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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Sam Smedley

Kristin Chenoweth reveals shocking connection to Girl Scout murders that 'haunts' her

Award-winning actress, Kristin Chenoweth, has shared details about her lucky escape from becoming one of the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murder victims.

Mystery surrounds this case after a man was found guilty of the murder of the three little girls was later acquitted.

The bodies of the girls were discovered on June 13, 1977, at Camp Scott in Mayes County, Oklahoma. The victims were Girl Scouts, between the ages of 8 and 10, who were raped and murdered.

Their bodies had been left on a trail leading to the showers, about 140 metres from their tent at summer camp.

The tragedy led to a 45-year mystery and left Tony- and Emmy-winning actress Kristin Chenoweth haunted for decades to come.

Now, Chenoweth is returning to Oklahoma "to find answers once and for all" in ABC News Studios' Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders , which debuts May 24 on Hulu.

The true-crime series delves into the unknowns of the case, how authorities are still making discoveries decades later, and the aftermath with the victims' families.

Actress Kristin Chenoweth performs in her role from "Wicked" during a number at The American Theatre Wing's 58th Annual Tony Awards (Reuters)
Chenoweth is nominated for Best leading Actress in a Musical for "Wicked" (Reuters)

From Oklahoma, the Schmigadoon actress was supposed to join her fellow Girl Scouts at Camp Scott that night but luckily for her was unable to attend.

She shared with Entertainment weekly, "I should have been on that trip, but I had gotten sick. My mom said, 'You can't go,'" Chenoweth explains in the trailer. "It has stuck with me my whole life. I could have been one of them."

Among the girls killed were Lori Lee Farmer, eight, Doris Denise Milner, 10, and Michele Heather Guse, nine. The girls were all from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

The young girls were sharing tent eight in the camp's "Kiowa" unit which was the furthest from the camp counsellor's tent.

Their bodies had been left on a trail leading to the showers, about 150 yards from their tent. Further testing showed that the three girls had been raped, bludgeoned, and strangled.

Using technology that didn't exist in the seventies, investigators have examined the evidence left from the murder to try and answer the unanswered questions of the case.

Interviews with the acquitted suspect's counsel, a camp counsellor and the sheriff who reopened the case reveal details about the night's events.

"This is a story I wish I never had to tell," Chenoweth says. "It haunts me every day, but this story needs to be told."

The four-part series premieres May 24 on Hulu.

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