Who Killed Taylor Placker and Skyla Whitaker?
June 9, 2008 by impqueen
Weleetka, OK – It’s a small town in the middle of nowhere, ninety miles east of Oklahoma City. The kind of place where nobody would worry too much about two girls going out for a walk, even young girls. And when they don’t come home right away, parents don’t think “murdered”, they think “grounded”. But murder is what happened to Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11, on SundaySunday reviews
evening.
Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker and Skyla Jade Whitaker
At about 5:30 Sunday afternoon, the two girls went for a walk down toward a bridge near Taylor’s home. When they didn’t come back, Taylor’s grandfather went looking for them – and found Taylor and Skyla lying face down in a roadside ditch, killed by multiple gunshot wounds. The girls were fully clothed, and there were no apparent signs of sexual assault, although autopsies have not yet been completed.
Taylor was a sweet, studious girl who had been home schooled until her family moved to Weleetka. Raised by her grandparents, she made good grades and had been elected queen in an elementary school contest in the fifth grade. As a sixth-grader, she was the only girl in her class – that’s how small Weleetka is.
Skyla wanted to be a veterinarian. A tall brunette, she was an outgoing fifth grader who played basketball. She had been over at Taylor’s house for a sleepover, and the girls often took walks together. Even though the shots were fired about a quarter-mile or so from the Placker home, windy conditions kept anyone at the house from hearing the shots.
“They were little girls, what possible motive could there be?” asked Okfuskee County Sheriff Jack Choate. “You have to wonder, did they see something they were not supposed to? Were they at the wrong place at the wrong time?”
As of right now, nobody really knows. Tire tracks and ballistics evidence are being tested, and the girls’ families are struggling with questions which have no answers as yet. I’ll be updating as information comes in. Anyone who wants to donate to the funeral costs can do so. The fund is set up at the Weleetka Commerce Bank.
UPDATE 6/13/08 – Investigators have released a sketch of a possible suspect based on witness statements who say they saw a man outside a white pickup truck in the middle of the road around the time the girls were killed. The man is described as 6 feet tall, about 35 years old, native American with a long black ponytail and wearing a baseball cap. The reward for information leading to an arrest in this case is now over $30,000.
Sketch released by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation on FridayFriday reviews
, June 13 of possible person of interest in the girls’ murders.
Updates:
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=3a33d9e0-5143-408e-bacc-f0abb24d3526 "Who Killed Taylor Placker and Skyla Whitaker?")
10:25 pm on June 9th, 2008
One of the girls had a cell phone with her. That’s when the grandparents got worried, when the girl wouldn’t answer it.
“I can’t describe coming up on it,” Peter Placker said, sobbing uncontrollably, as he tried to remember walking up on the scene, only about one-quarter mile from his house. “I done it once and I can’t do it again.”
10:26 pm on June 9th, 2008
poor girls.. i hope they died instantly and didn’t know what hit them
RIP
10:30 pm on June 9th, 2008
how sad for the families. hopefully they find out what happened and why soon.
10:35 pm on June 9th, 2008
It is being reported that it seemed as if they were killed instantly.
11:43 pm on June 9th, 2008
Somehow, having no reason (even some psycho version of a reason) almost makes it seem worse. So incredibly senseless.
1:23 am on June 10th, 2008
Murdering bastards.
Fucken animals. Worse than animals. Animals don’t do this.
God I hope it ends badly for these pieces of shit.
4:17 am on June 10th, 2008
http://newsok.com/article/3254870
The police have a suspect but aren’t saying who.
and
http://www.kjrh.com/content/news/breaking/story.aspx?content_id=1ba65326-f57b-4cf1-b22c-f3bffcad67ba
Sheriff Choate tells 2NEWS that his investigators have interviewed “persons of interest” in the case, as well as several possible witnesses.
8:17 am on June 10th, 2008
i just can’t imagine the horror those 2 girls faced.
9:10 am on June 10th, 2008
Persons of interest and several possible witnesses (from the second link, #7 above). In a small town and this is a tiny town, it’s very easy to pick out who did what unless it’s a complete stranger.
Pure Speculation: Sounds a like a carful of joyriders and one surprised the others by pulling out a gun.
It’s just heartbreaking to look at these little girls and realize they won’t grow up.
10:45 am on June 10th, 2008
This is so sad. I saw it on fox news last night. Prayers for the families.
10:56 am on June 10th, 2008
How absolutely fucked up. Motive??? Dad? Stupid teenager? Witnesses?
11:10 am on June 10th, 2008
any new developments today?
11:24 am on June 10th, 2008
Not really, Tricia. Local LE and the OBI had at least 20 investigators on site by yesterday evening, so if there’s evidence there aside from tire tracks and ballistics, I’m hopeful they’ll find it.
I think the ME report should be out within the next day or so.
Since there’s already a “person of interest”, I’m betting LE has a good idea of who did this, and probably knows why.
11:36 am on June 10th, 2008
Prayers to all involved, family and friends.
I hope the person(s) who did this horrific, senseless crime are caught and caught soon!!!
