Murder In America
EP. 196: OKLAHOMA - The Murders Of Lauria Bible & Ashley Freeman: A Disturbing Mystery In The Heartland
Fri, 04 Apr 2025
In 1999, firefighters were called to a small trailer home in Welch, Oklahoma, to extinguish a roaring fire. But when the smoke cleared, and bodies began to pile up, this mystery only grew deeper and deeper. This story involves missing girls, unsolved mysteries and torture- and you're listening to MURDER IN AMERICA. - Listen to our new show, "THE CONSPIRACY FILES"!: -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5IY9nWD2MYDzlSYP48nRPl -Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/id1752719844 -Amazon/Audible - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ab1ade99-740c-46ae-8028-b2cf41eabf58/the-conspiracy-files -Pandora - https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/PC:1001089101 -iHeart - https://iheart.com/podcast/186907423/ -PocketCast - https://pca.st/dpdyrcca -CastBox - https://castbox.fm/channel/id6193084?country=us - Stay Connected: Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel - (c) BLOOD IN THE SINK PRODUCTIONS 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened on the night of the Freeman family fire in Welch, Oklahoma?
Our story for today starts on December 29th, 1999. Just days away from the new millennium, there was excitement in the air. People across America were writing down their future goals and aspirations. Some were closing old chapters and hoping to start fresh. But in the town of Welch, Oklahoma, there were people that were wanting to get revenge on those who they felt had wronged them.
And in their pursuit, they were ruthless. On that cold winter night in 1999, on a secluded property in Welch, Oklahoma, the sound of gunshots echoed through the air. Soon after, gasoline was being poured throughout the home, and then a match was lit. Within seconds, the home erupted in a fiery blaze. Flames consumed everything, turning cherished family memories into rubble and ash.
Eventually, law enforcement made their way to the scene where they made a gruesome discovery. In the front room of where the home once stood, the bodies of Danny and Kathy Freeman both had gunshot wounds to their heads, and both had been set on fire in the blaze. From the very beginning, it was obvious that somebody had a vendetta against this family.
But the biggest mystery of all wasn't what was found inside of the burned out home. It was what was missing from it. As it turns out, two teenage girls had been staying there that night. Danny and Kathy's daughter, Ashley Freeman, and her best friend, Laura Bible. But as investigators made their way through the scene, the girls' bodies were not among the rubble. So where were they?
Sadly, over 25 years later, even though there has been a conviction in the case, we are still asking that very question. So this is the story of Laura Bible and Ashley Freeman. I'm Courtney Browen.
And I'm Colin Browen.
Thank you.
Welch, Oklahoma, a small rural community located in the northeastern part of the state. With a population of only a few hundred people, Welch has a classic small-town feel. People are close to their neighbors, they support the small businesses in town, and they look out for each other.
There's one small school system, Welch Public Schools, that has a total of around 286 students in grades pre-K to 12. Needless to say, life in Welch is simple and quiet, and there's a strong sense of community. Now, about 15 minutes away from Welch is the town of Veneta. Although it's larger, with a population of a few thousand, the town of Veneta still has the small-town atmosphere.
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Chapter 2: Who were Laura Bible and Ashley Freeman?
Now, as she got older, she really embraced her countryside. Growing up on a farm, Laura loved going outside and spending time with their animals. But her favorite animal of all were their pigs. For years, Laura and her cousin would buy piglets, raise them, and then take them to the annual Craig County Fair for showing. And somehow, Laura always knew how to pick out the best ones.
Pictures show her proudly showing off all of the ribbon she won for her pigs at the county fair. But when she wasn't helping out on the farm, Laura enjoyed a number of things. She loved to paint, hang out with her friends, and make scented candles. She loved being a cheerleader for the Blue Jackets.
Her father, Jay Bible, would later say that Laura often came home hoarse because she had yelled so much cheering at the football games. And that's the kind of person she was. She was cheerful, determined, full of life, and a natural leader. Her friends said that she was also very honest. One friend named Amanda Burnett would later tell KSN 16, quote, Laura wasn't afraid to speak her mind.
"'You always knew where you stood with her. "'She knew who she was "'and wasn't worried about fitting in.'" Now, her mother, Lorene, said that Laura was a girly girl. She loved all things hair and makeup, and she even planned on going to cosmetology school after graduation. But the one constant thing in her life was her best friend, Ashley Freeman.
Laura and Ashley had met in kindergarten, and they had been inseparable ever since. Their kindergarten teacher, Kathy Wood, would later say, "'They're all very special to me. "'There were 12 students in the class, "'and it was in my class "'that their close friendship was formed.'"
