And they don't even know if he had a bias against Hart. Kind of assuming that oh he must have had a bias because he was a part of the group that. Yeah. Was there during his arrest for the rape and kidnapping. But because I mean why would Hart want to leave these his photos just out in the elements where they could be ruined. You know that was kind of their thought. So. Well. The crazy thing though about the photos though Larry Dry his cellmate said that Hart didn't actually have the pictures with him in the Mays County jail and that he must have left them at the home of a family member. I don't know if you're going to talk about this but. And that he must have. Hang on. Let me. Let me just read that because I messed up. So the crazy thing about the photos though is. Once we said that Larry Dry said that Hart didn't have the pictures with him in the Mays County jail and that he must have left them at the home of a family member back in 1969 when he was paroled from his kidnapping rape sentence. And Dry had actually seen the pictures in Hart's possession following their September 16th 1973 escape. So. He knew that he didn't have them before but after they escaped all of a sudden he has them. So. I don't know. On the opposite hand the group believing Hart to be 100 percent guilty. They began to keep a very close eye out for any kind of sighting of Hart. And the sad thing about this is is that although there were the ones that who wanted to get justice for the three little girls who were brutally murdered. There were others who were just wanted that quick buck to pocket some money and weren't really there for the right reasons. Several private and public organizations set up reward funds for the person who could lead authorities to Hart's location and capture and the reward would get up to fifty thousand dollars. Yeah. So. We talked about June 23rd when the D.A. made the announcement for. That he was wanted for triple murder. So around lunchtime on that same day that Hart was made known to be the suspected killer. A farmer reported seeing a man sitting in an overhang of a cliff on a ledge but could only see him from the waist down and thought it might be Hart. So. Tracking dogs were summoned a search team were summoned. And you got to remember this is Oklahoma in the summertime in the middle of June. Yeah. And of course the area being searched is like crawling with ticks and tickers and who knows what else. This greatly hindered the agents who soon became just covered in the blood sucking devil bug. Oh my God. They were going to have to get out there or they were going to have to get out of that area and come back and kind of regroup just because it was so heavily invested. I mean they said they were just covered. Oh my gosh my whole body is crawling right now. Agent Harvey Pratt. I want to talk about him for just a minute. Agent Pratt who was part of the search party as a Cheyenne Arapaho. He was a strong believer in Indian medicine and this included like rituals with smoke and those sorts of things. During the search he didn't really let the ticks bother him and he just continued up to the cave like he was one of the ones that made it up there. In front of a crevice lying on the ground he found cigarette butts with the filter torn off. It was common practice among Cherokees to tear off a cigarette filter when using it to practice Indian medicine. I mean I didn't know any of this but I don't really know much about Indian medicine either. Anyway, Agent Pratt also noticed that there were ashes from four small fires that had been built right in front of the crevice. Four being a significant number and tradition in Indian medicine with four fires representing the four winds and the four seasons. He made his way behind the crevice where he noticed that it was completely devoid of ticks. This convinced Agent Pratt that Hart had been there and was using medicine to protect himself. Evading not only the ticks but it was believed evading his captors as well. Like that he was using this Indian medicine to evade everyone. There was more cigarette butts with the filters torn off and some long black hairs, the same type of hair that was caught in a tape around Denise Milner's wrist and on her pajama top. The search party went back. I don't know if he came back or if he stayed there but the search party would end up coming back to cave number two an hour later. They were doused in tick repellent including the tracking dogs. The dog was given the scent that surrounded the ledge area and as soon as the dog was let off the leash the dog immediately took off towards the east. Outrunning everyone but they could tell in which direction he was because of the barking. The tracking dog ended up heading back west towards the ledge and then eventually returned back to his handler. The handler said that the subject must have backtracked or doubled back. Whatever the case was the dog couldn't pick anything up and that was very disheartening. I also think that Hart probably knew he was being tracked by dogs and probably made things like double backs. I'm sure he had some tricks up his sleeve to get him off his trail. Especially if he were paying attention to any of the news. I would say serial killers only because I just listened to an update about the Gilgo Boots. He literally tracked himself on social media and on news outlets and googled himself or googled his serial killer name and everything. Just to think that Ted Bundy did it too. I don't know. People were helping him. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. 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