Sara A. Survivor's Blog: "Reconstructing Sara" The Lost Victim of Ted Bundy

The Ted Bundy cases have been misrepresented to the public by officials for decades. It’s time the actual records and facts were known.

Records were sent to a sealed area of the Archives in WA State for years while Robert Keppel put forward a public accounting of the Bundy years in WA that was not true or accurate and he was aware of it as the facts were in his private detective notes and he personally bullied me, threatened me and silenced me by blocking my attempts to open investigations. Families were impacted, and victims who died on Bundy’s sites were never given their full justice. Some were never even identified.

Some of the lies: “nothing was found on Taylor Mountain except a few bunches of hair and jawbones/skulls”. Over 150 pieces of evidence including clothing, human skeletal remains [which in 2008 by DNA confirmed at least 3 of the girls found on Taylor Mountain], weapons, food items, items that could have been used to drug the girls, hold the girls captive [a lean to], clothing [including bras] were all found. Search teams involving multiple jurisdictions were on site at Taylor Mountain. Bundy wasn’t throwing anything out the window of the VW and Keppel knew it: it was all on site. Keppel personally documented the evidence found by photographing and listing it. He put his personal ID numbers on some of the evidence which included human skeletal remains and which proved he knew his public claims of nothing found as late as the documentaries and media he put out in 2019 was a lie. He also took in evidence via a Special Inquiry Judge on Bundy’s work history which connected Bundy to high level officials [and Keppel denied] so he knew Bundy wasn’t “mysterious”.

The FBI/BAU, WA AG office and investigators put forward an accounting of a serial case that was inaccurate for decades while they hyped their own roles in media to further careers and to make money. The cases per the FBI in 1992 were halted with “we’ll never know”. The evidence was not worked and neither were the cases. Over 50 girls were missing between 1970 and 1974 in WA. Bundy was active during that time. It did not start in 1974 but much earlier and officials knew it. Bundy admitted to killing in 1973 and in the behind the scenes interview before the execution with Keppel alluded to 1972.

It is a shame and a travesty that this betrayal of victims, families and the public continues to this day. It needs to stop.

1989 “Final Confession” Interview Bundy did with WA State: Was this rehearsed?

Background:   In 1989, shortly before his execution, Ted Bundy met with Robert Keppel in what would be his final confession to the events that had occurred some years prior in Washington State. Although much of this confession has been published in other forms and through various media outlets, “In Defense of Denial” book is the original version of that confession as provided by an FOIA request made in June of 2015. It was released to me in transcribed form by the King County Sheriff Office. This transcript as it was originally transcribed in full by the WA State King County Sheriff Office raises questions about whether this “interview” was rehearsed.  On the surface, the transcript does not appear to contain explosive revelations but when you look at all that was hidden from the public, including the earlier involvement of the FBI than publicly admitted to [they state 1977 on their website but the records behind the scene show they were working with Bundy – the regional FBI – in 1973 and that someone from the FBI was present in Utah before Bundy was transferred to Colorado] –  this “final” confession becomes very disturbing from a violation of public trust and accountability standpoint.  There is also the concerning “shut downs” of the tape during not only this final interview but also the interview that was done with Bundy in 1984 related to the Green River killings.  There are several places where the tape recorder is purposefully shut down to discuss something with Bundy where they did not want it recorded.  This is not normal police tactics and should raise serious questions about ethics violations if nothing else.

Facts from the original records that were hidden and never put forward to the public:

Skeletal remains were found at Taylor Mountain… These remains were logged in and noted by several members of the search and record teams on site at the time the kill site of Taylor Mountain was discovered. I say “kill site” because it wasn’t a “dumping ground”.  It was an active crime scene with evidence of the killer, skeletons of multiple young girls including one girl who was not known at the time [i.e. in addition to the four found there], clothing, weapons, evidence of drugging or plying with alcohol and evidence of animal activity and shallow graves.  Issaquah also was an active crime scene with nearly the same types and amounts of evidence.  They were very similar.

Interesting that all of the evidence of Issaquah and Taylor Mountain was “lost” [Issaquah – they blamed the ME]  or denied its existence [Taylor Mountain].  WA State had Bundy identified by October of 1974 not because of a computer program but due to witness statements and DMV reports [they ran a broad check on all men who drove VWs named Ted after Sammamish].

In the 1989 interview, Keppel never asks a single question related to the evidence present at Taylor Mountain other than to discuss at great length Ott’s bike when a bicycle shift cable had been found at Issaquah and Ott and Naslund remains were known.  Not once does he ask Bundy about the unidentified girls found [1-2 at Issaquah in addition to Ott and Naslund and at least 1 at Taylor Mountain in addition to the four known there].  Not specifically.  He also tells Bundy that they never found skeletal remains, when they did– and he also never mentions all of the clothing found.

Keppel never asks about how long either site had been developed by Bundy.   To me, that would be more important than the bicycle.  He mentions that they found other victims but never presses him.  He allows Bundy to state things that Keppel knows are lies such as the decapitation.  There is no proof of it in either of Bundy’s sites in WA.  Keppel tells Bundy five femurs were found but that is not true:  More than five femurs were found:  skeletal remains were found of multiple girls and were logged in and noted in several reports at both sites.  Keppel never asks Bundy how long he kept his victims there alive or whether he had used the abandoned home nearby.  [There was one at Issaquah and at Taylor Mountain]. The abandoned home nearby was critical when you consider the number of girls missing and the proximity of the abandoned homes to the kill sites. He never tells Bundy that Keppel himself logged in the skeletal remains found on Taylor Mountain and sent them forward to Superior Court so Keppel knew all along that critical evidence was found there – and a lot of it.

In addition, in all those years, between the time Bundy kill sites in WA State were found and the time of the final interview, no one in WA State ever worked these cases for the evidence that was found in Issaquah and Taylor Mountain.  They had critical evidence: clothing, remains, evidence of the killer, weapons evidence, graves, jewelry and yet nothing was ever done.  There was never any evidence at all in either site of decapitation but rather animal activity scattering remains.  Yet Keppel played the scenario of decapitation of Hawkins immediately upon Bundy’s death and let it become public fact and the FBI issued a report in 1992 saying “we’ll never know”. We’ll never know because they concealed and lied about the evidence.

