Sen. Carri Hicks, D-OKC, authored the bill, in response to the case of two sisters Cheryl Genzer and Lisa Pennington, who disappeared from an Oklahoma State Fair in 1987. The sisters, 25 and 17 at the time, were found in a shallow grave in Oklahoma City.
Their cases, along with more than 1,000 others, have never been solved, according to Hicks and the non-profit Oklahoma Cold Cases.
"People deserve answers, and so this will create a pathway for them to be able to seek those answers from law enforcement in Oklahoma and hopefully lead to closing these decades-long investigations," Hicks said in a statement.
The new law takes effect Nov. 1 and gives relatives a formal way to request a review of their missing loved ones' cases, sets accountability timelines for the review and mandates that law enforcement give relatives updates explaining the investigation's findings. It also requires investigators who were not part of the original case to review it using modern tools.
If law enforcement decides no further investigation is needed, according to Hicks, the case will not be revisited for at least five years.
The passing of SB1636 has been applauded by activists in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Crisis and was a topic brought up during MMIP Awareness Day at the Oklahoma State Capitol on May 5.
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