By Paige Orr, Fox23 News
UPDATE 3/10/2026 — The OSBI has stated that no human remains were found during the search in Treece for Laurie Bible and Ashley Freeman.
TREECE, Kan. — More than 26 years after two teenagers vanished from a Welch, Oklahoma birthday sleepover, a massive multi-agency task force has returned to the Tar Creek Superfund site to search for their remains.
Investigators from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) and the FBI joined forces Monday to begin an extensive excavation of a mine shaft located just across the state line in rural Cherokee County, Kansas for Laurie Bible and Ashley Freeman.
The site, situated near the abandoned community of Treece, has become the latest focal point in a case that has haunted the region since December 1999.
“Today they’re down there about a mile and a quarter. They’re down there searching down a mine shaft,” said Lorene Bible, Lauria’s mother, who has spent over two decades as her daughter’s fiercest advocate. “They’re bringing up debris out of the mine pit, and then they’re bringing it out… They’ve got a lot of people down there. They’re going to search through it.”
The search involves approximately 50 personnel, including agents from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, and investigators from the Cherokee, Quapaw, and Miami Tribal Nations.
The FBI is leading the evidence collection, utilizing a crane and specialized equipment to clear a 35-foot accessible portion of a mine shaft that may originally have been more than 100 feet deep before decades of cave-ins and debris filled the void.
OSBI Public Information Manager Hunter McKee said the collaborative effort is essential given the difficult landscape, which is characterized by chat piles, large boulders, and underground voids.
McKee noted that while the spotlight on the case fades in and out of the public eye, the investigation remains active behind the scenes.
“The FBI agreed that with the technology that they were going to help us,” McKee said. “It’s just an extra agency with extra manpower to help us… Kansas has been involved in this investigation since the very beginning.”
For Lorene Bible, the current search is the result of years of grassroots work. She credits the Find Lauria Bible – BBI Facebook page for generating the vast majority of leads that keep investigators in the field.
Despite the heavy presence of machinery and officials, she admitted that finding an answer brings a complicated set of emotions.
“When you’ve been at it for 26 years… you get to the point, do you want to find her or do you want to say, no, she’s still out there somewhere?” Bible said. “But at this point, if they’re there, we want the good Lord to say, let’s find them, let’s make this part done.”
Officials expect the recovery operation to last for several days. Any remains located during the search will be processed by the Kansas Medical Examiner’s Office.
A $50,000 reward remains in place for information that leads to the recovery of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman.
