INSIDE BEN WOODWARD’S PRETRIAL TESTIMONY PART ONE

CAMP SCOTT — Alright y’all, we took a little break from our pretrial transcripts, but we are officially back.

We are still on Day 2 of the pretrial proceedings, and this time we’re getting into the testimony of Ben Woodward, the Camp Scott ranger.

Woodward’s testimony took place during the afternoon court session on June 8th, 1978.

The prosecution started by asking Woodward about his history at Camp Scott. He confirmed that he had worked there for approximately three to four years and that 1977 would have been his fourth summer at the camp. When asked what his job was, Woodward confirmed that he was the camp ranger and that part of his responsibility was making sure the campgrounds were secure.

The prosecution then asked how many months out of the year Camp Scott was actually used. Woodward initially said the camp was used throughout the year for summer camp, but quickly corrected himself and said he meant weekend camping. He explained that the resident summer camp itself operated for about two months out of the year.

From there, the questioning shifted to something that reportedly happened at Camp Scott in 1976.

The prosecution asked Woodward about a reported intruder at the camp involving three counselors who were asleep. Woodward corrected that description, saying they were actually three mothers. According to Woodward, the three women were sleeping in a tent when an intruder was reported. When asked which unit this happened in, Woodward first answered Arapaho before correcting himself and saying Quapaw.

Woodward confirmed that he was notified about the incident and went to the area, but when the prosecution asked whether he actually saw anyone when he arrived, his answer was no.

The questioning then moved to something we’ve talked about before: the reported note containing a threat to kill three Girl Scouts.

Woodward was asked about the note and said something pretty important. According to his testimony, he did not know anything about the note until after the murders. When asked who reported the note to him, Woodward said no one had. He said he first heard about it on the local news. He also testified that he did not know where the note had originally been found.

From there, the prosecution began asking about preparations for the 1977 camping season.

Woodward confirmed that he was responsible for putting up the tents at Camp Scott, although he sometimes hired people to help him. For the summer of 1977, Woodward said he had hired L. Woodring, a man named Ray whose last name he did not know, and Ray’s wife. When asked where Woodring lived, Woodward answered Big Holler. According to Woodward, setting up all of the tents took approximately four to five days. He confirmed they were put up before the precamp campout and said they finished the tents on the same day the counselors arrived, which would have been June 5th.

The prosecution then started digging into what was stored around the different units.

Woodward explained that when the tents were not being used, they were stored in the kitchen closet area of each unit. He also confirmed that tools such as rakes and shovels were kept around the unit kitchens, along with lockers. Then came the questions about rope and tape. When asked whether rope was normally stored in any of the unit kitchens, Woodward said no, although he did say that binding twine was kept in some of them.

The prosecution then asked whether any bookbinding tape was kept on the campgrounds. Woodward apparently wasn’t sure what they meant, so the prosecutor described it as something similar to duct tape, except black. Woodward said he kept duct tape in his shop, but the duct tape he had was silver. When specifically asked whether he had ever kept any black duct tape on the campgrounds, Woodward answered no.

Then the questioning turned back to rope.

Woodward confirmed that rope was needed when putting up the tents and said they would usually order a new spool of rope about once a year. When asked where that spool was kept, Woodward initially said it was kept at his place before explaining that he kept it in his truck while putting up the tents. The prosecution then asked whether he had used all of that rope while setting up the tents during the summer of 1977.

Woodward said no. However, he went on to explain that the remaining rope was eventually used to rope off the area.

The prosecution then shifted to the lighting situation around Camp Scott, asking Woodward what kind of lights were available on the grounds once it got dark. Woodward explained that there was a pole light in the yard near the staff house. At that time, there was also another light outside the front of his house. According to Woodward, those were the only two outside lights on the campgrounds. He was then asked about the latrines, or bathrooms, located within each unit and whether they had lanterns. Woodward said yes. He explained that the lanterns were normally lit at night, except when it was raining. Because the lanterns could get wet, they would sometimes be taken down and put away during bad weather. When asked whose responsibility it was to make sure those lanterns were lit, Woodward said that responsibility fell to the leader of each unit.

From there, the prosecution briefly asked Woodward about his family. He confirmed that his wife’s name was Martha. The questioning then returned to Ray, the man Woodward previously testified he had hired to help put up the tents before the 1977 camp season. Woodward was asked whether he knew where Ray lived. He said yes and explained that Ray lived in a trailer house along Highway 82, almost to Salina. Woodward also testified that, by the time of this hearing in 1978, Ray was working as a police officer for the Locust Grove Police Department.

The prosecution then began asking Woodward about another trailer house along Highway 82. They asked whether Woodward had relatives living in a trailer there in June of 1977. Woodward said no. When the prosecution asked whether they were friends instead, Woodward responded: “Not of last year, the year before I did.” The prosecution continued, asking whether that trailer had been located near one of the bridges. Woodward said it was near Wildcat Williams’ place. When asked who had lived in the trailer, Woodward identified them as Jimmy Bryant and Connie Bryant, along with their two children.

