New Lead in 1987 Cold Case

The year was 1987.  Cheryl
Genzer, 25, and her younger sister Lisa Pennington, 16, went to the State Fair
and were never heard from again.  Details
about what happened after the fair haunted the family of Cheryl and Lisa. 

“There are times that you forget about
it, so to speak it's never really gone, but there are days, but then night
comes and then you always stop and think about it,” Charlette Pennington, the
mother of the two young women told Fox 25.

The girls lived in Britton, at the
time it was a small town on the outskirts of Oklahoma City.  Today many know it as a road in the northwest
part of the city.  Though, many people
who lived and worked in Britton are still around and still talk about the case
that was never solved.

The last major development in the case was more than 20 years
ago.  Prosecutors charged Lane Henley, a
man last seen with the young women, with murder.  The case against Henley fell apart when the
state’s key witness, Doug Lawson, recanted. 
“I think he was telling the truth but he didn't tell all of it,” said Pennington.

The case was worked, not just by
police, but by a myriad of private investigators all hoping to bring
answers to a family in desperate need of closure.  “I believe that there are four, maybe five
people that were either present or participated if not in the actual murders
participate in the disposal of the bodies,” Private Investigator David Dunn
told Fox 25.  “Without a confession, I
don't think the case will ever be solved.”

When the trail went cold, the case was relegated to the Oklahoma
City Cold Case division.  Police tell us
that recently the status of the case has changed to an “active cold case.”  “I don't know what the evidence is in this
case that caused them to back over it again but they are following up some
leads on this at this time,” Police Master Sergeant Gary Knight told Fox 25.

That new evidence may have come from a happenstance
meeting between a young woman and Dunn, who was working with a bondsman.  A chance encounter in a hotel room that Dunn
says sheds new light on what happened to Cheryl and Lisa.  “Started talking to her about the murders,
just asking her questions and she became very emotional,” Dunn said.

Dunn says the young woman told a story she says she heard
from her father, Bruce Castle.  “One of
the girls got raped and murdered and the other one was alive for two days
getting raped and tortured,” Lindsey Castle said on a recording obtained by Fox
25 News. 

“I don't believe you confess a crime like that to your
daughter just to pass the time of day,” Dunn said, “Or because you can't think
of something else to visit about.”

The young woman told a police officer that her father’s
brother was also there when the girls’ bodies were buried in a shallow
grave.  “My dad's friends said Tracy
didn't have no say in it, he just had to help dispose of the bodies,” Lindsey
Castle told a police officer.

“It's got to make some sense,” Pennington said, “There's
so many people going around and saying this and saying that they've heard him
say that that there's got to be something to it.”

“There’s a difference in who we think did it and who we
can prove did it,” MSgt Knight said. 
Ultimately Henley was the only person ever considered a formal suspect
in the case. 

Pennington hopes that she is one day able to sit in court
and see a trial and conviction and know for certain who killed her
daughters.  “I pray every day that I do.  And dear Lord's kept me here for some reason
and I am hoping that's it.  I’m hoping
one day I’ll see an arrest and see who done this for sure.”

Posted: Monday, November 5 2012, 10:21 PM CST