Another search planned for Welch Oklahoma girls missing since 1999

(AP) Authorities from state and federal agencies plan to meet and conduct new searches for two 16-year-old northeast Oklahoma girls who disappeared in late 1999 and have not been seen since. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement is joining the meetings and searches on Tuesday and Wednesday for Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible, who are presumed dead. Authorities believe Freeman’s parents were killed, the girls were kidnapped and the Freeman’s mobile home set on fire on Dec. 30, 1999. Ronnie Dean Busick was arrested and charged in 2018 with murder, kidnapping and arson in the case. He has denied involvement.