Keppel does ask Bundy about a porno book – he spends some time on it.  Why?  I mean at this point with all the missing girls who cares?  Keppel also mentions to Bundy in the 1984 interview that there are “powerful” people in the porn industry who wouldn’t want Bundy stating that Bundy was influenced by porn.   Why was Keppel so intent on mentioning the porn industry?  I mean why bring it up at all in repeated discussions when there are girls missing and their cases aren’t solved?  In all the public discussions Keppel has made over the years he has emphatically denied that Taylor Mountain had anything of value except skulls and jaws and a few hair samples but that is a public lie and does not reflect the original records that WA State took care to hide from the public.  Why was that done?  Who were they protecting – Bundy’s association to the political parties and justice departments or Bundy?  They never charged him.

After Bundy’s execution, a group of law enforcement met behind the scenes .  In this meeting the subject of a sex book came up as it had been part of a witness statement.  Keppel states that the witness statement about a sex book was “coerced” by Utah.  But in that original transcript of the witness statement which I have, there was no coercion that I could see on the part of the Utah detectives and this seems to be supported by the fact that in the original detective street notes of that era  it is noted that two sex books were taken into custody by King County police referenced to be belongings of Bundy. One of these books was described in detail.  These were never noted as put into evidence and do not appear to be in the remaining evidence lists. But Keppel’s questions to Bundy in the 1989 interview confirm he knew of it and enough so that he asked about it.

The entire “revelation” about Hawkins in this final interview is also very questionable when the totality of evidence is reviewed that had been hidden.  There was NO evidence at all of decapitation at either Issaquah or Taylor Mountain.  Skeletal remains were found on site at Taylor Mountain and at Issaquah and the remains on site at Taylor Mountain were confirmed in 2005 to be the missing girls with one skeletal set of bones never identified.  Hawkins has never been confirmed as found at either location and she remains missing.

Keppel knew there were skeletal remains so why did he accept the scenario of Hawkins decapitation and why did he rush to the media with it the minute Bundy was executed?  For one thing, it seems highly insensitive to the family and other victims. For another, he knew that scenario did not line up with the evidence that was actually found at the sites.  Why didn’t he question it instead of putting it out there as “fact”?  While Keppel claims Issaquah is where Bundy told him Hawkins was killed, her records that were hidden have her at Taylor Mountain.  At Taylor Mountain there were skeletal remains found that included tibias/fibulas which are leg bones.  Leg xrays were being requisitioned by several detectives during the original search at Taylor Mountain and a leg bone with a question mark is noted on the map near the stream.  These legs bones were sent without any paperwork to the ME in March of 1984 in a box of elk bones.  Why?  Who did this? Hawkins had a deformity of those bones.  The detectives in WA State knew that.

Then there is the whole scenario of Bundy and the clothing.  Bundy talks of “throwing” items out of the window in a panic while he drove or pulling over and throwing them down embankments but is that really what happened given the evidence found on site at Taylor Mountain and at Issaquah? This scenario has been put forward by Keppel and others for years until its nearly become “fact.”  But is it really?  No one saw Bundy do that and nothing at Issaquah or Taylor Mountain suggests that Bundy threw anything away.  Clothing and weapons and items and a lean to were all found on site at these locations. Clothing was found at Taylor Mountain that matched the description of what at least two of the girls found there were wearing.  There were also items like a lean-to, thermos, chemical bottles and food wrappers that suggest the killer spent time there with the girls.

The whole scenario of throwing clothing and items out of the window seems very unlikely. The whole scenario that Bundy stopped multiple times along the road shoulder to toss things over is also way out there.   The implication is that these items tossed by Bundy were then somehow in the side areas of the road or off embankments and not immediately visible. How would one do that while driving? How would one stop continually on a road shoulder at any time of day or night and not risk discovery for odd behavior something Bundy stealthily refused to do.

For one thing, it would take tremendous effort to toss items of clothing, weapons and a briefcase and possibly crutches out of a window [how do you toss crutches?] and for another in the United States the driver is on or near the center line of the road – that is quite a distance from the side of the road and tossing items out of the driver’s side would wind up in the middle of the street.   You’d have to drive to the other side of the road into oncoming traffic which would call attention to you….he was left handed so he’d have to use his primary hand for throwing and if he drove to the side of the road on the correct side he’d have to slow way down and try to toss things out the passenger window of the volkswagen and hope they didn’t drop on the road.  Or he’d have to stop multiple times to avoid all items being found in one location like a dumping ground of evidence. It just doesn’t make sense. Especially if he was in a panic.  Bundy was a planner, cool, calm and collected when killing and that has been in his profile for years.  This reactionary type of thing just isn’t borne out by his behavior in Utah or in WA.

No, the evidence [clothing] was there on site.  It is noted, logged in, and recovered on site originally by many professionals.  Keppel claims in “Riverman” he was carrying empty boxes out to make it look like they’d found things when they hadn’t.  Really?  According to the actual original documents many people found evidence.  There are pages and pages of reports.  Civil Air Patrol, police from other jurisdictions were there.  Keppel’s statement about not finding anything on Taylor Mountain and carrying out empty boxes is false.

Most important, some of these clothing items at both locations by description matched the missing girls and also were sent forward to Superior Court as evidence.  If they weren’t important why send them forward?   The girls were missing and you have girls clothing and even some bras and earrings?  That’s evidence.  There was a lot of it at both Issaquah and Taylor Mountain and those sites were very well developed by the amount of girls found at each one and the tremendous amount of evidence at each location.  If you count the unknown girls who were thrown away by WA State, you have four  to five individuals at each location.  How do you “lose” so much evidence?  How do you “forget” so much evidence was collected?  How do you throw away young girls like that so callously?  Together these sites contained over 300 pieces of evidence noted by ESAR teams and assigned numbers on evidence lists of the original search days.   These sites contained the bodies of the girls known and unknown.  Those unknown girls deserve their justice.  The living victim who survived multiple kidnappings [myself] also deserves justice.

Nothing about the final interview in 1989 with Ted Bundy lines up to scrutiny including the fact that there was no decapitation at Taylor Mountain or at Issaquah but rather evidence of animal activity, possible graves,  and skeletal remains. Hawkins was never found – her body never located –  so there is absolutely no proof of decapitation so why did this scenario ever see the light of day and why wasn’t it questioned and why wasn’t more attention paid to the actual evidence in these sites and the tremendous size and scope of these sites. You had multiple bodies at both locations. Bundy has been described as a necrophiliac but how does dismembering bodies and moving heads and parts around figure in to that scenario?   If Bundy returned to check on the sites it was because he wanted to see the girls, not pieces of them, not heads or skeletons, but the girls…just like Ridgeway had done. To me, granted a lay person, that would be what necrophilia is – not running around looking for body parts and heads in multiple locations.  There is nothing to support decapitation at all – there is nothing to support that Taylor Mountain was anything other than a major crime scene.  There is a detective report that states the ME who examined the evidence immediately when it was removed from the site stated that the “heads were with the bodies”.  It was only later in August of 1975 that Keppel notes in his own detective notes that he called another ME and asked what would be needed for a find of decapitation to be made.  This was about two weeks before Bundy was picked up in Utah.   Then, once that retrofit note was entered, Bundy was followed and picked up in Utah.  Yet, they had him identified in October of 1974.  They never worked his cases in WA State although they had plenty of evidence to charge him.

