For most people, the Christmas period is a highly anticipated and joyous time of year,

and yet crime often continues unhindered throughout the festive period.

In a small percentage of such occurrences, the identity of those responsible have never

been uncovered, meaning that for the families of those involved, Christmas will forever remain

a season of sadness.

On the evening of 29 December 1999, firefighters in the city of Vanita, Oklahoma were called out to

a fire at a local trailer park. Upon arriving, they discovered the residents of the Freeman family

completely ablaze, with every indication that the occupants had failed to escape.

As the raging inferno was finally brought under control, investigators would learn

the first of many unsettling developments relating to the incident.

Police officers guarding the wreckage in the aftermath were approached by the parents of

Luria Bible, who stated that their 16-year-old daughter had also been inside the trailer at the time

of the blaze. Bible was best friends with Ashley Freeman, and had stayed over following Ashley's

16th birthday party, which had taken place the previous evening. An initial inspection of the

trailer's remains determined that the fire had been started deliberately, with the body of Ashley's

mother Kathy located inside. The revelation that the dead woman had been murdered with a shotgun

beforehand went on to prompt a further search, which would later uncover the body of her husband,

Danny. He too had been dispatched in the same manner, but of the two missing teenagers,

there remained absolutely no trace. The subsequent investigation determined that personal

possessions belonging to the two missing girls had been left at the scene, including their bags

and driving licenses. These discoveries led the police to conclude that the girls had either fled

before the fire started, or had instead been removed against their will. But despite some

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