911 call released

Randy Mitchell Staff Writer

Okemah July 22, 2008 12:41 pm

— Officials with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation released part of a 911 call made to authorities after two young girls were found shot to death in a roadside ditch near Weleetka last month.
OSBI Spokesperson Jessica Brown said she is hoping the tape will get somebody who knows something to call.
Brown held a laptop computer to several microphones and played a portion of the audio recording during a news conference to discuss the 7-week-old murder case of 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker and 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker.
On the recording, Paschal-Placker’s grandmother could be heard screaming that the girls were dead on a county road and pleading with the dispatcher to send assistance.
“Yes, somebody’s killed two girls ... my grandbaby, and ... her friend! I’m on county line road!” the woman said.
“What happened down there?”
“I don’t know. They went for a walk and they’re both ..., now they’re dead!”
After a back and forth conversation with the dispatcher about her location, the grandmother’s voice became increasingly frantic.
“Please, please, please! Lord help me please! Oh God, oh God, oh God! My babies, babies, babies!”
The girls were shot several times each in the head and chest on June 8 less than a half-mile from the house where one of the girls lived.
“It breaks your heart hearing that doesn’t it?” Brown said afterward.
“Someone knows something. Listen to that, understand what it’s done to these people, what it’s done to the community and just come forward,” Brown said. “Give us the idea, the places to look because these people need to be caught.”
Brown spoke by telephone with the host of a cable show Monday and said family members they have spoken to are not considered suspects at this time.


“One of the first things we do is look at the family and those closest to the victims and we make sure we know everything about them to find out if there’s any reason to they would do it or if someone else would do it in retribution to them,” Brown said. “We have not found that.”
During a telephone interview, Brown said the case is not going cold.
“We’ve got plenty of leads, we just don’t have the right leads,” Brown said
Brown said she couldn’t go into detail, but said DNA—which does not belong to either victim—was collected. Officials still haven’t released what caliber of weapons were used, but they do believe there were at least two shooters since two different guns were used.
Investigators have said the reason behind the killings could have been anything from the girls happening upon a drug deal, a random thrill killing or an attempted abduction.
The FBI and the U.S. Marshal Service are now helping with the investigation, Brown said. A pool of 14 to 15 investigators from the OSBI, FBI, Marshal Service and the Okfuskee County sheriff’s and district attorney office continue to work on the case, she said.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives provided a specially trained dog to comb the crime scene and the marshal service has contributed to a reward of more than $30,000 for anyone with information that could lead to an arrest and conviction.
Meanwhile, interviews and polygraph tests have eliminated 100 people as suspects, Brown said.
“We want to see the right people come forward and not those wanting to get back at a former boyfriend. That’s what we’re dealing with now.”

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