Search for bodies delayed

The search was to be in a 4-square mile area apparently indicated on a map by a former Oklahoma man facing murder charges in three states.

"I have been discouraged it has taken so long (to begin the search)," Sooter said. "If it was in Craig County, we would have already done it."

The search has been delayed while Kansas authorities locate infrared equipment to use in finding the teens' bodies, Sooter said.

Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible, both 16, were reported missing after the bodies of Ashley's parents were found Dec. 30, 1999, in their burned home in Welch.

The teens' possible whereabouts came to light in January after authorities interviewed Jeremy Jones, a former Miami, OK, resident who faces murder charges in Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana, and is a person of interest in other slayings. Jones is in an Alabama jail.

Jones told Oklahoma investigators that the girls might be found in the Oklahoma-Kansas-Missouri mining district. Sooter since has sent Jones a map, and Jones returned it with markings, said Lorene Bible, Lauria's mother.

In a recent interview, Jones told authorities they should look for the girls' bodies in a mine.

"If the bodies are where he (Jones) says they are, it's gonna be the girls," Sooter said.

Sooter declined to identify the exact area where the bodies may have been dumped. Jones told The Oklahoman he had nothing to do with the slayings.

Ottawa County arrest records show Jones was arrested for public drunkenness at 4 a.m. Dec. 30, 1999, less than 18 miles from the Freeman home.

"I just told them (authorities) to look around Galena, Kansas, and down around Picher," Jones said in a telephone interview.

Galena is in extreme southeast Kansas.

Based on an anonymous tip, authorities searched a mine shaft near Picher in 2000 but found nothing.

Jones is charged in the deaths of Lisa Nichols, 45, of Turnerville, Ala; Amanda Greenwell, 16, of Douglasville, Ga.; and Katherine Collins, 47, of New Orleans.

Oklahoma authorities also questioned Jones about the Feb. 21, 1996 deaths of Danny Oakley, 37, and Dorris Harris, 40, of rural Delaware County. Firefighters responding to a blaze at their home discovered the bodies of Oakley and Harris. Authorities believe the two died from gunshot wounds. The fire was ruled arson.

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