Poor little girls. Thank the good Lord, that so far, it doesn’t seem that the girls were raped. I hope the reports of an “instant death” are correct.
1:40 pm on June 10th, 2008
they are saying that whoever did this, “wanted these girls dead, no question about it”……i think i’m gonna puke
1:59 pm on June 10th, 2008
http://newsok.com/article/3255420/
Autopsies performed Monday on the girls show that they had been shot in the head and chest, said Kevin Rowland, chief medical examiner. Rowland did not release any other details.
“We believe this person may have known these two girls,” Florence said. “We’re trying to establish the type of relationship, if there was one, where we can determine exactly what connection there was between them.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365081,00.html
And, of course, the obligatory breaks my heart comment-
Placker found Taylor and Skyla dead after they didn’t return home from one of those walks Sunday afternoon.
“She was my only baby,” Placker said. “I’ve got four other ones, but that’s my baby.”
To whoever did this, rot in hell. Bastards.
3:41 pm on June 10th, 2008
Shot in the face and chest…Yes, whoever did it wanted those two girls dead in a big way. So very sad. Fry fucking bastard, fry. Take your own life now please.
3:48 pm on June 10th, 2008
So upsetting I’m so sorry for the families
6:09 pm on June 10th, 2008
Authorities in Oklahoma announced this afternoon that they have no suspects …. “We don’t have a person of interest,” said Ben Rosser, special agent for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations. “We don’t have a suspect.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/comments?type=story&id=5037169
well, hell.
7:13 pm on June 10th, 2008
Soooo the media got it wrong when they said they had a person of interest or the person of interest has been eliminated?
9:13 pm on June 10th, 2008
Rosser also said that although authorities were considering all avenues of investigation, they had not closed in on any suspects or persons of interest. Rosser said that evidence from the scene, including DNA and ballistics, had been sent to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation lab for processing.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/10/ok.girls.deaths/index.html
“They were close together, as far as if they were fleeing, that’s one thing we’re trying to consider,” he said. “We’re looking at everything.”
They were fleeing…
3:23 pm on June 11th, 2008
this is the latest…..2 different guns, WTF!!!!!!
Ballistics testing by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shows that the girls were shot with two different caliber weapons, said Jessica Brown, spokeswoman for OSBI.
3:35 pm on June 11th, 2008
The more I am reading about this case, the more it seems as if these girls really did see something they were NOT supposed to see. Fleeing? 2 different guns? ..and who possibly could want these 2 little girls dead?
Or maybe I watch too many movies. I’ll be waiting for any new developments!
3:39 pm on June 11th, 2008
ME TOO!!!!!
3:39 pm on June 11th, 2008
I am curious as to whether or not these girls were online much.
3:41 pm on June 11th, 2008
Well, my 11yr old has a myspace but I keep it locked down to only his friends. I’m sure someone has checked already, I can’t do a search at work. I’ll leave it to someone else……
3:53 pm on June 11th, 2008
This is becoming bizarre. Sounds like more than one shooter. I hope they catch them soon.
3:54 pm on June 11th, 2008
When I think about all the walks and bike rides my best friend and I took at that age…shit, we LIVED outside…It’s especially tragic, to me. The apparent randomness makes it absolutely horrifying, and the fact that they have no persons of interest is disheartening, to say the least.
I hope the people who did this are found quickly, and I hope it’s a capital case.
4:38 pm on June 11th, 2008
I bet if they catch the pieces of shit, it will be young white males, probably late teens early twenties. Sounds horrible but I bet this was what they call a “thrill kill”. May even be still in high school. From what I read it appears they walked this way quite a bit……..I am thinking this was random. I don’t think they were targeted personally. I hope they catch them and they rot!
4:54 pm on June 11th, 2008
That’s a plenty reasonable hypothesis, Sarabei. I refrained from postulating about the case until I heard that they have not even one person of interest. Given the nature of the crime, I think that “thrill kill” is a probability. Them being young, white and male is almost a given, if that’s the case. I only hope that one eventually turns on the other, if physical evidence is of no help.
5:44 pm on June 11th, 2008
I don’t know why I keep thinking they were meeting someone. Absolutely nothing suggests that. I just find it too coincidental that two people shot and killed two girls at random. Not that it is impossible, of course. The only other thing I can think of that makes any sense is that they walked up on something. But seeing as this was in broad daylight on a road that was mentioned as “well traveled”…I dunno.
6:06 pm on June 11th, 2008
Seems like a thrill kill to me. Being from Oklahoma, I can definitely see people, raised around guns, having nothing to do and killing kids for fun. It’s sick, but I’ve seen sicker on this site.
I’m really not sure on the meeting someone thing. When I was that age, I was always walking–it’s pretty much the only thing to do–especially in a town like Weleetka.
Poor parents. I hope they get those fucks, and I hope they’re old enough to be tried as adults (if they aren’t adults already).
7:14 pm on June 11th, 2008
I can’t say I blame you, Morbid. I mean, you deal in these stories and, seriously…how often are these things random?
