Murders of young girls shock community

An especially disturbing double murder case has shocked the residents of a small Oklahoma community.

Okfuskee County Sheriff Jack Choate says someone shot and killed two girls on a rural road near Weleetka late Sunday afternoon.

Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Whitaker, 11, died as the result of gunshot wounds.

Choate says the evidence indicates that they died immediately.

They left the older girl's home late Saturday afternoon to take a walk along the rural road.

An hour or so later, the Skyla's mother called to say she wanted to pick up her daughter, and Taylor's father left the home to go looking for them, "Her dad come down the road and found her.  It's pretty hard," said Taylor's uncle Joe Mosher.


Sheriff Choate tells 2NEWS that his investigators have interviewed "persons of interest" in the case, as well as several possible witnesses.

The sheriff says Okfuskee County had not had a homicide in more than five years.

People have begun erecting a makeshift shrine at the crime scene, hanging a cross on a necklace and dropping off flowers.

2NEWS has spoken with family members of one of the victims and will air some of that interview in upcoming news programs.