Today is Monday, April 6th, 2020.

On this day in 1978, a team of Oklahoma law enforcement agents arrested 34 year old Jean Leroy Hart.

Hart was the main suspect for the notorious Oklahoma Girl Scout murders.

The search to apprehend him constituted the largest manhunt in

Oklahoma State history.

Welcome to today in True Crime, a parcast original. Due to the graphic nature of today's crimes, listener discretion is advised. Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13.

Today we're covering the search for suspected murderer Jean Leroy Hart.

Let's go back to the afternoon of April 6th, 1978, just after 3 p.m.

The 8-team crew The Eight team crew of Oklahoma State Bureau agents picked through a leaf-strewn path in the dense woods of Aedare County. They were investigating a tip that suggested Jean Leroy Hart was hiding in a cabin somewhere

amidst the endless trees.

But they didn't have much hope. The tip was just the latest in a never-ending sequence of

dead ends and false leads. By April 6th, the search for Hart had gone on for 10 long months.

In that time, the Oklahoma State Bureau had recruited Psychics, Super Search Dogs, and ex-Vietnam War veterans

to aid in their pursuit.

reward funds had been raised, depleted, and raised again.

The FBI had even provided the Bureau

with hundreds of additional agents, all to locate

heart, all to no avail.

Still the agents kept going.

They knew it was worth it. While it wasn't certain Hart had murdered

those girls, one thing was undeniable. Gene Leroy Hart was a monster.

He first came to the attention of law enforcement in 1966.

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