The AG Office still only shows one or two cars at the Taylor Mountain site. In reality there were many people there every day of the searches and there was air support and Civil Air patrol at the location.  I have the original documents of all of these reports. These are stamped “Original” and in the police format of that day and I saved all paper trail associated to them – they were all sealed away from the public and per internal memo supposed to be held there for 75 years.  Meanwhile this 1989 “confession” played out as “fact” for decades.

Overall in that time period the records show that there are multiple points in the prison interviews with Bundy where the tape is “stopped down” for discussions off tape.  They mention stopping the tape down on tape and then it is resumed.  In today’s world, I don’t believe that this tactic would be viewed favorably as it raises questions about what was discussed when the tape was shut down.

It makes no sense. Very little of the public scenario in 1989 lines up to the evidence.  Very little of the public narrative to date of Bundy’s killings in WA State add up to the actual records [original] of that day.  Yet this is what has been put forward nearly immediately after his execution to the press….where it has been repeated as “fact” for decades.  It raises questions about why Bundy makes the comment in this interview….”we talked”….as well as references to his killing starting sooner than 1974. He states “1972” before he re-phrases it to 1974.  Those parts of the final interview were edited out and are now contained in the full interview in “In Defense of Denial.”

Refuting “Riverman”: Original case files show multiple areas of contradictions to the public story

I would like to make a public statement about the following documents and reasons for putting this up on the internet.  The story/narrative about the Bundy years has been misrepresented for decades per original records authorities hid from the public.  While Robert Keppel has become the face of the case publicly, behind the scenes there appears to be FBI involvement in some of this misrepresentation.

Keppel is not the only person involved back then who has withheld information from the public about evidence:  at least two other investigators from that era know that a]skeletal remains were removed from Taylor Mountain; b] critical evidence was logged in from Taylor Mountain as well as taken directly from Bundy or another witness.  Several people in WA State who were involved in the Bundy cases went on to have careers with the FBI including Keppel.  Internet searches show he has also worked with FBI and FBI BAU. According to the actual original records, the FBI was working with Bundy on a project on recidivism in 1973 per internal memos…..

In addition to these very valid concerns, you have the tremendous amount of individuals present at both crime scene locations where bodies were found:  At Taylor Mountain alone there were, per the records of that day, and I quote:  “from 3-3 to 3-8 [1975] the number and type of personnel included KCP:  38; WESAR:  378; SAP:  103; GSSD: 20 [German Shepherd search dogs]; WNG: 17; DES: 1; Boeing Co:  1; Seattle police:  7; KCEMS: 2.  That does not include the separate personnel logged in for Civil Air patrol nor does it include all the vehicles and the helicopters which are also noted in Keppel’s reports of the day.  That’s just under 550 people on site at Taylor Mountain. How and why would all those people stay silent all these years unless the FBI was indeed somehow involved?   After all Keppel’s public scenario has never lined up with what those search and rescue teams saw and found on Taylor Mountain.  There is one person noted as being DES in the people on site:  DES is Department of Emergency Services and that is where Bundy worked during May through summer of 1974.

Records also indicate that searches were conducted in the area of Taylor Mountain as well as Tiger Mountain which is right across the highway from Taylor Mountain.  In fact two victims are noted as found on Tiger Mountain and someone crossed this location off on the original document.

Book “Riverman” discussion with its point by point list of refuting documents from original case files….

