Multi-county grand jury issues final report

By Amy Lester, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The multi-county grand jury adjourned Friday after meeting for 19 months and issued its final report.

However, there is not a word in the report about the murders of 13-year old Taylor Placker and 11-year old Skyla Whitaker.

The grand jury listened to testimony from 145 witnesses for many cases, including the Weleetka double homicide.

Nearly three months ago, someone gunned down Whitaker and Placker on a dirt road and the case remains unsolved.

"Everybody wants to know, well, when are they going to catch them? Who knows?" General Store owner Harry St. Peter said.

Over the past few days, five people answered questions about the murders in front of the multi-county grand jury, but the report said nothing about those testimonies.

NEWS 9 legal analyst Irven Box did not expect an indictment to come out of the testimony and neither did the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

The grand jury can force people to testify who previously refused to talk.

"This is a way to compel people to come forward and give testimony where a county court can't do it unless there's a particular charge filed," Box said.

An OSBI agent listened in during the testimony because that information can be used by investigators.

"Any grand jury can develop information that can be used in any crime, so in a situation like that we will use anything we can get," OSBI spokesperson Jessica Brown said.

OSBI is following every lead and Irven Box said the trail has not run cold. He believes an arrest will happen.

"I've talked to sources close to the investigation. I think they're more optimistic now then they've been in a long time," Box said. "Will it happen tomorrow, next week, next month? I'm not sure."

OSBI also remains confident that investigators will eventually make an arrest or arrests in this case. The people who testified were not persons of interest or suspects.