OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – It’s been almost seven years since the bodies of a prostitute featured on the HBO reality series “Cathouse” and three other people were discovered inside a burning one-story brick Oklahoma City home that authorities later said was the center of a drug distribution and prostitution ring.
Come Monday, jury selection begins in the trial of two men who prosecutors say were involved in the Nov. 9, 2009, deaths of TV celebrity Brooke Phillips, Milagros Barrera, Jennifer Lynn Ermey and Casey Mark Barrientos.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Denny Edward Phillips and Russell Lee Hogshooter on six counts of first-degree murder – Brooke Phillips and Barrera were both 22 and pregnant – and one count of conspiracy. The men have pleaded not guilty.
Brooke Phillips, who wasn’t related to Denny Phillips, was among the employees featured on the cable network’s show about the Moonlite BunnyRanch, a legal brothel near Carson City, Nevada.
“There’s lasting memory,” business owner Dennis Hof said. “We just loved this girl. This was a girl with no drugs, didn’t drink hardly at all. It’s totally mindboggling. This girl who didn’t do any drugs got killed because she was in a drug house.”