Public Eye helps family relaunch investigation into Oklahoma State Fair murders

Thirty-six years ago this week, two young sisters went missing after visiting the Oklahoma State Fair. Their bodies were found in a shallow grave a few weeks later, but police never found their killer.

Now, almost four decades later, with a last-minute assist from The Oklahoman's Public Eye, the investigation into the deaths of Cheryl Genzer and Lisa Pennington has new life as remaining family members launch a citizen-led signature campaign to impanel a grand jury.

Family friend Dorian Quillen has spent over 30 years helping the Pennington family investigate the sisters' deaths. She did much of the legwork preparing the grand jury documents and filed a petition last October to begin the process. The next step, if approved by a judge, would have been collecting enough signatures to impanel a grand jury that could hear new evidence.

But after she filed the petition she waited and waited. Eleven months went by without hearing a word from the Oklahoma County District Court. At that point, Quillen reached out to Public Eye for help.

The problem: A long wait becomes longer

Quillen, a former newspaper reporter-turned private investigator-turned licensed professional counselor, had expected a judge to get back with her within four days of filing the petition request in October 2022. Four days is the amount of time, according to state law, that the court can take before saying whether citizen grand jury organizers can begin collecting signatures.

In her first conversation with Public Eye, Quillen was baffled as to why the district court never responded.

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The sense of urgency was clear. Quillen, with the help of Rainy Robinson, co-star of several shows featuring Dog the Bounty Hunter and his late wife Beth Chapman, had collected a lot of information that could be used to kickstart another investigation.

The information includes leads about who was there that night, and who took part in the sisters' slayings. They now just had to convene the grand jury.

Sisters disappeared after visiting the Oklahoma State Fair

Cheryl, 25, and Lisa, 16, were last seen Sept. 23, 1987, after they had been to the fair and then had gone to a friend's house. They were reported missing several days later by their parents, Charlette and Rocky Pennington. They were found in a shallow grave, shot in the head.

While persons of interest were identified early on, no suspect was immediately charged. Three years later, prosecutors charged Lane Henley III with murder based on witness testimony. That witness later recanted, however, so Henley was released. He died in 2015.

As the Penningtons continued searching for their daughters' killer, they felt like the Oklahoma City Police Department wasn't doing enough to find the truth. Individuals who reached out to police with information about the case were told it was "closed" or that "everyone needs to let it go," according to the grand jury petition. The petition also notes the possible involvement of Joyce Gilchrist, the disgraced former chemist whom the Oklahoma City Police Department fired in 2001 after an FBI investigation that year questioned the validity of her forensic work and recommended the state re-examine her conclusions.

Rocky and Charlette Pennington died in recent years and were buried alongside Cheryl and Lisa in a small cemetery outside of Geary. Quillen said she promised Charlette before she passed last year that she would continue to do everything she could to help the family find justice.

What we found: A complicated courtroom process

When Quillen reached out to Public Eye, she'd been waiting for 11 months to hear from the Oklahoma County District Court about whether she and her fellow petitioners could start collecting signatures. With enough signatures, the grand jury would be convened to hear the points raised by the petition.

"We want an accounting of the evidence that exists. And we want to be able to put who we believe are the suspects at the scene," Robinson said. "A lot of these people have passed on, so whether there are charges that come from that, that's going to be up for a grand jury to decide."

The document was drafted by Robinson and filed in time for the 35th anniversary of the girls' deaths. Days went by with no word, even though they expected to hear something within the constitutionally mandated four days.

"No one seemed to know," Robinson said, referring to calls she made to county officials as she tried to find out what went wrong.

A citizen-led grand jury petition in Oklahoma County is extremely rare. There have only been two others requested over the past decade, according to court records. That explains why hardly anyone at the courthouse knew the procedure.

When Public Eye agreed to look into the case, we visited with officials at the courthouse to find out why their petition application went nowhere. One of the first stops was with the trial court administrator, who revealed the error.

The original filing was made at the court clerk's office, which was the correct way to begin the process. Turns out, however, a step in the process was not taken.

The petition sat dormant because no one from the clerk's office notified the chief district judge's office that it had been filed. That responsibility, we were told, is on the petitioners themselves and not the court clerk's staff. While that might be common knowledge for attorneys familiar with Oklahoma County District Court procedures, Quillen, Robinson and the family had no idea.

With this new information, Quillen refiled the petition, and it was approved within days.

"This has been the best week of this case in the entire 34 years that I've known about it," Quillen said. "I know the family's very excited. They feel hopeful for the first time in I think a very, very long time."

Have a problem with slow bureaucracy or a sketchy business? Let Public Eye help. Email us at publiceye@oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Family files grand jury petition for Oklahoma State Fair murders