At this point, the questioning may seem like it’s bouncing around a little bit, but we’re going to keep following the testimony exactly where it takes us. The prosecution is establishing locations, people Woodward knew around the area, who had been on the campgrounds before camp opened, and what Camp Scott actually looked like after dark.

The prosecution then shifted its focus specifically to the Kiowa Unit, and more importantly, the visibility between Tent 7 and the counselors’ tent. Woodward was asked whether there was something obstructing the view between the two tents, and he said yes. The prosecution then showed Woodward a diagram depicting the location of Tent 7 and the counselors’ tent. However, Woodward pointed out that the diagram was not exactly correct.

He was then asked that if someone were standing at the counselors’ tent and wanted to actually see Tent 7, would they have to move southwest from the counselors’ tent to get a clear view? Woodward disagreed with that direction, explaining that they would actually have to move a little east in order to see Tent 7. The prosecution then suggested that, either way, a person would have to move one direction or another because the trees obstructed the view. Woodward began to correct that statement, saying: “No, the kitchen unit is the main…” Before he could finish, the prosecuting attorney interrupted and asked whether the kitchen was also in the way. Woodward clarified: “The kitchen is the main obstruction.”

So, according to Woodward’s testimony, there was not a clear line of sight between the counselors’ tent and Tent 7. And while trees may have played a role in limiting visibility, Woodward specifically identified the Kiowa kitchen as the main obstruction blocking the view.

He was then asked whether there were also trees obstructing the view between the Kiowa kitchen and Tent 7. Woodward said there were some small trees in that area, but according to him, they were not nearly as much of an obstruction as the unit kitchen itself. The prosecution then asked Woodward approximately how far the counselors’ tent was from Tent 7. Woodward said he had never actually measured the distance. When the prosecution suggested that it was roughly the distance of half a football field, Woodward responded: “Oh, it’s probably a couple hundred feet away.”

So, based on Woodward’s testimony, not only was there no direct line of sight between the counselors’ tent and Tent 7 because of the kitchen, but the two tents were also separated by what he estimated to be “ a couple of hundred of feet.”

The prosecution then asked Woodward about the pre-camp campout and whether any thefts had been reported to him during that time. Woodward said no. He was also asked whether anyone had reported anything that made him believe there could have been a prowler on the campgrounds. Again, Woodward said no.

The questioning then turned to another incident involving one of the tents before the June 12th camp session. Woodward confirmed that he discovered a torn or missing flap on one of the tents. When asked to describe what he found, he said he believed it was Tent 5 and that the flap used as the tent’s door had been cut off. The prosecution asked whether weather could have caused the flap to tear away. Woodward said no. He explained that it was a brand-new tent and said that, in his experience, he had never known weather to rip one of those flaps off.

When asked how large the missing piece of canvas was, Woodward estimated it was approximately four to five feet. The prosecution then asked whether he searched the campgrounds to see if anyone had the missing piece in their possession.

Woodward explained that no one was around when he discovered it, but said he did ask about it when the counselors returned. When asked what day he discovered the missing flap, Woodward testified that it was Saturday.

So, according to Woodward, there had been no reported thefts or prowler activity during the pre-camp campout. But by Saturday, he had discovered that a roughly four-to-five-foot section had been cut from the door flap of what he believed was Tent 5, and he did not believe weather was responsible.

The prosecution then asked Woodward where he stayed during the weekend preceding the opening of camp. Woodward said he was at home and confirmed that he was there for the entire weekend.

From there, the questioning turned back to security at Camp Scott.

Woodward was asked what security policies were in place through the Magic Empire Girl Scout Council while camp was in session. He explained: “The security is mainly just to keep trespassers off the land.” When asked whether he had ever experienced problems with trespassers, Woodward said there had been very little trouble. He explained that most of the issues he did have occurred around Sycamore Valley, located at the other end of the property where there was a swimming hole. According to Woodward, he frequently had to run people away from that area.

The prosecution then asked about security when camp wasn’t in session. Woodward confirmed that the buildings were kept locked. When asked who had keys to those buildings, Woodward said he did. He also confirmed that Camp Director Barbara Day had her own set of keys. The prosecution then asked whether Woodward kept his keys on him at all times. He said no. Instead, he kept his keys in his truck. When asked whether he had a spare set somewhere in case his keys were lost, Woodward said no. If something happened to his set, he explained that he would have to get Barbara Day’s keys.

So, according to Woodward’s testimony, access to the locked buildings was fairly limited. He and Barbara Day were the two people he identified as having keys, with Woodward’s own set normally being kept inside his truck.

And this is where we’re going to leave off for now with Ben Woodward’s pretrial testimony.

There is still more to get through, and as y’all can probably already tell, his testimony is giving us a much clearer picture of what Camp Scott looked like leading up to that night, including the security, lighting, visibility around Tent 7, and some of the unusual things happening around the camp before the murders.

We’ll pick back up right here as we continue working our way through the 1978 pretrial transcripts, one page at a time.

Source: Official Pretrial Transcripts