Who Is This Man and What Does He Know?

Okla. cops try to ID man seen near murder site moments before gunshots rang out.

ByABC News
June 16, 2008, 1:33 PM

June 16, 2008— -- He was standing in the middle of the dirt road: a tall Native American with a long ponytail tucked beneath a baseball cap.

His white pickup, a single cab Chevy or Ford with a chrome strip running down the side and Oklahoma plates, was blocking traffic, forcing cars to pull around the truck.

Minutes later, gunshots rang out.

Authorities are desperate to identify the man who witnesses reported standing on the road by his truck near the spot in Weleetka, Okla., where two girls were found fatally shot on the evening of Sunday, June 8.

Elementary school best friends Taylor Paschel-Placker, 13, and Skyla Whitaker, 11, had each been shot multiple times in the head and chest with two different guns as they took a walk along a dirt road near Taylor's house during a sleepover.

For now, the man is only considered a "person of interest" or possible witness to a double murder that has left rural Okfuskee County, Okla., on edge and police searching for a suspect and motive in the seemingly senseless crime.

"Several people came forward who drove by this person," Jessica Brown, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Special Investigation, told ABC News. "He was actually standing in the middle of the road and his pickup was parked in the middle of the road. That raised some eyebrows."

On Friday, a forensic artist used eye witness descriptions to draw the composite sketch of the man. He is described as a Native American, possibly partially white, with a slender build and a long ponytail that Brown said hangs to the small of his back.

The release of the sketch release has produced about 30 calls from the public. Brown said authorities are tracking down the leads and reinterviewing people based on the new information. "It's very slow going, but it's progressing," she said.

Authorities last week announced that two different guns were used in the killings, a discovery that lead to speculation by police that more than one person may have been responsible for the killings. The reward for information leading to an arrest and convictions in the case has already topped $30,000.