Cousins Ophelia Kimberly Bernal, 18, and Angela Faith Harragarra, 17, were found murdered in Carson County, Texas on December 9th, 1983. The case remains unresolved four decades later.
On December 8th, 1983, Ophelia and Angela were hitchhiking from Oklahoma City back to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Angela's mother resided in Oklahoma City, and her father resided in Albuquerque as did Ophelia's parents.
They were last seen in Oklahoma near I-40 and Council Road in Oklahoma City on Thursday, December 8, 1983.1
In Texas, however, the girls were last seen with three men near Groom later in the day. Witnesses said the men were not from the area.
Groom News, December 15, 1983
In the early morning hours of Dec. 9th, employees of Kotara Cattle Company found the bodies of the two Indigenous girls dead in a bar ditch near the feedlot, about 5 miles north of I-40. The employees reported their discovery to authorities by 8:20 a.m.
One was nude, the other partially clothed. One girl was tied up.
Both girls had also been sexually assaulted and had bite marks on their bodies. The scene was described as being particularly brutal.
"It was a gangland, brutal-type death," said Carson County Sheriff Connie Reed.
A news article from a White Deer newspaper dated Dec. 15, 1983 writes that authorities initially thought the girls had been shot in the head. However, an autopsy performed by Amarillo pathologist Dr. Ralph R. Erdmann showed that the pair were killed by a sharp blow to the head by a hexagonal blunt instrument like a nail-bar.23
Dr. Erdmann gave his estimated time of death for the girls at around 2:00 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 9, 1983.
White Deer News, December 15, 1983
The weapon used had been used on their heads with such force that it made entry and exit wounds like a powerful firearm, said Sheriff Reed.
Sheriff Reed confirmed that considerable strength was required to deliver such damaging blows.
According to the White Deer coverage, Sheriff Reed believed that the girls were killed at the scene and their bodies dragged away from the roadway on FM 2880 near the fence line.
It was initially thought that the two girls were older than their actual ages, with Reed stating he thought they were in their late twenties or early thirties.
Groom News, December 15, 1983
The older of the two women was found face down with her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound. Her clothes had been stripped to her ankles.
The second woman was found face up, with blue jeans, a blouse, white socks and no shoes. Grass stains on the woman's socks led authorities to believe she had put up a struggle.
In an effort to identify the two dead women, Sheriff Reed held a news conference on Dec. 13, 1983. He gave media photos of the deceased women and their descriptions.4
Three suspects
He also released three composite drawings of potential suspects: three men that had been seen with the two women at a restaurant in Groom the night before.5
A lucky identification
Not long after the photos were released to the media, a man living in the small community of Howardwick saw the photos while watching the news and recognized them as former neighbors from when he lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico.6
With this information, the family of the women were contacted and positive identifications were made.
Angela Harragarra was 17-year-old and was attending high school in Albuquerque.
Her cousin, Ophelia Bernal, was 18-years-old and attending a beauty school in Albuquerque.
On December 23, 1983, the OSBI made a plea to the public for any information regarding the death of the girls.1
Suspects
Soon, two possible suspects emerged through proximity and opportunity.
On December 5th, 1983, Ronnie Joe Miller and Bobby Gene Raiburn escaped from Lexington Correctional Center located in Cleveland County, Oklahoma.7
Raiburn, 41, was serving a 15-year sentence for auto theft and escape by force. Miller, 30, was serving 50 years for assault with a dangerous weapon.
Lexington to Groom
Lexington and Groom, Texas are about 258 miles apart if one goes up to Oklahoma City and then head west straight down I-40. It is believed that the two escapees are responsible for the murder of the two girls.
The two men and a woman were apprehended in Amarillo on December 14th, 1983, at the Travel Lodge Motel at I-40 East & Paramount. Their arrests came five days after the bodies of Ophelia and Angela were found in Carson County.
Ronald Joe Miller
Miller was convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon in Carter County, Oklahoma. His conviction stemmed from a November 1981 incident where he threatened two sheriff's deputies with a .357 Magnum pistol.
