(Photo)

Farrah Rose Rauch, also known as Fae-ven, died at age 17 on Feb. 28. Farrah had a huge heart for people. Her mother was Heather Sue Rauch (Hausmann-Heaton) and her father was Steven Rauch. Survived are her siblings; Jett Steven Rauch and Ty Daniel Rauch. Grandparents were Rosalie Rauch, Douglas Peter Rauch, Renee Hausmann (husband Gary) and Jeff Baker. Farrah has many aunts, uncles, cousins and great cousins in four territories of the United States: west coast, midwest, east coast and Florida.

Viewing of her beautiful well-known face and “Celebrating Farrah’s Life” will be on March 10 at the Old Dana College Campus Clock Tower Building housed now by the most amazing Christ Lutheran Church Campus located at 2905 College St., Blair. Service begins at 2 p.m. and likely, quite the event with music, prayer, a beautiful message by Pastor Mark and a mini-marathon 12-step meeting on the side. Come one and come all and bid farewell to a most blessed soul! We love you Farrah!

Farrah was born in Santa Barbara, Calif. She attended the Santa Barbara Oaks Parent Workshop and then Monte Vista. She loved to kayak, surf, skateboard, going on Bill’s boat and taking trips to all the Islands off the Santa Barbara coast. She loved swimming at Red Rock, tidepools and hiking all the local Santa Barbara trails and running around Castle Park. She was a star hockey player and had a mean face-off! She was a member of Ocean Hills Church on the Beach and loved having birthday parties at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

She moved to Blair in 2009 and attended West, Arbor, Otte and Blair High School. She continued soccer in Blair and was accepted into the Girls Show Choir. She loved to snow ski and zipline at Mt. Crescent for free, as her dad was a ski instructor there. Farrah enjoyed Lake Okeechobee, Adventureland and road trips with her best friends and brothers; to east coast, west coast and everywhere in between. She loved the spas and chai lattes with her mom and many other adventures in life.

She developed her music and was becoming quite the singer-songwriter, finding an avenue to express her inner emotions and challenges in her life. She loved to play video games with Jett and the two of them became best of friends. Farrah will be missed and never forgotten every single day; forever while we are on this earth. I know Rosie, Percy, Nari and Fireheart will miss her dearly, too.

For those unable to attend, the service will be available live at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJGEYJ_YOmpyYdf4A6a6Abg

#2-By Leeanna Ellis - editor@enterprisepub.com 03/09/2021

The Muskogee Police Department released additional details Monday of an officer-involved shooting that resulted in the death of two Blair 17-year-olds in Oklahoma.

Farrah Rauch was killed by police and Joseph Dugan took his own life after they ran from officers who responded to an attempted carjacking and the report of a stolen vehicle Feb. 28.

The couple had run away from Blair on Feb. 25.

Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee released the PowerPoint presentation first to the families, then two groups of councilmen and outreach partners before releasing it to the media.

Deputy Chief Chad Farmer played a 911 call about an attempted carjacking and a second call about the theft of a truck. A few minutes after the second call, Muskogee police officer Evan Hendricks spotted the truck pulled over to the side of the road.

The teens drove off and a high-speed pursuit began on U.S. 69 north of Muskogee just past the Arkansas River. The chase took several turns before the suspects abandoned the truck near the intersection of North 17th and Lenapah streets.

The teens then tried to run from police. Hendricks pursued Rauch, before being joined by officer B.J. Hudson. An exchange of gunfire followed.

A video included in the presentation stops short of the fatal shot that ended Rauch's life. But it did show the girl face down on the side of the road when officers asked her several times to show her hands and “drop the gun.”

Rauch eventually raised up and pointed a weapon at officers.

“I don't know if she was down because she was hit,” Farmer said. “I don't know if she was down because she was unconscious for a minute or if she was just trying to bait them to coming up there so she could shoot one of them.

“She had a shell casing next to her on the ground. We don't know if she fired during this or not, it's hard to tell on the audio and officers didn't remember.”

Dugan headed in the opposite direction and into a heavily-wooded area. He was pursued by other officers and followed by a Muskogee County Emergency Medical Service drone. Dugan eventually took his own life.

“The brush was so thick we had trouble following him, on foot or with the drone,” Farmer said. “We had a K9 unit go in and he had trouble. He's on the track, he could smell him, but he can't figure out which way to get through.”