Ashley Renee Freeman was born on December 29, 1983, to Danny and Kathy Freeman. And because the town of Veneto was so small, it made sense that the girls would cross paths. In fact, the girls' kindergarten teacher, Kathy Wood, had actually grown up with Laura's father, Jay, and Ashley's mother, Kathy Freeman. Kathy stated, quote, I grew up in Blue Jackets, so I knew both families quite well.
You know everyone's family in a small area like this. I rode the school bus with Ashley's mom and Laura's dad, Jay, and all his brothers and sisters. Laura's family goes to my church, Church of God in Bonita. Laura's uncle lives across the street from us, so she would come over and visit when she was there to see her aunt and uncle.
Another student in the small kindergarten class, Sheena Reese, described Laura as very outgoing. She remembered her as the small girl with blonde ringlets who was extremely smart and an all-around social butterfly. As for Ashley Freeman, Sheena said that she was always quiet, but sweet.
But those very qualities are what made Ashley and Laura such good friends. They complemented each other well. And during their childhoods, the girls spent a lot of time together. They only lived about one mile away from each other. So their weekends were always filled with playdates and sleepovers. However, when the girls were in sixth grade, they received devastating news.
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Chapter 3: What was the background and family situation of the Freeman family?
And the single shot ended up hitting Shane in the chest. At that moment, the 17 year old dropped to the ground on the side of that rural road. Shane Freeman was dead.
Moments later, backup arrived, including Deputy Troy Messick, who had worked with Shane in the past. He was the officer that located Shane after he ran away. But when Deputy Messick arrived at the scene, he said that his coworker was white as a ghost. Deputy Hayes explained the situation and admitted that he had acted in self-defense.
Apparently, Deputy Hayes had ordered Shane to drop the weapon and put his hands in the air, but he refused, and the officer had no other choice but to protect himself. They had to undergo the difficult task of informing Shane's family. As you can imagine, when Danny and Kathy Freeman learned of their son's passing, they were absolutely devastated.
When they heard the details of what happened, they didn't believe it. They agreed that Shane had issues, but he was never violent. So the story of him aiming a gun at Deputy Hayes just didn't make sense to them. Danny would later say, one cop, one shot, one 17-year-old kid. The deputy had backup coming. Why didn't he wait on backup? Didn't he have tear gas or something?
Now, there was an investigation into his death, and it was determined by the Craig County District Attorney that Deputy David Hayes had acted in self-defense. In the eyes of the law, the shooting was justified. But according to Shane's family, the Sheriff's Department had given them conflicting stories.
At first, they said that Shane had made an inappropriate movement with his hand, but that they didn't see a gun. Then they said he had a rifle. Then a week later, they changed it again and said he had a pistol, which ended up being the final story they agreed upon. But Shane's family said they had even more questions when they saw his body.
According to his uncle Dwayne, it was apparent by looking at the gunshot wound that Shane had turned to run when he was shot. His mother Kathy would later say, quote, the shot entered the back of Shane's left elbow and entered the body two inches to the left of his nipple. I want the angle of that shot explained, end quote.
His uncle Dwayne said, quote, I think Shane was turning to run when he was shot. That's what he did when he was confronted by authority figures. he would run, end quote. But according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the evidence at the crime scene confirmed that Deputy Hayes fired in self-defense.
However, despite the results of the investigation into Shane's death, his parents, Danny and Kathy Freeman, weren't convinced. They even threatened to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Craig's County Sheriff's Department. But Danny Freeman had a lot on his hands at this time.
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Chapter 4: What events led to Shane Freeman's death and its aftermath?
but he needed about $5,000 to hire an attorney. And the clock was ticking, because if he was going to file it, he had to do it before January 8, 2000, which was right around the corner. But early enough, it's also around this time when Danny told his brother that if anything happened to him, the Craig County Sheriff's Department was responsible.
Apparently, Kathy Freeman had mentioned the same thing to one of her close friends, a nurse named DeAnna Dorsey.
Now, Christmas is supposed to be a happy time, but for the Freeman family, tensions were high. Not only were they going through all of this stuff with the sheriff's department, but this would also be their first Christmas without Shane. However, the one thing that Ashley Freeman was looking forward to was her 16th birthday.
Once she finally had her license, she would have the freedom to get away whenever she wanted. And that day couldn't seem to come fast enough. Now over in Veneta, the Bible family had been gearing up for Laura's favorite holiday. During that winter break, Ashley and Laura had spent nearly every day together. According to Laura's mother, Lorene, her daughter absolutely loved Christmas.
And that year, they allowed her to decorate the tree however she wanted, which she was very happy about. When Christmas finally came around, the Bible family spent all day opening presents, eating good food, and spending quality time with each other. But they had no idea that this would be their very last Christmas with their daughter.
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But let's get back to the story.
