Kristin Chenoweth Has An Eerie Connection To A Famous Crime

We know Kristin Chenoweth not only for her Broadway career but also for her acting work, including "Frozen," "Pushing Daisies," and the musical TV series "Schmigadoon!" All this time in the spotlight has given Chenoweth some incredible stories. She actually went on two dates with Prince, but she didn't exactly know what the specifics were. "It happened. I dated [Prince] twice ... I didn't know it was a date because it's Prince," she said on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." Prince isn't the only musician that Chenoweth has connected with. She also has a special bond with Ariana Grande, thanks to their time together on "The Voice," and Grande said that Chenoweth inspired her as a performer.

Chenoweth has also faced some scary things throughout her career. She was filming an episode of CBS' "The Good Wife" when a piece of lighting equipment fell on her, leaving her with serious injuries. But Chenoweth also had a near scrape with tragedy in her past.

Kristin Chenoweth has a connection to the horrific Oklahoma Girl Scout murders of 1977. She was slated to attend Camp Scott, located near Locust Grove, Oklahoma when she was a Girl Scout, but she got sick and had to stay home from camp, according to the New York Post.

That summer, three young campers –- Lori Lee Farmer, Michelle Guse, and Denise Milner -– were raped and murdered. A storm had broken out and the campers ran to their tents for shelter and stayed there. The three girls, ages 8-10, were found in the morning by a camp counselor, who saw a body while she was walking at 6 a.m., per The Oklahoman. Other campers heard screams in the night but didn't know what to do and fell back asleep.

The case was never solved. Many thought Gene Leroy Hart, a fugitive in the area, was responsible. He had escaped prison for previous crimes of rape and kidnapping, per the St. Petersburg Times, but the jury acquitted him of the crime. Nevertheless, Hart returned to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary to complete his sentence for his previous crimes. He died in prison two years later at 35 years old of a heart attack, per the Lawrence Journal-World. So he died before there was any closure on the case.

Kristin Chenoweth's proximity to the Oklahoma Girl Scout murders continues to haunt her. When Hulu created the docuseries about the horrific event, called "Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders," Chenoweth was a key figure. She discussed how the story followed her. "This is a story I wish I never had to tell," she said, per CNN. "It haunts me every day." She went on, "I never once thought anything bad could happen. But I came to learn what murder was." She said, via the New York Post, "I remember I should have been on that trip, but I had gotten sick, and mom said, 'You can't go.' It stuck with me my whole life. I could have been one of them."

Chenoweth hosted the investigation series "Keeper of the Ashes," but this was the wrong move for some. In May 2022, The Daily Beast wrote a scathing review of Chenoweth's presence in the show, claiming that she was taking a lead role in a tragedy that really had nothing to do with her. "Chenoweth's presence is awkward to the point of tasteless, and it does much to undercut this true-crime affair," the article stated. Tasteless or not, it's undoubtedly a crucial part of Chenoweth's life story.