Case snapshot
On the first night of summer camp in June 1977, three Girl Scouts were found bludgeoned and strangled in their tent at Camp Scott in Locust Grove, Oklahoma. The killer moved through the campgrounds undetected, selecting tent eight in the Kiowa unit. A suspect was charged and acquitted. The case remains officially unsolved.
The campgrounds before dawn
Camp Scott sat on 410 acres of wooded terrain in Mayes County, Oklahoma. By June 1977, it had hosted Girl Scout troops for nearly 50 years. The camp’s remoteness was part of its appeal: trails, a lake, cabins scattered across the property. That isolation also meant limited oversight after dark.
On June 12, 1977, around 140 girls arrived for a week-long session. They were divided into units based on age. The youngest campers stayed in the Kiowa unit, a cluster of canvas platform tents at the camp’s edge. Each tent housed between four and six girls and sat just feet from the tree line.
Lori Lee Farmer, eight, Michelle Heather Guse, nine, and Doris Denise Milner, ten, were assigned to tent eight. They didn’t know each other before that night. By the time the camp settled in, storms were rolling through eastern Oklahoma.
What the counselors heard
Around 1:30 a.m., a counselor in a nearby unit heard a scream followed by what sounded like voices or groaning. She assumed it was a prank or a nightmare. Another counselor heard similar sounds around 3 a.m. No one investigated.
At 6 a.m., a counselor walking toward the showers found all three girls on a trail between their tent and the main camp. They had been removed from tent eight, sexually assaulted, bludgeoned, and strangled. Their bodies were stuffed inside sleeping bags and left approximately 150 yards from where they’d been sleeping.
The counselor ran back to the main building. Camp director Barbara Day immediately contacted authorities and ordered an evacuation. Parents were called. Buses were dispatched. By mid-morning, Camp Scott was a crime scene.
The evidence left behind
Investigators found a bloody footprint inside tent eight. A flashlight that didn’t belong to the camp was discovered near the bodies. Duct tape, cord, and other materials were recovered at the scene, some of which had been stored in a cave near the camp weeks earlier.
That cave, located less than a mile from the Kiowa unit, had been discovered by a groundskeeper in early May. Inside, authorities found newspaper clippings, a photograph of two women, and a bag containing what appeared to be a makeshift assault kit. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office was notified, but no arrests were made. Camp officials were not informed.
The cave would later become central to the investigation. Local resident Gene Leroy Hart, a 33-year-old Cherokee man with prior convictions for kidnapping, rape, and assault, had escaped from the Mayes County Jail in 1973. He had been living in the woods surrounding Locust Grove, evading capture for years. Some believed he had used the cave as a shelter.
A suspect with history
Hart became the primary suspect almost immediately. He knew the area. He had violent priors. Witnesses claimed to have seen him near Camp Scott in the weeks before the murders. A fingerprint analyst later testified that prints lifted from the scene were consistent with Hart’s.
In April 1978, nearly ten months after the murders, Hart was arrested after a manhunt involving local police, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and Cherokee trackers. He was found hiding in a residence in the Cherokee Nation.
The trial began in March 1979 in Mayes County. It was one of the most publicized cases in Oklahoma history. The prosecution argued that Hart had planned the attack, used materials from the cave, and left evidence tying him to the crime. The defense countered that the evidence was circumstantial, that the investigation had been mishandled, and that Hart was being targeted because of his race and criminal record.
After 11 days of testimony, the jury deliberated for less than five hours. Hart was acquitted on all counts.
Death two months later
Gene Leroy Hart was returned to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary to serve the remainder of his prior sentence. On June 4, 1979, just two months after his acquittal, he died of a heart attack while running on the prison yard. He was 35 years old.
His death left investigators and the victims’ families without closure. Many believed Hart was guilty. Others pointed to the acquittal as proof of reasonable doubt. The case was never officially closed, but no other suspects were seriously pursued.
DNA and lingering questions
In 1989, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation conducted DNA testing on evidence recovered from the crime scene. The results were inconclusive but did not exclude Hart. In 2008, updated testing was performed using more advanced methods. Again, the results were described as inconclusive, though investigators maintained that Hart could not be ruled out.
In 2022, the Mayes County Sheriff’s Office announced that new DNA analysis had been completed using genetic genealogy techniques. Investigators stated the results were consistent with Hart being the contributor of DNA found at the scene. The Sheriff’s Office formally declared that they considered the case solved, though no charges could ever be filed.
Families of the victims have expressed mixed reactions over the years. Some found the DNA results validating. Others remain frustrated by the lack of a conviction and the unanswered questions about how the crime unfolded.
The camp that never reopened
Camp Scott closed two months after the murders and never reopened. The Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma sold the property in 1985. Over the years, the site became overgrown. The platform tents, cabins, and main structures deteriorated. Vandals and curiosity seekers trespassed. Local stories about the camp took on a haunted quality.
In 2013, a private buyer purchased the land with plans to preserve parts of the camp and prevent further trespassing. Some structures remain, though access is restricted.
The murders reshaped how youth camps in Oklahoma and across the country approached security. Background checks became stricter. Campground layouts were reconsidered. What had been seen as a safe rite of passage became a cautionary tale.
Where to dive deeper
- Documentary: “Someone Cry for the Children: The Girl Scout Murders” (Peacock)
- Book: “Someone Cry for the Children: The Girl Scout Murders Revisited” by Michael and Dick Wilkerson
- Podcast: “The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders” (“Crime Junkie”, Audiochuck)