According to Lorene, Ashley had been with them a lot that break. In the days after Christmas, the girls were soaking up the last bit of time they had together before they had to go to school that next week. Now, like we mentioned, Laura wasn't allowed to spend the night at Ashley's house.
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Chapter 5: How did the Freeman and Bible families react to the fire and investigation?
During that time, they were sick with worry, and it wouldn't be until around 10 a.m., nearly five hours after the fire was reported, when someone from the OSBI finally showed up. Donna Warren, the Craig County medical examiner, also arrived at the scene and was able to take a closer look at the body in the front room. While there, she determined that the female victim was older.
She wore a wedding band on her left hand. and it was obvious by her hip bones that she had born children. So to her, it was pretty clear that the body was indeed Kathy Freeman. But something else she couldn't help but notice was the gigantic wound in the back of the victim's head. As it turned out, Kathy Freeman had not died of smoke inhalation.
She had been shot to death, murdered, and then set on fire.
now as donna warren was leaving the scene laureen bible spotted her and she actually knew donna so she ran over to her hoping to get some answers could you tell who the victim was she asked donna admitted that she wasn't allowed to give her much information but that the body was of an older female likely kathy freeman and as you can imagine this confirmation was a bit of relief for laureen and jay who had been waiting around for hours but nothing here was adding up
As investigators continued to work the crime scene, they couldn't ignore the fact that three people who were supposed to have been in the house were unaccounted for. By 5 p.m., Kathy's body was finally removed from the home. But after going through the rubble, investigators were confident that Danny Freeman, Ashley Freeman, and Laura Bible weren't there. But where could they be?
Surprisingly, at around 6pm, an hour after Kathy's body was removed from the scene, investigators removed the crime scene tape and released the property and trailer back to the family. Keep in mind, this is just 12 hours after the fire was reported. Here, they have a murdered woman and three missing people and they just leave.
Now, by this point, investigators did have a theory on what happened here.
since danny freeman was missing the initial belief was that he had murdered kathy set the trailer on fire to destroy evidence and then fled the scene now as for where ashley and laura were investigators had no idea maybe danny took the girls with him even danny's brother duane wondered if he was responsible danny was known to be quick-tempered and at times volatile but by this point everyone was still holding on to hope that the girls were alive
Not finding them in the fire was a good sign, for lack of a better word. So that night, OSBI called Laura's parents to come down to the station to answer some questions. And they specifically wanted to know about Danny and Kathy's relationship. Was there any tension in the marriage? Any infidelity? Something that would give Danny motive to kill his wife?
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Chapter 6: What discoveries were made after the fire and how was the investigation handled?
Now, Lorene would later say that the body had no face, but it was obvious that it belonged to an adult male. The burst waterbed had also conserved parts of his lower jaw, and horrifically, Lorene and Jay said it looked like hamburger meat. But at that moment, they knew that they had found the body of Danny Freeman.
There were still remnants of the clothes he had been wearing, which was a pair of gray sweatpants, a white t-shirt, and a flannel shirt. And as Lorene and Jay were looking at him, they couldn't believe their eyes. How on earth had investigators missed an entire body within the home?
Around the same time that Danny's body was discovered, his brother Dwayne had also returned to the property. As he made his way up the half-mile gravel driveway, he saw Jay Bible frantically waving his arms in the air and pointing to an area inside the trailer. Dwayne parked his car and rushed over to Jay. Together, they walked to the bedroom, and he was shown the charred remains of his brother.
Duane immediately knew that the body belonged to Danny because there was a metallic shine in the skull area. Years before the fire, Danny had accidentally discharged a powder gun in his face and had to have certain sections replaced with metal plates, and his sinuses were reconstructed with mesh and metal wiring.
Duane also said that after the accident, Danny suffered from severe migraines and that this incident was around the time that Danny started to take on a violent temper.
But this discovery really put tension between the Bible family and investigators. I mean, how can you even trust a department that made such a huge mistake? Not only had they barely even searched for the girls, but they shut the entire crime scene down after walking over a dead body all day. So what else had they missed? Now, soon enough, Deputy Troy Messick made his way to the scene.
Lorene would later say that she watched as the deputy pulled out his radio and said, quote, That thing that I came to check on, the answer is yes. Deputy Messick then apologized to both Jay and Lorene and stated that he needed to re-secure the crime scene.
From there, he went back to his cruiser, pulled out a roll of yellow crime scene tape, and started rolling it around the perimeter of the trailer once again. He then told Lorene and Jay that they needed to leave because it was now an active crime scene, but Lorene refused.
She didn't trust that investigators were going to do their jobs and she wanted to help look through the rubble for her daughter. But as you can imagine from this point forward, the Bibles had zero trust with the authorities handling the case.