Page 10 of book:  “Issaquah…no clothing, wallets or jewelry – items commonly used for preliminary identification – had been found on site.” [Keppel is referencing the first day on site]
Refuting document: ESAR list of finds:  a shoe is find #4; Detective Hahn who is in charge, states in his official summary report that many items of evidence were found; all told quite a few items to victims or unknown victims were found at Issaquah per the overall records of those initial search days – items such as a comb, book, brown camel hair coat, pantyhose, sweater, scarf, gold earring, green sock, bicycle shift cable. The area was secured and the search and rescue teams were all professionals and logged in every day along with their team supervisors.
Page 11 of book:  “Sergeant Randall ordered me to return the next day with Explorer Search and Rescue [ESAR] personnel to scout the area for any additional bones.  It was pickup work.  The more senior investigators had obviously thought it was a shit detail for the rookie homicide detective.  Even my colleague Detective Rolf Gruden chuckled and commented – with a snobbishly superior attitude – that I probably wouldn’t find anything.  He said they had searched the hillside and had found nothing but bones.”
Refuting documents:  ESAR Mission Data Sheets; supporting SAR reports and original search documents show that extensive personnel, professional were on site every day that searches were conducted and that care was being taken to preserve and protect the evidence that was removed each day.  Keppel was not in charge – other officers were.  Logs of who was on site, when, how many hours worked and how far each search team member had traveled were kept.  These documents were coded with separate search and rescue case numbers so other investigators may not have seen these over the ensuing years as they had been moved to the sealed area but Keppel knew as he was on site.  He misstated the efforts of these professionals and embellished his own role in the search efforts of that day.
Refuting documents:  9-7-1974;  Detective Mackie ordered the evidence search and Hahn was in charge.  On 9-8 it is noted that Keppel was on scene at 8am. This was the start of the search after the discovery of human remains on 9-7.  Hahn’s report of that day states “through the day ESAR found many items of evidence which were processed by KCP, H&R”.  On 9-8-1974 it is noted that the officer in charge for the day was Donald Lundine.
Page 14:  “ESAR is a voluntary rescue organization whose members are trained in search techniques for locating lost hikers and downed aircraft.  ESAR’s 50 or so teenagers, who were supervised by a small cadre of adults, had never participated in a police evidence search before.”
Refuting documents: ESAR logs show that most personnel had assigned Department of Emergency Services numbers – these would not have been issued to minors. Logs were kept and and many had recorded bringing their cars to the site and had driven from 20 to 50 miles to get there. Logs were kept of all ESAR personnel every day and signatures of team members  and injuries while searching were also noted.  The officers listed in charge on several of the original documents were Lee Hahn and Donald Lundine – Keppel was only noted as there, not in charge.  The ESAR team leader was Les Janz.
Page 16:  “Unfortunately, we didn’t even consider that they could have been buried.  We had found so many bones on top of the ground we didn’t even think the killer’s modus operandi involved burial.  Our inexperience was telling and it favored the killer.”
Refuting document:  ESAR evidence finds; On day 1 a shovel was found [find #9].  It was located 66 feet from search line 1. A depression in the soil was found 120 feet up search line 1.  There were human remains scattered and animal evidence [dung; bones with scat].  There was evidence of possible burial:  depression in the ground [find #2; shovel find #9; overturned earth find #321]. Some bones were found near the findings of possible graves.
Page 18:  “The fresh physical and circumstantial evidence such as eyewitnesses, lead bullets, bullet casings, and weapons were noticeably absent from this scene.  The area had been stripped of all these usual forensic clues.  It was a scene of great mystery.  In the history of the King County homicide investigation, no murder case had a crime scene with so little evidence as this one.”
Refuting documents:  ESAR lists from their original records: brown camel hair coat [find #322]; book [find #308]; women’s underwear [find #327]; knife sheath [find #401] sweater and scarf [find #410]; pantyhose [find #328]; gold earring [find #510] hair curler [find #512]; note – the hair curler was found near the earring – green sock [find #516]; bicycle shift cable [find #517]; shoe [find #4]; cement [find #313] screwdriver [find #307] note – a screwdriver was also found on Taylor Mountain – small bottle [find #5] – note – this small bottle was found near bones and the shovel per the original ESAR notes.  Bundy was known to ply his victims with alcohol and/or drugs per the autopsies of two of his Utah victims and also he had shown Liz a date rape drug in a small bottle in Utah according to Liz’s book.  There was also a chemical bottle and a thermos found on site in the initial search of Taylor Mountain.
There were several finds of possible graves:  shovel [find #9] which Bundy talked of being carried in serial crimes; a depression in the earth [find #2]; overturned earth [find #321] which was located only 38 feet from find #317 which was a femur.  This proximity of the finds relative to each other was in the original records of the ESAR professionals.  Knowing the proximity of the evidence relative to each other is very important to analyzing the crime scene and I can’t imagine any investigator even at that time period not realizing its significance.
Page 19: “The killer probably saw for himself the results of predators scavenging human remains, since one body was there for over a month before the other two were discarded”.
Lack of a citation document for this by Keppel:  where is the proof of this statement?  There was nothing in the records at all about it.  It is noted in the records that parts were found of at least one to two individuals whose skeletons did not match the known missing girls Ott and Naslund.  Where is the ME statement that proves these remains were there for that long and that there was a difference in the aging of the remains between one victim and the other two?  Only Ott and Naslund are ever discussed so where is the third and possibly fourth victim from that site?  Any statement that it was Hawkins or other cannot be proven and is conjecture only as WA State has claimed publicly that remains were “lost” of Issaquah.  What happened to the over 100 pieces of evidence collected from the site?  This was a major crime scene.
Page 25:  Under the Georgann Hawkins discussion:  “[Ted Bundy…] hoped that he had concealed forever her most identifiable characteristics – her teeth.”
Refuting documents:  Georgann Hawkins detective notes on a deformity she had of the tibia and fibula of one leg – a characteristic that would have identified her remains by x-ray.  It would only have taken an x-ray and DNA would not have been needed nor the teeth.  Records reference at least three bones found at Taylor Mountain that were sent to the ME office marked only as “Bundy bones”.  They were in a box of elk bones and had no paperwork with them but they were tibias and fibulas identified by the ME as human.  Police at the time were very aware of the deformity and there are detective notes of that time period where they were requisitioning leg x-rays of the victims found on Taylor Mountain.   There is also a notation on the original map of Taylor Mountain of a leg bone possibly being recovered near the stream where other items of evidence were found. If there were no skeletal remains and no evidence of any value found at Taylor Mountain why were pieces of evidence forwarded on to the Superior Court [clothing and bones] and why would leg x-rays be requisitioned?  No, the evidence at Taylor Mountain was as important if not more significant in volume and in bodies than Issaquah and the two crime sites, not dumping grounds, mirrored each other.  There were also abandoned homes near each of the crime scenes.
This is the exact quote of an internal memo from the ME Office in 2005 referencing a box of bones from Taylor Mountain being sent to the ME in March of 1984: “there is at least one human tibia and fibula in this bin and possibly one more human tibia.  [She]thinks based on the description that Bundy gave to Keppel in an interview that these may be bones belonging to Georgann Hawkins.  If I remember correctly Hawkins went missing from Seattle.  She says the only paperwork she has with the bin was signed over to the ME on 3-8-1984.” This is very near the time Keppel took over the Green River Killer Task Force investigation.
In 2005 skeletal remains were sent to TX to confirm that three of the four girls found there were identified by the skeletal bones.  The other bones did not match the three girls whose DNA had been sent and did not match Hawkins These skeletal remains were removed from Taylor Mountain during the days of the initial search and assigned evidence numbers.  Those evidence numbers allow them to be tracked through the records over the years.  There is no doubt they were found originally on Taylor Mountain and refute the decapitation theory that Bundy decapitated victims.  In the records that were sealed Hawkins is always listed at Taylor Mountain and not at Issaquah.  Hawkins remains missing.  Knowing skeletal remains were found at Taylor Mountain why did Keppel put forward the theory of decapitation and so willingly accept Bundy’s rendition of it with Hawkins when her remains were never found and there is no evidence to support that Bundy decapitated his victims in WA State or elsewhere that I can find.
Page 27: “We had learned from Issaquah that there was a pattern established by small animals when they carry remains along animal trails away from the original dump site where the major decomposition takes place.  Animals that tugged away at a decomposing skull pulled the remains as the skull was being dragged along the ground.  At Issaquah, some teeth and a mandible, as well as the mass of hair, were dislodged and fell off along the trail.  We learned that if we searched in logical directions along known animal trails after the discovery of the skull, we would discover the dislodged parts.  We also had discovered that it was important to sift through the dirt along the animal trails for teeth, bullets, fingernails and jewelry that had been dislodged from body parts.”
Refuting document:  List of 158 Original Finds by ESAR at Taylor Mountain [this is posted in another blog on this site in its entirety as originally recorded]  Everything described above is found in that original list.  The two sites were nearly identical in the types of evidence they contained.  Taylor Mountain had 158 pieces of evidence:  weapons, skeletal remains, remains of several young girls, signs of animal activity, possible graves, possible evidence the killer was there on site, and other evidence that suggests the killer may have spent time there.  The scale of evidence was nearly the same if not larger at Taylor Mountain than at Issaquah.
Refuting document:  From Detective Hahn’s report per the ESAR Mission Data sheet and report:  3-3-1975:  “Enough bones and skulls were found to identify three of the many missing females of the NW.” His report clearly states bones and skulls.  This report is backed up by several others of that day including other jurisdictions who were helping on scene and the Civil Air Patrol reports as well.  It is also corroborated by the evidence numbers assigned to the skeletal remains which has them eventually sent to TX and confirmed to be skeletal remains of at least three of the missing girls.
Page 29-30:  “The day after the initial discovery of Ball’s cranium, six German shepherd dogs, their handlers, and I combed Taylor Mountain site, hoping to find more bones…unfortunately a day earlier, I hadn’t paid much attention to the markers placed on the trees by foresters.  Their red flags were too far apart, and the density of the forest made it difficult to determine where the next one would be.”

