Kristin Chenoweth Almost Went on the 1977 Camping Trip Where Three Girl Scouts Were Murdered
Kristin Chenoweth opens up about her connection to a tragic camping trip in a new documentary.
In the upcoming ABC News documentary Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders, the Broadway star reveals she was supposed to go on a 1977 trip in Oklahoma where three Girl Scouts, ranging in age from 8 to 10, were raped and murdered. However, a last-minute sickness kept her home.
"My mom said, 'You can't go,'" Chenoweth says in the trailer for the documentary. "It has stuck with me my whole life. I could have been one of them."
In the trailer, Chenoweth reflects on the bonds she formed as a Girl Scout and refers to her friends from the organization as being "like my sisters."
She also speaks fondly about camping with the group.
"I never once thought anything bad could happen, but I came to learn what murder was," she says. Chenoweth adds that she returned to Oklahoma to help find some sort of closure and answers in honor of the victims.
"This is a story I wish I never had to tell," the actress continues. "It haunts me every day, but this story needs to be told."
The four-part documentary will reexamine the case more than 40 years after it happened.
Keeper of Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders premieres on Hulu May 24.
Watch the trailer for the project below:
According to Fox News, the identity of the attacker was never confirmed. However it appears that Gene Leroy Hart, who was arrested but later acquitted of the crime, has been linked to the case once again after evidence was re-examined using modern techniques.
"Unless something new comes up, something brought to light we are not aware of, I am convinced where I’m sitting of Hart’s guilt and involvement in this case," Mike Reed, a local sheriff, told the outlet.
Hart died in 1979 while serving a prison term related to other charges.
No matter what they discover, however, Chenoweth recognizes that there is no happy ending to the tragic story.