THE POLICE: Sheriff says case is ‘difficult'
The Police: Sheriff says case is 'difficult'

By Johnny Johnson

Published: June 10, 2008

Okfuskee County Sheriff Jack Choate can't imagine a more gruesome or senseless crime than the one his office started investigating Sunday.

Choate must investigate the murder of two girls found shot to death on the side of a dirt road where they had been walking Sunday.

"It's very difficult,” Choate said. "This was an 11- and a 13-year-old girl. What possible motive could there be? You have to wonder if they saw something they were not supposed to see. Were they just in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

When Choate's investigators arrived at the scene, they had their work cut out for them. Family members had already been there, and evidence like possible tire tracks would be harder and harder to find.

To make matters worse, rain was on the way, and the clock was ticking.

Investigators did find the girls' tracks, and could tell that the girls were left where they were shot.

Choate said officers were able to identify some possible tire tracks, and they had some "persons of interest” they were interviewing Monday. But as the day came to a close, none of those interviews had solved the case.

"I don't know if we are going to have an arrest tonight,” Choate said Monday afternoon. "I really wish we did, but I don't know that it's going to happen.”