ESAR search and rescue documents of the day show the area was well cordoned off and marked clearly as to search quadrants.  Keppel was not alone on the site:  There were close to a total of 500 people actively working that crime scene during the days the searching was conducted.
The actual testimony of the forestry professional about the site is as follows: “We left it [skull] right where it was and then finished our field work.  We called King County police last night when we got home sometime around 5pm.  Today, 3/2/1975, we directed the police back to the skull and assisted with compass coordinates and measurements from where we found the skull back to the 1/4 corner of South Section line of Section 20 and 21.  We measured the distance back to this point, taking several compass headings.  We gave the exact measurements to the officer.”  There is no mention anywhere in the site documents of the use of red flags.  More will be posted….

Original ESAR Evidence List From Taylor Mountain: Does not support public story

I would like to make a public statement here about accountability:  not only to victims and families and myself, but to those professionals who worked Taylor Mountain thoroughly and who did their jobs – in all nearly 550 people/professionals.  They did what the justice department expected of them and they recorded and processed the evidence according to the ethics and standards of that day…..Only to be betrayed by the very entity they worked for:  the officials who sought to cover up the evidence and lie about the conduct of the people who worked on the Bundy cases at both Issaquah and Taylor Mountain and behind the scenes trying to do the right thing.  I hope people think about that and recognize that these people have been defamed as “kids” and bumbling about as though they had no idea of what they were doing  –  it simply isn’t true.

ESAR finds Taylor Mountain– March of 1975 =  [158 finds]  these are copied here directly from the Original documents in the Search and Rescue files and reports of that day in 1975.  These were not “kids” but professionals — many of whom drove many miles to help on site.  In all there were nearly 550 people who were on site at Taylor Mountain from 3-3-1975 to 3-8-1975.  There were also Civil Air Patrol and helicopter aerial work as well.  In addition, records show that Tiger Mountain was searched and additional records indicate that some finds were on Tiger Mountain.  Was there a third site also that authorities have denied?

What follows now is the Original list of finds as logged in by ESAR on Taylor Mountain in March of 1975:

bone fragments
little piece white moldy stuff
plant mold
hair [found at 55’ in 1000/1000]
blond hair [found at 60’ in 1000/1000]
piece of bone
piece of bone
bones
nylon cord [found 56’ 1000/1000]
clothing [find is not noted as to type or location]
bone (animal)
animal dung
clothing [find is not noted as to type or location]
some large bones [find is not noted as to type or location]
ladies blouse, bright yellow print [find is not noted as to location]
flesh [find is not noted as to type or location]
bone [1’ long] [find is not noted as to location]
bone
hair (black) animal
jawbone (animal)
bone
skull [found at 13’ A]
bones and animal remains
part of yellow coat, white sweater [find is not noted as to location]
chemical bottles [find is not noted as to location]
bones
thermos bottle [find is not noted as to location]
bones, arm rib [find is not noted as to location]
T-shirt/blue cloth, blue sock [find is not noted as to location]
blue jean material [find not noted  location on list but on map near #55]
bone
bone [found at 130’ in 1000/1000]
bone [found at 130’ in 1000/1000]
part of skull [found 6’ from #22]
10-12” bone [found 31’ D]
bone fragments [location not noted but found by CAP – Civil Air Patrol]
jawbone [found 36’D] by CAP (Civil Air Patrol)
bone fragment
scapula [found 46’ D] by CAP (Civil Air Patrol)
bone 1” long/1”wide
fragment bone – fresh?
bone fragment 4” long [found 145’ D]
jacket (purple) Keppel find [found 30’ from base truck on list – on map near creek and #57]
hair short blond
clothing
bone 4.5” long [found 71’ line 50 – No to A]
clothing [location not noted/CAP]
rodent hair in dung
bone animal? [found 75’ D – CAP] CAP = Civil Air Patrol
blue scarf/red oilcloth [location not noted]
chewed bone 10” [found 75’ line 50]
bone animal? CAP
flesh decayed area [location not noted]
shoulder blade CAP
tennis shoe, black or dark blue [location not noted]
2 vertebrae [location not noted]
clothing [location and type not noted]
green coat [location not noted in list but on map near creek and find #43, #57]
wedding invite
leaf mold area
red cloth [location not noted]
receipt shell casing 30/30 [location not noted]
jawbone [CAP – found at 33’ E]
jawbone [CAP found 2’ from find #63 in E]
hair 2 clumps [CAP – found 3’ from find #63 in E]
skull fragment [found 38’in E]
tooth [found 15’ in E]
lean-to shelter, plastic line tarp, soup can [found together in 136’ F]
animal vertebra [found 199’ in F]
animal jawbone [found 60’ fence in F]
animal vertebrae [2] [found 70’ fence in F]
light brown hair                 [found 21’ in E]
light brown hair [found 19’ in E]
light brown hair [found 23’ in E]
hair divided in 2 segments [found 28’ in E]
hair light brown [found 26’ in E]
rubber fragments – orn – balloon? [found 88’ in E]
silver jewelry clasp [found 52’ in E]
shotgun shell [found 195’ in G]
bone (leg? 10”) [found CAP 126’ in E]
bones and hair (dung) [found 48’ in G]
hair (dark brown 3” x 8”) [found 57’ in G]
human hair [found by CAP at 76’ in G]
5 x 0.5” bone                                 [found by CAP at 76’ in G]
shotgun shell [found at 143’ in H]
hair light color [found by CAP at 60’ in G]
bone fragment [found at 55’ in J]
bullet, 22, slug only [found at 88’ in G]
bone small [found at 62’ in H]
shotgun shell [found at 51’ in J
many bone fragments [found by CAP at 74’ in G]
bones (animal?)
bone fragment [found at 65’ in J]
hair in dung [found by search dogs no location noted]
bone fragment [found at 12’ in H]
bone 8” x 1” [found by CAP at 74’ in G]
blond hair [found by CAP at 72’ in G]
black pen [found at 145’ in H]
bone fragment [location not noted]
hair blond      [found by CAP at 74’ in G]
bone fragments [found at 142’ in I]
bullet slug [found at 157’ in I]
bolt, nut and washer [found at 275’ in F]
jaw fragment [found at 36’ in J]
22 slug [no location noted]
cork, shoe material [found at 165’ in J]
hair blond [found by CAP at 74’ in G]
bone fragment [found at 212’ in F]
hair in dung [found by search dogs, location not noted]
bone, small [found at 111’ in H]
skull [found at 48’ in 1000/1000]
jawbone with teeth [found at 88’ in 1000/1000]
jawbone [found at 70’ in 1000/1000]
skull [found at 114’ in 1000/1000]
brown hair [found at 114’ in 1000/1000]
blond hair [found by CAP at 146’ in G]
not identified [found by search dogs – no location given]
bone fragment [found at 56’ in I]
38 and 22 hollow bullets [found at 124’ in I]
22 bullet [found at 115’ in I]
jar
bone [found at 57’ in H]
(2) 38 cal casings sp. [found at 57’ in H]
woman’s underwear [found by dogs at 156’ from Int. of A and B]
empty potato chip box [not noted as to location]
plastic baggie [not noted as to location]
bone fragment in dung [found by dogs not noted as to location]
possible grave [found at 56’ in F]
rubberlike material [no location given]
plastic snug tie Keppel [found 16’ from find #124  Int. of A and B]
22 slug [found at 79’ in I]
22 slug [found at 57’ in H]
3 slugs 22 caliber [found at 146’ in I]
small bone [found at 173’ in J]
shotgun shell [found at 108’ in I]
4 beer caps, sandwich wrapper [no location noted]
fur, skin
bone fragment [found at 123’ in H]
screwdriver Keppel [found 177’ inter. A & B]
bone and fragment [location not noted]
bones, rib, teeth [location not noted]
explosive device [location not noted]
bone in animal dung [found at 53’ in K]
bone 10” long [found by search dogs]
bones [found by search dogs]
blue suitcase [no location noted]
sweater [location not noted]
no item listed [find noted at 78’ in K]
bone 0.5 x 6” [found by CAP at 104’ L]
bones [found by search dogs, no location given]
bone [found 54’ in M]
small bones in dung [found by CAP at 9’ in L]
4 small bones [found 170’ inter. A & B]
part of a tooth [found 155’ in M]
bone chips [location not given]
toenail in dung? [found by CAP at 66’ in L]
bones [no location given]
small bones [found by a detective on scene, location not noted]

