Their bodies were then left on a trail leading to the campsite's showers, about 150 yards (140 meters) from their tent.
The case was classified as solved when Gene Leroy Hart, a local jail escapee with a history of violence and rape, was arrested.
[1] Less than two months before the murders, during an on-site training session, a counselor at Camp Scott discovered that her belongings had been ransacked and her doughnuts had been stolen.
Inside the empty doughnut box was a hand-written note, stating in capital letters, "We are on a mission to kill three girls in tent one."
[citation needed] Gene Leroy Hart (November 27, 1943 – June 4, 1979) had been at large since 1973 after escaping from the Mayes County Jail.
[9] As a convicted rapist and jail escapee, Hart still had 305 years of his 308-year sentence left to serve in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
On June 4, 1979, two years after the murders, Hart collapsed and died of a heart attack at the age of 35 after about an hour of lifting weights and jogging in the prison exercise yard.
[18] A 1993 documentary called Someone Cry for The Children: The Girl Scout Murders, based on the book of the same name by Michael and Dick Wilkerson, was released.
[19] A four-part ABC News documentary series, titled Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders, about the case was released on Hulu on May 24, 2022, a few weeks before the 45th anniversary of the crimes.
It is hosted by actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth, who was an 8-year-old Girl Scout in 1977 and had planned to go on the camping trip but became ill and did not attend.