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From Tragedy at Belknap Bridge To Triumph at “The Bar Nothin’”
How Cheerleader’s Death Led to the Inspiring Story of Legendary Quarter Horse: ‘Sooner Superstar’
On Wednesday evening, October 2nd, 1996, Heather Rich, angrily left home without her parents’ knowledge to meet another 17-year-old Waurika, Oklahoma High School senior named Joshua Bagwell. An argument with her mother (over a 300-dollar telephone bill) prompted the free-spirited Rich to bolt for the back window. And that was the last night Duane and Gail Rich saw their daughter alive.
A seemingly-typical, turned-edgy high school get-together involving alcohol resulted in Rich’s rape and subsequent murder. The investigation, prosecution, and conviction of Bagwell and two other friends — ultimately found the trio collectively responsible for the crimes that occurred that night.
Investigative Journalist Pamela Coloff (in the July 2002 edition of Texas Monthly) — revealed that a seven-year-old girl first identified Rich’s remains on an evening cattle-checking drive with her grandfather, a local rancher. His thought had been that the corpse was that of a…