In addition to these finds, a group of detectives went out to the crime scene one month approximately after the initial search and rescue teams were out there.  One detective returned with a human skeletal remain and logged it in with his identification number and it too was sent to Superior Court as evidence.  This was in 1975 before Bundy was picked up in Utah.  That bone, skeletal, was later in 2005 [per its evidence number] matched to one of the girls found on site per DNA.  This contradicts again the public narrative that nothing was found there but skulls and also begs the question as to why these detectives were out there again and why they too have remained silent and empowered and allowed the false narrative to be put forward as fact to the public.  At the same time, another detective was taking in an axe handle, and a leather beaded corded necklace that was Bundy’s in WA.  A leather beaded type of necklace was also found on one of Bundy’s victims per their autopsy report in Utah.  What was going on back then for officials to go to such great lengths to prevent the public from knowing the truth about the WA State activity by Bundy? Was it simply the fact that Bundy had been working with the FBI on a project in 1973 per the records or is it something else?  He was a prolific serial killer just like any other serial killer but he has been turned into a legend by the officials who have used this case to build their careers and profit from it.  In my opinion….at the expense of the victims, public trust and accountability, and at the expense of the very institution’s values and ethics that they represent.

Note:  On the maps of the search area of Taylor Mountain, across the stream from where find #30 [blue jean material], #55 [tennis shoe], #80 [bone], #57 [clothing] and #58 [green coat] there is an “x” labeled simply “clothing pile”.  This is not noted on the finds list. Is this something they found as a “pile” and did not note it as deemed it insignificant or is this where they tossed any clothing items [in a general pile] -?  Regardless, in a serial killer case where many young girls were missing, any clothing or evidence found would be critically important to preserve – even if it is ruled out later and even if it is a “pile”.

Note:  Chemical bottles [find #25] were found within the crime scene at Taylor Mountain.  Bundy told Liz in Utah that he had date rape drugs.  It is noted in her book.  He worked with a medical supply company and would have had access to these drugs.  He also talked of the use of drugs and alcohol to ply victims while they were held captive.  One Utah victim’s blood tests showed alcohol poisoning in her autopsy report. I also complained of feeling drugged and could not remember most of the rapes and what happened while I was held in captivity and this is documented in emails going back to 2001 as well the memory lapses in my recollections which remain even now.  These chemical bottles were important to the crime scene.  Bottles were also found at Issaquah but were not noted as to type.  Both Taylor Mountain and Issaquah crime sites were near to abandoned homes as well as these are noted in the police records.  In those abandoned homes there was red matter collected from the walls of the basement as evidence potentially.  It is not noted what happened to this red matter/evidence in the records that I have.  There is a lot here – I personally would like to know why all of this information was suppressed from public knowledge and an account made public which denied its existence.  Especially when so many unsolved cases remain and Bundy was a prolific serial killer and the FBI report in 1992 essentially just gave up on all of it with a statement of “we’ll never know” – perhaps -but we certainly never had a chance to know when they concealed all that they did and released so much publicly that isn’t supported by the actual case files.

Reconstructing Sara: The Lost Victim of Ted Bundy

I survived those years, but many did not.  This site contains information taken from case files that were sealed away for decades and hidden from the public.  The story that has been put before the public as “fact” is not factual at all ….it fails to integrate, and ignores entirely, critical evidence, witness statements, autopsy reports, and other documents.

