Modern DNA science will not help solve one of Oklahoma's oldest and most infamous mysteries.
Mayes County District Attorney Gene Haynes says that tests run on evidence from the 1977 murders of three girl scouts have proved "inconclusive."
On June 13 of that year, someone abducted, raped and murdered the three young girls at Camp Scott in Mayes County.
Lori Farmer, 8, and Doris Milner, 10, were from Tulsa; Michelle Guse, 9, lived in Broken Arrow.
Investigators arrested and tried Gene Leroy Hart for the murders, but a jury acquitted him in 1979.
Hart later died while in prison on unrelated charges.
In 2007, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation obtained a federal grant that allowed them to have DNA evidence in unsolved cases tested by private laboratories.
The private labs have more sophisticated equipment than the OSBI, and can perform more precise and detailed tests.
Now, Haynes says, the test results have come back, but they have not provided any new answers.
It appears that the samples had deteriorated too far for any useful evidence to be extracted.
In a press release, Haynes stated that “It is unfortunate the testing did not produce a DNA profile. We had hoped the testing would bring an end to the debate over who committed these terrible crimes.
"The families of the victims certainly deserve an ending to the case. This is one of the most infamous crimes in state history. Over thirty years later my office still receives inquiries about the case, as well as letters and calls from people claiming to know who committed the murders.”
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