The deputies had a warrant for Miller's arrest and were also searching for him in connection with a stolen van. They arrived at a property with a trailer and went inside the trailer to check for Miller. Upon entering, the deputies were faced with Miller, who was pointing the firearm at them and threatening them to get out or he would kill them.
The deputies retreated and called in additional law officers for back up. After a two-hour stand-off, Miller surrendered. He was originally sentenced to 50 years in prison, which was later modified to 20-years on appeal.8
Miller became a suspect when an informant at the maximum security unit in McAllester, Oklahoma told law enforcement that Miller had discussed the murders with him.9
The primary motive for the murders was the bizarre sexual fantasies had by Miller, the informant said.
Special Crimes Investigator Modeina Holmes was called in by Carson County authorities to assist in the investigation due to the complexity of the murders.
Through the work of Holmes, a bite mark on one of the women's back was matched to Ronnie Joe Miller.9 In addition, hair samples taken from the bodies also matched with Miller's.
Carson County District Attorney David McCoy was preparing to bring Miller back to Panhandle to file a murder charge against him when he learned that the inmate had been killed.
On August 12, 1984, fellow inmates at the McAllester prison tied clothes hangers to Miller's neck and then pulled, breaking his neck. The reason given for Miller's slaying was an income tax scam being run at the prison by inmates.9
In a press conference called by Sheriff Reed in August 1984, McCoy told media representatives that Miller had been their leading suspect in the double homicide and was now dead. He also shared that a second suspect, Raiburn, was still under investigation.
It's unknown if any of the evidence still exists or if the bite marks were tested for DNA.
Bobby Gene Raiburn
Bobby Gene Raiburn finished out his original sentences and died in 2014 surrounded by his grandchildren10.
No one has ever been held responsible for the murders of Ophelia Kimberly Bernal and Angela Faith Harragarra.
Groom, Texas
Lawsuits and arrests
Amid a litany of escapes throughout the summer of 1983, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections began a new push to seek out and prosecute the individuals who facilitated the escapes.
As part of the push, Oklahoma authorities filed charges against 20-year-old Patricia Klingenburg of Oklahoma City.11
She was arrested along with Raiburn and Miller in Amarillo, Texas on Dec. 14, 1983. Prison officials said Klingenburg helped the two men escape from the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center on Dec. 5, 1983.
Klingenburg was jailed in Amarillo until her extradition to Cleveland County to face a felony charge of assisting a prisoner to escape.
The parents of both girls filed a $7,010,000 lawsuit against the Oklahoma Corrections Department in December 1985.12 In the lawsuit, the parents sought to hold the agency responsible for the deaths of their daughters at the hands of two escaped convicts.
Despite the pieces of evidence linking the escaped convicts and the two dead women, the case is termed a cold case and remains open due to lack of arrests.
Ophelia & Angela
Mary Ophelia Kimberly Bernal was born October 18th, 1965 in Enid, Oklahoma to Mildred Bernal Watson and Anthony Bernal. She was of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe.
Angela Faith Harragarra was born June 24th, 1966 in Washington, D.C. to Vernon and Rosella Harragarra. She was of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe.
Sources
Footnotes
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Oklahoman, OSBI asks for help in slayings," published December 23, 1983 ↩ ↩2
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Groom News, "Sheriff's Dept Investigating Double Murders," published December 15, 1983 ↩
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White Deer News, "Murdered Girls identified, burial in tribal cemetery pg 2," published December 22, 1983 ↩
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Groom News, "Sheriff's Dept Investigating Double Murderspublished December 15, 1983 ↩
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White Deer News, "Identity of murdered women found in county remain mystery,," published December 15, 1983 ↩
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White Deer News, "Murdered girls identified, burial in tribal cemetery" published December 22, 1983. ↩
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The Oklahoman, "2 Lexington inmates escape," published December 6, 1983 ↩
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Groom News, "County murder suspect killed in Oklahoma prison," published August 30, 1984 ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Oklahoman, "Corrections to Enforce Law," published December 23, 1983 ↩
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Oklahoman, "Parents of slain teens sue prison system, published December 10, 1985 ↩