Hello Everyone!

Again, just as a warning before you read too far, there will be disturbing and gory imagery. If anyone is uncomfortable with that, please don’t feel bad about leaving!

Camp Scott Trail Sign

Michelle Hoffman, an older Girl Scout at camp in April of 1977 for a special cadet weekend, discovered that her tent had been ransacked while she and her campmates were away. “Bags had been scattered all over the tent and some outside”, a box of doughnuts Hoffman had brought from home had been emptied, a note was found (Stanley).

June 12th, 1977, almost 140 young girls arrived in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Girl Scouts Headquarters to get on the buses that would take them to a two-week sleepover camp called Camp Scott, which was owned and operated by the Girl Scouts organization.

Michelle Hoffman was going to be an aide to the counselors this summer, she had aged out of being a camper. While she was helping the girls onto the bus, she saw one who stood out from the crowd. Denise Milner was one of the only African-American girls attending camp and looked nervous because it was her first time going to camp. Hoffman introduced herself to Bettye Milner (Denise’s mother) and Denise to ease their worry. Hoffman sat with Denise on the bus and encouraged her, telling her about all the fun she is going to have at camp.

Hoffman stuck with Denise after arriving at camp, helping her with her stuff and finding her tent. It just happened that Denise was assigned to be in the tent that was Hoffman’s “all-time favorite” because it was the closest to the bathroom and kitchen (Stanley).

In order, Michele, Lori, and Denise

Among the girls, were Doris “Denise” Milner (10-years-old), Michele Heather Guse (9-years-old), and Lori Lee Farmer (8-years-old). The three had not known each other before going to camp but became quick friends. They were assigned to be campmates in Tent #8 in Camp Kiowa. Camp Kiowa was one of the most remote camps of the whole property, and Tent #8 was the furthest from the counselor’s tent (Tent #1). Tent 8 was out of sight from the counselors, blocked by another camp building.

Camp Kiowa Map

Many campers and counselors heard and saw strange things that night.

At some point later that night, one of the counselors from one of the other camps near Camp Kiowa noticed a faint light coming from the woods. She got up to investigate and saw that it was moving toward Camp Kiowa, assuming it was another counselor, she went back to bed.

In Camp Kiowa, one of the counselors in Tent #1 woke up to strange noises in the middle of the night. She said she hadn’t ever heard anything like it.

“It didn’t sound human. It didn’t sound animal.”

She also got out of her tent to find the source. She approached several of the other tents, but the noises abruptly stopped so she went back to bed (Stanley).

Multiple people reported that at around 1:30 a.m., they heard moaning sounds coming from the end of the tent horseshoe, Tent #8.

A camper in Tent #7 said that at around 2:00 a.m., she woke to when someone with a flashlight opened their tent flaps.

A girl heard a scream at around 3:00 a.m. coming from the general area of Tent #8, another girl reported that she heard the same thing at the same time. However, she heard someone crying after the scream (McAuliffe).

“Momma, Momma”

She didn’t know what to do so she went back to bed.

Camp Scott Map

The next morning (June 13th) at around 6:00 a.m., one of the camp counselors who heard noises the night before had left her tent to go to the shower. While on the trail, something caught her eye.

There was a sleeping bag under a tree.

In it was the cold, lifeless body of a young Girl Scout.

Tulsa World Newspaper about the Crime

Autopsy results showed that Michele and Lori had died from blunt force head trauma. Denise was strangled after suffering a massive blow to the head; many think it is likely that she was still alive after the hit so the killer strangled her to finish the job. Two of the girls had been raped and one of them was sodomized. They were then shoved into their sleeping bags and left in the woods.

The girls were attacked in their tent, this was evident from the amount of blood on the wooden floor of the cabin. They found that Lori and Michele were killed in the tent. Blood was all over the place, pooled on pillows, cots, and the floor. There is evidence that someone tried to wipe up the blood with towels and the mattress covers.

Two girls were tied up, Michele and Denise had cords around their bodies and tied to their wrists.

Near the bodies the police found nylon rope, a crowbar, duct tape, and a red flashlight with a partial fingerprint on it; they were unable to get any matches.

Tent #8 wasn’t the only one that was entered that night.

Someone had gone through several of the tents, stole eyeglasses, and placed them throughout the camp.

One of the pairs of eyeglasses found at Camp Kiowa.

The police only had one suspect, Gene Leroy Hart.

Hart was an escaped convict. He was found guilty of kidnapping and raping two young pregnant women. He only served 2 years and 4 months of a 30-year sentence for these rapes. He was serving a 309-year sentence for burglary but he escaped custody in 1973. One of the surviving victims of Hart’s rape said that he used nylon rope and duct tape to subdue his victims and that he made very strange noises (similar to the ones described by the counselor). Both of his pregnant rape victims wore eyeglasses and they said that he would try on their glasses to see if they were his prescription. When he was found, he was wearing a pair of women’s prescription glasses.

There was a lot of incriminating evidence at the scene. The sperm found on a pillowcase in the tent was said to be “quite similar” to the sample found in Hart’s underwear. Later analysis of the DNA in the late 80s was unable to rule Hart out as the killer but they couldn’t say it was him beyond a reasonable doubt. They attempted to analyze the DNA again in 2018 but the sample was too degraded, but that meant that Hart was still not ruled out as the killer.

The red flashlight that was found near the girls’ bodies had been modified in a certain unique manner. According to an associate of Hart, he was known to do the same modification to his flashlights.

There was a cave about three miles away from the camp which, according to witness testimony, Hart had used while he was on the run. The cave was only 100 feet away from his childhood home. There was a multitude of items found in the cave including a pair of sunglasses stolen from one of the camp counselors, a roll of tape that matched the type at the scene, and photos reportedly developed by Hart who had once worked in the prison photo lab. There were also pages of a Tulsa newspaper, pages of which were found stuffed into the flashlight that was found near the girls.

Gene Leroy Hart

About 10 months after the girls were murdered, he was found in Cherokee County (Hart was Cherokee). He was arrested and tried for the murders but a jury found him not guilty. He did, however, return to prison for his other crimes and he later died of a heart attack.

The community was actually in support of Hart. Many thought he was being used as a scapegoat by the sheriff because he was a Native American and had “embarrassed the sheriff by escaping his jail not once, but twice” (criminal discourse podcast). The defense went so far as to say that the evidence was planted.

People were so supportive that there was a story about how the families of the victims “would go to local restaurants only to walk in and see fundraising jars for Hart’s defense” (criminal discourse podcast). The community ended up raising over $12,000 for Hart’s defense. His funeral was attended by thousands of mourners.

Bettye Milner, Denise Milner’s mother, said that “after Hart was acquitted, people cheered and rejoice” (McAuliffe). Two of the murdered girls’ mothers saw similarities between Hart’s case and the case of O.J. Simpson.

There were some positives that came out of this horrible crime. Lori Famer’s family organized the Oklahoma chapter of Parents of Murdered Children. Richard Guse, Michele’s father, was a major player in victim advocacy in the 80s. He helped pass the Crime Victim-Witness Bill of Rights and he was later appointed to the Crime Victim Compensation Board by the Oklahoma governor of the time.

The road to Camp Scott, blocked by chained gates.

The girls at the camp were sent home without an explanation. Parents had to find out from the news reports.

The camp was never reopened after it sent all of the girls home on June 13th, 1977. Some parents had to find out from the news reporting on it, later hearing about the girls returning from the Girl Scout officials.

It was a frenzy at the council building.

Although they knew that the victims’ families had been informed, most of those on hand were firm in their agreement: They would not — could not — rest until they saw their child step off that bus.