[77] The 42 years that passed between the crime and the conviction is the longest such interval in an American bodyless murder case.In April 2018, Ronnie Busick was arrested and charged with four accounts of first-degree homicide for the deaths of Bible and the Freeman family.
An affidavit made by a female witness who had lived with Welch for a brief time asserts that "she heard conversations between the three men where they disclosed that the murder victims had owed them money".
According to the affidavit, Welch, Pennington, and Busick had claimed to have raped and tortured the two friends before disposing of their remains "in a pit" or mine shaft in Picher, Oklahoma.
In 2020, Busick pleaded guilty to being an accessory to first-degree homicide in the deaths of Ashley's parents, arson of the Freemans' home, and the abduction and presumed slayings of the two teenagers.
It was conditioned on him leading police to all of the bodies, and after several possible locations for Marcum's turned up empty, he claimed he had forgotten, thus voiding the plea deal.