WELEETKA, OK: PERSON-OF-INTEREST SKETCH IN TWO GIRLS' MURDER

AP
June 10, 2008: A memorial to Taylor Paschal-Placker and Skyla Whitaker at the spot along a rural road where they were found dead.

Police release witness sketch in girls' shootings

By Emanuella Grinberg/CNN/ June 13, 2008

(CNN) -- Authorities released a sketch Friday of a "person of interest" in the shooting deaths of two Oklahoma schoolgirls.

Several witnesses reported seeing a suspicious man on the same dirt road where Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Jade Whitaker Taylor, 11, were shot Sunday, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said.

Jessica Brown said authorities believed that the man, "who didn't look like he should have been there," was on the road before the girls were shot multiple times in the head and chest and left in a ditch.

Witnesses described the man as an American Indian or possibly half-Caucasian with a black ponytail, about 6 feet tall and 35 years old. They said he was standing in front of a white single-cab pickup with chrome striping, possibly a Chevy or Ford model, with Oklahoma tags, Brown said in a press conference.

(snip)

Earlier Friday, members of the community mourned the two girls at separate funerals.

Watch the funeral »

Earlier in the week, Ofuskee Sheriff Jack Choate urged parents to keep a close eye on their children while authorities pursued the likelihood that a killer or killers were in their midst.

Since then, authorities have held daily press conferences in an effort to solicit leads from the public with reward money that had reached $40,000 by Friday.

SOMEONE KNOWS THIS "PERSON OF INTEREST"...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/13/okla.girls.shootings/index.html

NAVEED HAQ: TRU TV IN SEATTLE TO COVER TRIAL

Dan DeLong / P-I
Naveed Haq is led from the courtroom during a break in his trial at the King County Courthouse in Seattle on Wednesday. Haq is accused of entering the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and opening fire, killing one woman, on July 28, 2006.

THOMAS JAMES HURST / THE SEATTLE TIMES
As Haq jurors deliberate, truTV producer Grace Wong monitors e-mails and news via her laptop and cellphone.

"In Session" TV crew puts Haq trial on national stage
By Natalie Singer
Seattle Times staff reporter

For six weeks they've been here every day. Starting at sunrise, leaving only to grab a soda or take a hurried bathroom break. Settling onto hard courtroom benches, they've heard every word of testimony and witnessed every objection and motion in Naveed Haq's trial.

They're not jurors. They're covering them.

They're allowed where local TV stations are not. The crew of television's "In Session," previously known as Court TV, has seen more than the jury. And because of them, the rest of the country has a front-row seat at one of King County's most high-profile criminal cases in years.

As the jury deliberates the fate of Haq, accused of the 2006 shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, the people behind the "In Session" program — a cameraman on his feet six hours a day, the producer and the "booker" of interviews often glued to their cellphones, the expertly coifed and legally savvy correspondent — wait to bring the end of the story to their fans.

It's one of the few times the phenomenon, which boasts the slogan "Not Reality. Actuality," has broadcast a Seattle trial. It was most recently in Seattle to film the 2003 sentencing of Green River killer Gary L. Ridgway.

(snip)

The effort it takes to travel to courtrooms around the country — all with different systems, bureaucracy, facilities and attitudes toward television crews — is phenomenal, Sullivan said.

The program, which airs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern time, has five field producers, five researchers or "trial trackers," four anchors, three correspondents, two satellite trucks, an assignment desk in Washington, D.C., and a slew of associate producers — including three working on the Haq case.

READ MORE OF NATALIE SINGER'S PROFILE OF COURTROOM TELEVISION...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004452039_trutv02m.html

WELEETKA, OK: TWO GIRLS SHOT WITH 2 DIFFERENT GUNS

Weleetka is a amall town in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. The name is derived from Creek Indians term for "running water." The latitude of Weleetka is 35.335N. The longitude is -96.136W. It is in the Central Standard time zone. Elevation is 725 feet. Estimated population in July 2006: approximately 947.

Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker, 13, left, and Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11, were killed Sunday.

Police look for multiple suspects in girls' shootings
By Emanuella Grinberg/ CNN

June 10, 2008

(CNN) -- Two Oklahoma schoolgirls were killed with two guns, leading investigators to believe that more than one person was involved in their deaths, authorities said Wednesday.

Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker, 13, of Weleetka and Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11, of Henryetta, were shot multiple times Sunday on a rural road about a quarter-mile from Taylor's home.

Investigators don't have any suspects or motives, but a forensic examination of the bodies indicated that two guns had been used, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations Agent Ben Rosser said Wednesday.

"This leads us to believe that we're probably looking for two shooters," Rosser said at a news conference Wednesday, where he also announced that authorities had raised the reward to $25,000.

Watch what officials are doing to solve the case »

With two shooters, Rosser said he was hopeful that one would turn on the other and come forward.

Rosser said investigators were considering a variety of motives as they searched for suspects, including the possibility of a "random thrill kill."

Because of the girls' ages, Rosser said investigators were looking at computer evidence and questioning young people in the area to develop possible leads.

Authorities said Tuesday that they believed the shooters were most likely from the area, considering the remote location where the bodies were found.

The two girls had planned a sleepover at Taylor's house the night they were killed. They left the house about 5 p.m.

Less than 30 minutes later, Taylor's grandfather discovered the girls' bodies in a ditch on the side of a road, near a bridge that is a popular gathering spot in the area.

CAN YOU HELP FIND THIS CHILD-KILLER...OR KILLERS?

Police are asking members of the public with more information about the case

to call (800) 522-8017.

________________________________________________

To make a donation to a burial fund for the victims' families,

the public can contact the Bank of Commerce in Weleetka, Rosser said.