Murders of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman

Lauria Jaylene Bible (born April 18, 1983) and Ashley Renae Freeman (born December 29, 1983) were high school friends from Welch, Oklahoma. On the night of December 29, 1999, they celebrated Freeman's 16th birthday together at the Freeman family home, after spending part of the day at a local pizzeria with Freeman's mother, Kathy. Bible had permission to stay overnight.

At approximately 5:30 a.m. on December 30, 1999, a passing motorist reported that the Freeman home was engulfed in flames. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, and law enforcement determined it had been set deliberately. The charred remains of Kathy Freeman were found in her bedroom; she had been shot in the head. Initially no other remains were located, leading investigators to theorize that Ashley's father, Danny Freeman, might have killed his wife and fled with the girls. Bible's car was found parked in the driveway with the keys still in the ignition. On December 31, 1999, Bible's parents returned to the scene and discovered what turned out to be Danny Freeman's body in the rubble; he too had been shot in the head. No trace of Bible or Ashley Freeman was found at the scene, and in 2010 the Freeman family pursued court proceedings to have Ashley declared legally dead.

In the years following the disappearance, two convicted killers, Tommy Lynn Sells and Jeremy Jones, separately confessed to the murders of Bible and Freeman before recanting; Jones later admitted he had fabricated his account to obtain better prison privileges. Local rumors, referenced in a 2001 Unsolved Mysteries profile, suggested friction between the Freeman family and Craig County law enforcement stemming from the earlier death of Danny Freeman's son, Shane, who was shot by a deputy; the shooting had been ruled justifiable, but the family had threatened a wrongful-death lawsuit.

In April 2018, Ronnie Dean Busick was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Bible and the Freeman family. Two other suspects, Warren Phillip "Phil" Welch II and David Pennington, were named but were already deceased. Witnesses alleged the three men had bragged about raping and murdering the girls, holding them captive for several days, and photographing them, with the killings tied to a dispute over drug money. On July 15, 2020, Busick pleaded guilty to being an accessory to first-degree murder in the deaths of Danny and Kathy Freeman, the arson of their home, and the abduction and presumed killing of the two girls, admitting he had withheld information about Welch's and Pennington's involvement. He was sentenced to 15 years, with 10 to be served in prison plus five years of probation, and was released on May 19, 2023, after serving 38 months. A subsequent search of a root cellar in October 2021, tied to statements attributed to Busick, did not locate the girls' remains. Bible and Freeman remain missing.