Rauch and Dugan were each carrying handguns. Rauch had a 9mm Glock that was stolen from Dugan's father, according to police. Dugan had a 9 mm Sig Sauer, which was stolen from Kennesaw, Ga.

An AK-47 rifle and ammunition was recovered from a truck stolen the couple had stolen in Arkansas. That gun was also allegedly stolen from Dugan's father.

Also included in the presentation was a timeline of events leading up to the incident.

• Feb. 25 — Both juveniles were reported missing to the Blair Police Department by their families. They were reported to be in a 2005 Nissan Sentra that was stolen from a family member.

• Feb. 26 — According to a family member, the juveniles were stopped in Florida by an unknown police agency, but fled the scene before they could be taken into custody.

• Feb. 27 — The juveniles stole a Ford F250 in Tifton, Ga. That vehicle was recovered near the location of the stolen vehicle in Arkansas on March 3.

• Feb. 28 — Sometime midday, the juveniles stole a gray 2005 Dodge pickup in London, Ark. The vehicle was located in the 3500 block of North 24th Street by Muskogee police officers on March 1 before it was reported stolen.

The four officers involved in the incident were James Folsom, a 16-year veteran; Shawn Brown, a 15-year veteran; Hudson, an eight-year veteran; and Hendricks, who has been a police officer for four years and is in his first year with Muskogee police.

The Muskogee Police Department Investigations Division will investigate the shooting, prepare a report and submit it with all of the digital evidence to the Muskogee County District Attorney for review. He will determine whether the shooting was justified.

Reporter Ronn Rowland of the Muskogee Phoenix contributed to this article.

#3-Posted Monday, March 10, 2021 Pilot-Tribune

By Leeanna Ellis - editor@enterprisepub.com

The father of a Blair girl killed by police after they said she shot at them is showing forgiveness to the officers involved and hoping his daughter's death can be used as a teaching moment to help others.

Farrah Rauch and Joseph Dugan, both 17 and juniors at Blair High School, died following an officer-involved shooting Feb. 28 in Muskogee, Okla.

Steven Rauch has invited the four officers and Police Chief Johnny Teehee to his daughter Farrah's memorial, which is 2 p.m. Wednesday at Christ Lutheran Church on the former Dana College campus.

Steven said he wants to apologize to them for his daughter putting them in that position.

“They had no idea this was a 17-year-old girl,” he said. “They were devastated … I don't want them to suffer for the rest of their life. I can't imagine what they have to live with and still do their job.”

Farrah and her boyfriend, Joseph, ran away Feb. 25. They traveled to Florida to Arkansas and then to Oklahoma.

At approximately 3 p.m. Feb. 28, police responded to an attempted carjacking near the 2200 block of North 24th Street in Muskogee.

A short time later, a truck was reported stolen in the same area of the attempted carjacking. Muskogee police spotted the vehicle and attempted to stop it. The driver of the vehicle refused to stop and led officers on a short chase before crashing. Farrah and Joseph fled the vehicle.

Officers chased the suspects. That's when Farrah reportedly started shooting at the officers and they returned fire, fatally injuring her.

Joseph continued running. Police used a drone to locate him in a heavily wooded area. As officers approached, the boy took his own life with a single self-inflicted gunshot.

Steven said he has learned at least two of the officers and Teehee will attend the memorial service. He has asked Teehee to speak.

“He's got a message for us and we have a message for him,” Steven said.

Teehee told Tulsa TV station News On 6 he was “shocked” when he got the invitation. He never expected for Steven to invite him and the four officers involved in the shooting to come and speak at Farrah's funeral.

“To me it's something you have to rely on God to do. Obviously, there's a message that somebody in the family, or in that community, needs to hear, and God needs me to be the messenger,” Teehee said.

As a young girl, Steven said Farrah was “a happy, fun, adventurous thinking kid.”

But after her parents' divorce in 2012, issues followed. For the last four years, Steven said Farrah struggled with depression, self harm and addiction.

“She's been seeking freedom from deep, dark depression of cutting and self harm and getting lost in the peer pressure,” Steven said.

Steven said what happened to Farrah can be used to help other teenagers in similar situations.

“Her life ended for a purpose,” Steven said.

Teens don't have to get to the point that Farrah did, he said. Instead, he said they can make a choice now to seek help, start listening to others and be honest.

Steven has also invited those who attend Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Al-Anon to attend Farrah's memorial and support each other.

“If we can save one life, Farrah has performed a miracle in this world,” he said.