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Chapter 7: What evidence was found regarding the murders of Danny and Kathy Freeman?
wade witnessed several cars in the freeman driveway at all hours of the night and it was pretty obvious that they were there to buy drugs because these people never stayed long they were always in and out pretty quickly but because of this some people began to wonder if danny had somehow gotten involved with the cartel after hearing this laureen bible took matters into her own hands she even met up with a suspected member of the cartel and confronted them
It didn't end up going anywhere, but she was willing to do whatever it took to try and find her daughter, even if that meant putting herself in harm's way.
Now in September of 2001, a television show called What Really Happened decided to feature the Freeman and Bible case for their pilot episode. And several people close to the families were interviewed for it, including Kathy Freeman's friend, Deanna Dorsey. The woman Kathy confided in telling her that if anything ever happened to them, it was the Craig County Sheriff's Department.
So obviously Deanna Dorsey was very outspoken about her suspicions of them. During the interview, Deanna and her daughter Katie sat down with the host, Rolanda Watts. Katie said, quote, "'I believe very, very strongly "'that the Craig County Sheriff's Department "'had everything to do with it, "'just because I know of instances "'that Ashley would tell me about.'"
The Craig County Sheriff's Department would watch their house. They'd park just like down the road in a barn and they would follow Danny into town and then follow him back home, park in that same barn and just watch every moment they left the house. And Deanna, who sat next to her daughter, nodded in agreement.
Now, the show never ended up airing, but a few weeks after Deanna Dorsey did her interview with them, she was shot and killed at the Craig County General Hospital. It was October 6th, 2001. Deanna was working her shift as a nurse and it was a pretty slow morning. At some point, she walked over to the nurse's station to call her daughter, Katie. However, before the call could connect,
a man wearing camouflage pants and an army coat walked straight up to deanna and pointed a gun in her direction before she could react he shot her five times emptying his weapon deanna dorsey was pronounced dead at 9 50 a.m now after shooting her the man ran from the scene Outside in the parking lot, he was confronted by a police officer where he was ultimately shot and killed.
The man would later be identified as 47-year-old Ricky Martin. And disturbingly, when he walked into the hospital that day, he specifically asked for Deanna Dorsey. Now, an investigation would reveal that Ricky was a paranoid schizophrenic. and that he had no personal connection to Deanna. The Veneta Police Department issued a statement that read, quote, for some reason, he just picked her.
According to their report, Ricky had been in and out of the Eastern State Hospital for the insane. But in January 2000, the hospital decided to downsize until they eventually closed their doors entirely. Apparently, Ricky was distraught with his news and he even stopped taking his medication. Then, in a psychotic break, he murdered Deanna.
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Chapter 8: What is the current status and mystery surrounding the disappearances of Ashley and Laura?
pedophile rings, government corruption, ritual sacrifice, no topic is untouched on this show. Everything that we talk about on The Conspiracy Files is backed up with fact. I release reference sheets with every single episode that we do so you guys know everything we're talking about is confirmed to have happened and be real.
It's a completely different type of show than anything else you've ever seen about conspiracy theories. Instead of a bunch of conjecture and theories, we're presenting you people with facts, telling you the story, walking you through the story just as detailed as we do with Murder in America, and then letting the listener decide what they think. Anyways, you should definitely give it a listen.
It's called The Conspiracy Files. The links are in the description of this show, and you can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And now let's get back to our story.
According to the affidavit, Laura Bible and Ashley Freeman were alive six days after the trailer fire. And for days, it was reported that they were drugged, raped, and tortured by various men. And it was apparently all on video. Now, the location where this was allegedly happening was at the home of a man named Chester Shadwich.
Chester was known for throwing wild parties, parties where tweakers would smoke meth and stay up for days on end. Some informants even admitted that Chester had bragged about burying the bodies of Laura and Ashley on his property. So in 2001, the OSBI obtained a search warrant. And during their search, they even found a bunch of VHS tapes. But nothing of significance was ever found on them.
There were also no bodies on his property. So unfortunately, investigators were back at square one.
That same year, Lorene Bible had received a tip from a truck driver who said that he knew a guy who admitted to abducting Laura and Ashley. The man that allegedly confessed to the kidnapping was named Paul Glover, and he was a known meth cook in Ottawa County.
But through the grapevine, word got around that Paul Glover had taken the girls, drugged them, sexually assaulted them, took Polaroid photos of the abuse, and then passed them on to the next group of junkies. So once again, investigators obtained a search warrant of the property. And this time around, Lorene and J. Bible were hopeful.
After all these leads that led nowhere, they were hoping that this one would give them answers. They even waited on the outskirts of the property while investigators searched it. But once again, they were left disappointed. The search did not turn up any evidence, and Paul Glover was cleared as a suspect.
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