I suppose also that they could have walked up on none of their business. That’s the only other thing that makes sense, at this point. I’ll be interested as details come out, because “totally random” creeps me out to no end. Of course, any excuse in the world wouldn’t be good enough. But, I like to attempt to understand why this kind of thing ever occurs.
8:16 pm on June 11th, 2008
I am like Athena, I always want to know the WHY of it…even though there really isn’t an answer other than that some people are just evil, sick, bastards. One thing that makes me go with the thrill kill idea (an here, again, it could be someone they know) is I have read so many of these things where kids are doing that. For instance, recently there were these two boys and they killed a female friend of theirs, cause they wanted to know what it felt like to kill…then one of the killer’s mommy whines cause her lil killer son gets life without parole. I think parents are part of the problem as well…not making kids man up and take responsibilty for their actions, whether missing curfew or something horrible, there is always a consequence for actions.
9:13 pm on June 11th, 2008
I think the killers knew the girls.
10:03 pm on June 11th, 2008
Pure Speculation: I see it now as a bonding kill. The killers each killed a person, did it at the same time, and now they’re bros or Bonnie and Clyde forever. It didn’t matter who they killed, they were on that road looking for someone alone.
Pure Spec Cont.: I can see Morbid’s theory, too, but what could it have been other than a drug deal that involved locals? Or someone wanted by the law whom the kid could have reported?
It just makes me sick to think of these little girls dead forever. And they were planning a sleep-over, so sad.
12:07 pm on June 12th, 2008
A news conference is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. CDT today. A possible witness has emerged that saw the girls on the road just before they were killed but did not witness the killing. Here’s the link to the news site that will have the live coverage…
http://www.koco.com/news/16547383/detail.html
12:09 pm on June 12th, 2008
News conference to be held at 2:00 p.m. CDT today. Witness has emerged that saw the girls on the road but did not witness the killings. Can’t get the link to the website to post on here for some reason. KOCO5 out of OK City, OK.
12:43 pm on June 12th, 2008
this case is driving me nutz……arrrggghhhh
12:46 pm on June 12th, 2008
Me to T.
12:49 pm on June 12th, 2008
They haven’t even said if it was a point blank shot or from a distance…the grandfather said that he knew on monday it was a high powered and a low powered weapon.
12:52 pm on June 12th, 2008
The plot thickens. If there is evidence on her computer that she was meeting someone that’s very disturbing. To me it would suggest that the person pre meditated the murder. They were only gone a half hour and found fully clothed. It seems unlikely they were lured for sexual purposes. I just hope they catch these people asap because they clearly are cold blooded killers.
1:08 pm on June 12th, 2008
1:11 pm on June 12th, 2008
If you are right, I’m making my 11yr old delete his myspace right away….no laughing matter, i have an 11yr old and a 15yr old who are very active online, it scares me sometimes but i try to keep close tabs….ya know?
1:17 pm on June 12th, 2008
AMW has it on their site…I think they are going to air it Saturday if nothing breaks before then. But, I think something will break soon. I think someone knows something.
1:27 pm on June 12th, 2008
I’m with you on this one, Morbid. I think there is the outside chance that it was a more random act, but it looks to me like a pickup gone wrong. Maybe they people they were supposed to meet didn’t look right to the girls and they said they were gonna tell…
what really bugs me is the placement of the bodies. It looks to me like maybe the girls were running. One was shot first, the other tried to run and was shot as well. It’s horrible. I’m gonna try to get the news conference either online or on tv.
1:30 pm on June 12th, 2008
Morbid and i were talking about this yesterday and i think my response was that hell, they might have met someone on Neopets or Gaia or something for all we know. I haven’t found actual Myspaces for the girls – Morbid thinks they might have made up a fake one.
Whatever the cause – be it a witnessed drug deal or a meeting gone bad – i hope that LE gets these guys (or girls) fast. It’s too small a town for there to be no information floating around.
1:36 pm on June 12th, 2008
There is another place called ZWINKY…..my son is ALWAYS in there and it’s like sims but it’s people from all over. My daughter is 15 and she assures me that it all little kids but I still try and keep my eye on it.
2:19 pm on June 12th, 2008
WTF-it makes you want to keep your precious ones inside and with you at all times-impossible, I know. This is so sad..
2:20 pm on June 12th, 2008
Just like Disneyland and Chucky Cheese, if it’s filled with little kids, it’s filled with pedophiles. Anything that attracts children attracts those who hunt them.
Think you got something worth saying? Type it out. If you don't wanna look lame, get rid of that default avatar and go get you a gravatar! Tell 'em Morbid sent ya'. Lastly, as far as we are concerned, posting a comment means that you have read our Disclaimer.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Search Dreamin’ Demon
Login
The Dreamin Demon Wants You
Check ‘Em Out!
Recent Comments
Recent Media Reviews
Twitter
Your Ad Here
Facebook Crap
Drink The Kool-Aid
Archives
Kickass Sites
Copyright © 2009 · Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License · DreaminDemon Blood Red theme by Lee Malta.
Get a Blog · WordPress · Log in