#4- Two Blair High students die in Oklahoma shootout

Omaha World-Herald, Kevin Cole Mar 2, 2021

Two Blair High School students have been identified as the teenagers who died in a shootout Sunday in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

In a message to Blair High parents, Blair Community Schools Superintendent Randall Gilson said that two 17-year-old juniors at the high school, Farrah Rauch and Joseph Dugan, had died.

Muskogee police officers responded to an attempted carjacking at 3 p.m. Sunday, according to Officer Lynn Hamlin, a Muskogee police spokeswoman. A short time later, a pickup truck was reported stolen in the same area of the attempted carjacking.

Officers spotted the stolen pickup, and after a short pursuit, the pickup crashed and the occupants ran off. Officers chased the two on foot, Hamlin said, and Rauch started shooting at the officers. The officers then shot and killed Rauch, Hamlin said.

Dugan kept running. Officers set up a perimeter, surrounding him.

Police used a drone to find Dugan in a heavily wooded area. As officers began to approach him, Hamlin said, Dugan fatally shot himself.

Four Muskogee police officers were placed on paid leave following the shooting, Hamlin said. One of the officers sustained a minor injury to his hand as a result of a fall during a foot chase.

“We are aware of additional contact with law enforcement in at least one other state, and crimes that occurred in other states as well,” Hamlin said. “We are currently working on confirming that information through the states of Florida and Arkansas.”

Gilson, the Blair superintendent, said, “We are all deeply saddened by this tragic loss. We shared this news with high school students (Monday) at school.”

Funeral services for Dugan will be 10:30 a.m. Friday at Reach Church, 13121 County Road 16 in Blair.

Gilson said students at the high school were given the opportunity to visit with their teachers and a school counselor. He asked parents to “be sensitive to any changes in your child’s behavior over the next few days and encourage your child to express his or her feelings.”

He also asked the families in Blair Community Schools to keep the families of the teens in their thoughts.

If students need additional help, they may contact school counselors or grief counselors at Arbor Family Counseling at 402-330-0960, Gilson said.

#5- Printed in the March 11, 2021 Omaha World-Herald

Police Chief Johnny Teehee of Muskogee, Oklahoma, speaks at the funeral of 17-year-old Farrah Rauch. The Blair teen was killed in a shootout with police Feb. 28.

Jessica Wade, World-Herald Staff Writer

(photo)

As the Oklahoma police chief walked to the lectern of a church in Blair Wednesday, he paused to hug the father of the teen who died at his officers’ hands.

Chief Johnny Teehee of Muskogee, Oklahoma, was in Blair to speak at the funeral of Steven Rauch’s daughter, 17-year-old Farrah Rauch.

It had been 10 days since Farrah Rauch shot at officers and was killed in the returned gunfire.

Receiving an invitation from family members to speak at the victim’s funeral is something Teehee had never experienced in his 35-year career in law enforcement.

“To reach out and invite (us) to the service and say, ‘we forgive you.’ ... When he’s willing to do that, then I have an obligation to be here and speak,” Teehee said.

Steven Rauch said Tuesday that the officers “were doing their jobs, they’re in pain and they had no idea that they were even teens.”

The deadly pursuit and shootout in Muskogee began after officers responded to an attempted carjacking Feb. 28.

Officers spotted the stolen pickup, and after a short pursuit, the pickup crashed and Farrah Rauch and her 17-year-old boyfriend, Joseph Dugan, ran.

Officers chased the two on foot, and Farrah Rauch started shooting at the officers. The officers then shot and killed her.

Dugan kept running and eventually turned his gun on himself, fatally shooting himself.

Four Muskogee police officers were placed on paid leave following the shooting. Steven Rauch invited all four officers and Teehee to his daughter’s funeral.

At the lectern, Farrah Rauch’s casket a few feet away, Teehee expressed his condolences to the teen’s family from himself and his department.

He said his officers were touched by the invitation, but “they just didn’t think they were ready to do this.”

One of the officers spoke with Teehee before he headed to Blair.

“They said, ‘Chief, I’m not going to be able to do this, but will you let this family know that I love them, and we hold no ill will?’”

Teehee spoke about forgiveness.

Father of Blair teen killed by police in Oklahoma shootout invites police chief to funeral

Father of Blair teen killed by police in Oklahoma shootout invites police chief to funeral

Jessica Wade

“What is the message that we can take from this young life, that we can carry on from this point on and revert back to that?” Teehee asked. “To me that message is forgiveness.”

