No Leads in Murder of Oklahoma Girls

Pamela Mortimer

On Sunday, two young girls were the victims of a heinous crime in the rural town of Weleetka, OK, located about 90 miles from Oklahoma City. Taylor Dawn Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11, were found shot to death in a ditch alongside a rural road just 300 yards from Taylor’s home. So far, police are puzzled as to who shot the girls and why.

"There's obviously an issue here where the shooter wanted these girls dead and certainly carried that to its fullest extent," Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Inspector Stan Florence told FOX News.

Although police had initially stated that there was a suspect in the case, the report was recanted at a press conference held on Tuesday afternoon.

"Person of interest is just a term," said Special Agent Ben Rosser of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. "We don't have a person of interest; we don't have a suspect."

An autopsy showed that the cause of death for both girls was multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and face, Chief Investigator Kevin Rowland of the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner's office told FOXNews.com.

Peter Placker, Taylor's grandfather, went looking for the girls when they failed to return home or answer a cell phone they had carried with them. Placker found the girls dead and immediately called police.

The girls were found fully clothed in their shorts and t-shirts. There was no direct evidence of molestation, though police are withholding judgment. "I don't believe it was, but you just can't discount that," Rosser said.

Investigators have yet to determine what type of gun was used in the murders. The caliber of the bullet may have been determined but the police have not released that information. The possible motive remains a mystery.

"We have thought from the worst-case scenario — just a haphazard shooting — to they possibly walked down to meet someone, to possibly they walked down there, even though it's a short distance, they may have interrupted something," Rosser said. "So we're looking at everything right now."

Rosser suspects that someone from the community may be responsible for the crime.

"The reason we're just looking at possibly a local person: Because of the location there, it's just not likely somebody pulled off U.S. 75 or I-40 and just stopped there," he said.

Placker remembered Taylor and Skyla as being inseparable.

"When they didn't have something to do with their parents, they spent all their time talking to each other or spent the night with each other," Placker told FOXNews.com.

The motive is also a mystery to the Plackers, Taylor’s grandparents and legal guardians, the couple that the girl lovingly called "mom" and "dad."

According to Placker, Taylor made the same quarter-mile walk down to the bridge daily as a form of exercise.

"She hardly ever does it at the same time every day," he said. "Sometimes she'll do it in the morning, sometimes she'll do it in the afternoon, sometimes she'll do it about an hour or two before dark."

There is a reward of $14,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer. In order to help defray the cost of the girls’ burials, accounts have been set up at the Bank of Commerce in Waleetka. While the community support has been a godsend, it's little consolation for the families.

"She was my only baby," Placker said. "I've got four other [children], but that's my baby."