All truth passes through 3 phases:  1] First it is ridiculed.  2.  Second it is violently opposed.   3] Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.  – Arthur Schopenhauer

My blogs contain information from over 1000 pages of original case files released to me in November of 2014 and again in June of 2015 after nearly 2 decades of coming forward as a witness to the disappearance of Georgann Hawkins and also as a victim of Bundy’s who survived multiple kidnappings.  I was trying to testify and to have my information evaluated against open cases, and to close the Hawkins case which needed corroboration that he had gone with her that night.  Instead of being helped, I was turned away by police and directed to the “book authors” who were not part of the justice system and where my shattered and scattered memories [due to the severe PTSD] could be manipulated and denied their authenticity.  The tragedy is that those memories, as broken as they were, contain details of the case which had been sealed away for years and which I could not have known unless I was who I claimed to be…the survivor Ted had talked of to authorities behind the scenes.  Only the truth of what happened….the “she said” of the scenario has never been put before the public largely because the authorities in WA State had something to hide and did everything in their power to suppress me and intimidate me.  It took me nearly four years to find what they were hiding and now I am putting it into these blogs so that the public knows what happened.  What has been put forth as the public narrative over the years has not been truthful to the original case facts.  I hope the public will reserve judgement and allow me to state all that happened and reveal all that was hidden.  The Bundy cases desperately need accountability and the victims that authorities denied justice to need their closure.

Ted Bundy & his public image as defined by law enforcement & whether or not he was intelligent & articulate or not

The letters and documents I reference in published materials are in original form unless I state that I edited out names of people who are not public figures.  A few have commented that they think I make Bundy sound more articulate than he was and more intelligent than he was.  I think that is based on the misconception of Bundy put forward by authorities that he was of lesser intelligence and never finished anything he started.  It is not the truth.

Bundy was not of mediocre intelligence or he would not have escaped detection as long as he did.  Further, the FBI and the DOJ/Justice and Planning of WA State thought enough of him in 1973 to hire him to the tune of thousands of dollars to complete a study on recidivism, which he DID complete and filed a report on, contrary to what officials would have you believe.  That report was many pages long and outlined not only problems but ways in which certain problems could be addressed and it also discussed a computer program very much in theory like the one eventually developed in HITS and VICAP.  Additionally, WA State contends they only “went along” with Bundy as a Green River consultant but it was more than that….they actively asked for  Bundy’s help with the Green River killer and even brought materials to him, discussing the case at length with him – where victims were found, in which order they were found, asking for his input on it.  I personally think it was a smart thing to do as Bundy had insider knowledge being a serial killer who was active a long time much like Ridgeway – but why hide the fact that they felt he may be able to help?   However, they did go beyond what I consider to be police tactics when they asked Bundy his opinion on suspects they were developing in Green River killings – even naming the person by name to him.

They didn’t have to do that – it wasn’t professional to discuss potential suspects with him [and they did — going into details about the suspect and his life even though he was innocent]. Since when do cops discuss cases with serial killers or criminals under investigation or prosecution for serious crimes such as murder?  I hope this isn’t a normal occurrence.   The WA State officials did do this – and more than just the Green River killing –  at least two other cases were discussed with Bundy which were going through the courts at the time and which had nothing to do with the Green River killer or Bundy’s crimes.  These were discussed in letters arising from the Attorney General office.  All people are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty and to discuss crimes currently being looked at with a serial killer on death row naming the person[s] who were being charged to me seems like an incredible violation of civil rights and justice for those individuals let alone violations of professional conduct.

So why make Bundy out as not articulate and not intelligent to the public?  If you are going to teach a profile at universities to future criminal justice professionals it should be as accurate as possible but in Bundy’s case what has been taught if mirroring what is public information isn’t accurate at all.   The evidence stated publicly as found in WA isn’t accurate to behind the scenes documents, the handling of the case as stated publicly isn’t accurate to the detective notes and witness statements of the time period, and neither is the full disclosure of Bundy’s relationships with government officials and law enforcement officials accurate to the full extent of what it really was.

Perhaps downplaying Bundy’s intelligence and ability to work with concepts such as in the recidivism study or his work on the crime commission, or perhaps downplaying his relationships with high ranking officials seems purposeful to those at the time; but it served to mask the reality of who he was at the time and that the officials had actually trusted Bundy as a colleague before he was caught as a serial killer and they trusted him enough that they gave him responsibility for sensitive projects and information….After all, Bundy was close to elected officials.  He was also Assistant Director of the Crime Commission and studied white collar crime and also rape – writing and completing a study on rape in King County [and yes, despite claims it was never done it was completed and not only do I have the original report but also the witness statement that was in the files from a superior who also corroborated that Bundy had written it].  That rape paper detailed how women were not believed, how acquaintance rape was often very difficult to prove and prosecute and just how few cases of rape in the King County area were ever prosecuted at all.  Bundy was doing his homework while he was active as a serial killer and I suspect also while he was evolving as a serial rapist- embedding into the very professions that would one day prosecute and pursue him and ingratiating himself into their friendships.  It was a betrayal of those people in those professions who had trusted him and considered him a friend.  But it is an equal betrayal of those people in the justice system who were betrayed by him to cover up evidence and to deny the victims left behind who were silenced by death their own justice from what happened.  The evidence that was thrown away from Issaquah and Taylor Mountain could have been evidence of unknown victims – the skeletal remains “lost” or “destroyed” from Issaquah and Taylor Mountain are voices that are silenced forever – and for what?

So, if Bundy was really that inarticulate and that unintelligent then why did the authorities in WA State trust him with the recidivism study and the rape paper?  Why did he serve on the Crime Commission at all if he wasn’t articulate?  There are certain things you can fake and certain things you cannot and Bundy’s ability to rub elbows with high ranking officials and to execute on projects such as the rape paper and the recidivism study was because he had innate intelligence.  Does that make his crimes less?  No.  Does that make his serial killing less impactful?  Does that make him less of a criminal if he’s intelligent and articulate?   No, it makes him infinitely more dangerous.   Trying to lessen his innate intelligence while glorifying the law enforcement position during that time period really does nothing at all towards understanding this case and Bundy’s serial killing efforts that spanned a much longer time than just beginning in 1974.  He was difficult to catch because he was working behind the scenes with law enforcement, elected officials and the justice system.  He didn’t learn how to avoid being caught by reading detective magazines.  He learned by working among them.  He was much more dangerous, deceptive and inherently evil than the public story about him.  By dumbing him down as a criminal they only negated the tremendous harm and destruction he did to those who had trusted him at all levels of society.

In a series of real time crimes, rapidly evolving as Bundy’s were, it is human nature to make mistakes and fail to see a larger picture.  That is true of the public as well as the police.  It doesn’t reflect on them if he fooled them – he fooled a lot of people – he was a psychopath.  He fooled his victims.   He manipulated me constantly and I lived – but I was damaged forever as a result.