Steven Rauch has said that if his daughter could give a message to teens her age, “it’s that you don’t have to go this far. You can stop right now, turn to someone you love and trust, tell them your secret, tell them your plan.”

Teehee said that message resonated with him.

“I thought, ‘How better way than for us to carry on and talk about forgiveness?’ I’m going to carry this message ... from the time I walk out this door, I’m going to use that,” he said.

Teehee then left the lectern, hugged Steven Rauch again and sat down.

Near the end of the ceremony, Steven Rauch rose to speak.

When he arrived at the church before the funeral, the electricity in the whole town had gone out.

The director led Steven Rauch to the casket and opened it.

“I think I’ve cried more then than I’ve ever cried in my whole life,” Steven Rauch said. “I started holding her hands, and touching her hair, and then I started talking to her. All of a sudden, the electricity went on.”

His daughter touched so many hearts, Steven Rauch said, but was in a “dark cycle.”

“She always did everything to the fullest, and unfortunately she took to the dark side and she got caught up in that,” he said. “I think she couldn’t break that insanity cycle of doing the same thing over and over again. I know Farrah has it now. She gets it now.

“I think she said let’s turn the electricity on now, they’re ready.”

#6-By Leeanna Ellis - editor@enterprisepub.com March 12, 2021

An Oklahoma police chief felt compelled to do what he could to help the family of a Blair teenager heal after she was killed by his officers.

Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee spoke during Wednesday's funeral for 17-year-old Farrah Rauch at Christ Lutheran Church in Blair. Rauch and her boyfriend, Joseph Dugan, also of Blair, died following an officer-involved shooting Feb. 28 in Muskogee. Dugan took his own life.

Teehee's presence at the service was described by Pastor Mark Degner as “highly unusual and unprecedented” after Farrah's father, Steven, showed forgiveness to Teehee and the four officers involved in the shooting.

Teehee was also caught off guard by the invitation.

“This never happens,” he said. “You don't have the family of the victim of an officer-involved shooting ... reach out and invite them to the service and say, 'We forgive you. I'm sorry that my daughter put you in this position to have to do what you did, I forgive you.'

“When he's willing to do that, then I have an obligation to be here,” Teehee added.

The four officers declined the invitation, Teehee said, as they were still dealing with the pain from the incident.

“They just didn't think they were quite ready to do that,” he said.

But one officer did speak with Teehee before he left for Blair.

“He said, 'Chief, I'm not going to be able to do this, but will you let that family know that I love them and we hold no ill will,” Teehee said.

Forgiveness was the central theme for the service. It's a message that Teehee said he will carry with him for the rest of his life.

“I'm going to carry this message 'forgiveness for Farrah' and I'm going to use that. That's going to be the title of a message I'm going to carry from the time I walk out this door, whether I'm talking to my police officers, whether 'm talking to my football team, whether I'm talking to youth at church camps, I'm going to use that,” he said.

During the service, Teehee admitted to holding a grudge for more than 20 years. But through his experience with Farrah and the Rauch family, he plans to put that behind him.

“I hate that I was so self centered to the point that I held onto that and it took this young lady to get that out of me,” he said. “But if that's what we can take home today from that, where we have some type of message that Farrah leaves with us from now on, then I think we've accomplished something today.”

#7 Funeral Leaflet

In Loving Memory of Farrah Rose Rauch

Born October 29, 2003 Ventura, California ~ Entered Into Rest February 28, 2021 Muskogee, Oklahoma

Funeral Service 2 PM Wednesday, March 10, 2021 Christ Lutheran Church, Blair, Nebraska. Officiating: Pastor Mark Degner; Dr. Keith Christiansen, assisting minister, Chief of Police, Johnny Teehee, guest speaker. Diana Rauch, keyboardist; Diane Wegner, solo; Brian Rauch, guitarist. Music and slideshow (“I Can Only Imagine”, “Who You Say I Am”, and “If I Die Young”. Silent Reflection: “Amazing Grace”. Solos “Forgiveness”, “Arms of an Angel”

Immediately following the service, reflections from those present will be invited. Coffee and cookie will be served. You are invited to the Terrace after the service for music and fellowship. Thank you for your support of the Rauch family today.

Campbell-Aman Funeral Home

~~~Obituaries,news stories and funeral leaflet courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~