THE NATION - News from June 21, 2009

A year after two young girls were gunned down while taking a walk outside a rural Oklahoma town, authorities are stumped -- no motive and no arrests.

Law enforcement officials don’t even know whether the girls happened onto a crime in progress, whether they were victims of an attempted abduction or targets of a random thrill killing.

On June 8 -- the anniversary of the slayings of 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Jade Whitaker -- law enforcement officials pleaded for the public’s help in solving the case.

“I don’t know why a person with information might not come forward,” said Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown, flanked by about 15 members of the girls’ families at a news conference. “We are one piece of information away from making an arrest. We plead to them today to come forward.”

Skyla had been shot eight times; Taylor five. Investigators believe two different guns were used, leading to the presumption at least two people were involved.

On the anniversary day, family members, teachers and classmates of the two girls handed out purple and green ribbons -- Skyla and Taylor’s favorite colors. Some wore T-shirts with images of the girls’ smiling faces. Some sobbed and consoled one another near a cluster of trees.

“It’s a day-to-day thing getting through the last year,” said William Whitaker, Skyla’s father. “Some days are a little bit easier than others, some of them, you just don’t even want to go forward.”

Since authorities still maintain that the shooter or shooters were familiar with the isolated area -- where neighbors are separated by acres of thick woods -- Whitaker said it pained him to think he might have walked by the culprit at the grocery store in the small town.

The girls’ deaths along a dirt road near the town of Weleetka rattled neighbors in the working-class community of about 1,000 located 70 miles south of Tulsa.

Before the crime, residents described their town as the kind where people moved to get away from the big cities, where car doors were left unlocked and children played along winding dirt roads that went on for miles.

Taylor’s family had moved there to get her away from the violence in Oklahoma City. Skyla’s moved from Baxter Springs, Kan., for a taste of the simple life.

Both families thought they found what they were looking for along an isolated country road. The girls became fast friends and usually walked to each others’ houses for sleepovers.

On June 8, 2008, the girls were sleeping over at Taylor’s house and decided to take a walk down the desolate road. They were gunned down near a bridge about a quarter-mile from Taylor’s house.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation estimated more than 7,500 man hours have been logged trying to solve the killings, including 450 interviews, 50 court orders and subpoenas and 600 items submitted for testing. A $30,000 reward has been posted.

“We are sure that this case will be solved,” Brown said. “We hope it will be tomorrow.”