It is part of the process of how these types of deviant personas work.  However, covering it up for whatever the reason the authorities had at the time is intentional action and deliberate.  Those actions are not acceptable under color of law.  They are not in keeping with the responsibilities of law enforcement as a whole and they do not reflect the values of serving the public.  They leave the public with the opinion that Bundy was stupid and he wasn’t; that the cops were always on top of things back then and they weren’t; and that the public did not catch Bundy when per the records it was the public who identified him and the public who spoke out about him and the public who did what the law enforcement community had asked of them.

The vial of Bundy blood found in 2011: Why were there orders back then in FL & WA to destroy evidence associated to him?

Was it because Bundy had been working with the FBI on a project that was highly questionable and one they wanted to hide – this was in 1973 per the documents that were sealed.  Or was it also because of his affiliation since 1969 to high ranking officials of the Republican Party? Why destroy evidence from major crime scenes in WA State and evidence collected from him in Florida?

According to the FBI report that was circulated publicly, the vial of blood was found in the summer of 2011 either June or July after a Tacoma detective was investigating the case of Ann Marie Burr – a case Bundy always denied being his behind the scenes.  This evidence was located or occurred one month approximately after I first came forward to the regional FBI in Seattle complaining of intimidation, and being blocked from an investigation of my case and also from accessing the justice system as a survivor and witness/victim of that time period.   One month later approximately the blood was located and all inquiries per the AG Office would be refused except where blood DNA could be used.  Given that DNA degrades over time especially in outdoor settings, it is essentially to me a superficial find and effort only.

I have some very real concerns and valid questions about not only the timing of this find of Bundy blood but about it overall and its use excluding all other investigative options.  Since when in a serial case is DNA evidence the only thing considered?  Since when is DNA the only thing considered in any case?  I have listed concerns below.

  The FBI states the vial was found in Florida.  News reports state that the blood was taken when Bundy was arrested and was somehow preserved despite an order to destroy evidence.     There are two immediate questions here:  first, why would anyone give an order to destroy evidence in a murder conviction situation?  Who gave that order and why isn’t that order in the public domain?  It should be available FOIA.  I’ve never seen it.  Second, why would you take a vial of blood from him in 1978 when he hadn’t yet been convicted?  Where were his attorneys at the time and wouldn’t you need a warrant for that blood?  Again, where is the paper work for the drawing of the blood? Where is the paper trail and provenance?
What is the actual provenance of the blood – who drew it, when it was drawn, where was it kept, why was it drawn in the first place – who ordered that draw?  Where is the chain of custody paperwork and the trail of paper between 1978 and 2011?  Where was the blood found and who found it – was the find logged in via proper channels?  What condition was it in?  How was it stored over the years?  Who tested it?  An independent lab or the FBI?  How did they prove it was Bundy’s – what sample did they obtain and compare it to?  Where is the actual data of that comparative analysis – where was the comparative sample obtained, how old was it and how did they come by that comparative sample?  If the chain of custody cannot be proven and the blood was in poor condition has it been retested at all independently?   If they had blood before his final appeals why wasn’t the blood evidence there in the vial factored in to his trial in Florida and compared against any found at the scene in Florida?  They had blood evidence but they were relying on teeth marks?  In so serious a case as his?  Couldn’t it have been compared against the semen found?  There was semen evidence from what I’ve read in the bedroom of at least two of the girls and there were also the other items which could have been tested against this blood.  If they indeed drew it at the time of his arrest why wouldn’t it have been used in the trial? DNA was in use at the time.
Here is a link to one of the articles: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ted-bund...
They located the blood after a Tacoma detective started looking into Ann Marie Burr  – a victim of someone but one Bundy emphatically always claimed was not his – even if she was and we will never know that now,  what about all those years that passed between the time the trial of Bundy ended and the execution and all the families who were still seeking loved ones who were missing and all the evidence of Taylor Mountain?  Why weren’t their cries for resolution heard for decades?  Their loss was never even considered or their cases worked yet in 2011 Ann Marie Burr was investigated as a Bundy case when he always denied she was a victim of his and when Taylor Mountain and Issaquah evidence showed at least 2-3 girls who were never identified – yet their cases weren’t worth investigating?  They weren’t worth looking at thoroughly?  Why wasn’t that vial of blood used to test the materials at Taylor Mountain both retrieved at the site and also at Issaquah and also directly associated to Bundy like the axe handle?  The FBI report claims in 1992 “we’ll never know”.  Why didn’t they search for a vial of blood immediately in 1978 if one was drawn?  Why again was any order given to destroy any evidence?
What about the evidence found at Taylor Mountain and proven by the original search lists…
Has there been any independent testing in a lab certified to do so of the sample given out by FBI to verify the profile?  Has it ever been carbon dated as to its actual date of origin?
Who authorized Bundy to be cremated when DNA was already in its infancy and being used and there were multiple unsolved cases in WA State and other states?
Where is the medical examiner report issued after the execution?  According to Florida law any inmate executed or dying on state premises has to be examined by the medical examiner.  Where are those records and who authorized the image of Bundy post mortem appearing on the internet?
Bundy’s clothing that he wore in prison also would have had DNA on it and so DNA was present all the time that he was incarcerated in Florida and during his entire trial.  Why wasn’t this used when at the same time DNA was being used in Florida in another case and it was known of?  A warrant could have been obtained to test his DNA using his clothing or his blood during the trial – again so why the vial of blood drawn when he was arrested and why wasn’t it put forward as evidence and called out to the attention of the court and to his attorneys and so forth.  Nothing in the Bundy cases adds up to the way the justice system is supposed to work.
How did Robert Keppel get empowered to sue the state of Florida for Bundy’s notes that Bundy had kept in prison after Bundy was executed?  Keppel at the time was an investigator for the AG office of WA, but he wasn’t an AG so why was he able to accomplish this lawsuit?  Why did he sue for all the originals?  Bundy was dead, he was executed in another state and Keppel could have just asked for copies but he didn’t – he sued and he won to get custody of the originals.  What was in those notes that he felt he needed to sue the state of FL to get them?  Obviously it was something he wanted to hide otherwise why bother?  Where are those notes now and who has them and why was Keppel ever allowed to do this and why did he win?  It seems to me unprecedented in its action.

The vial of Bundy blood found in 2011: some concerns & questions related to its provenance and authenticity

According to the FBI report that was circulated publicly, the vial of blood was found in the summer of 2011 either June or July after a Tacoma detective was investigating the case of Ann Marie Burr – a case Bundy always denied being his behind the scenes.  This evidence was located or occurred one month approximately after I first came forward to the regional FBI in Seattle complaining of intimidation, and being blocked from an investigation of my case and also from accessing the justice system as a survivor and witness/victim of that time period.  I had been referred to the regional FBI in WA by the justice department and given a direct access to the victim advocate.  I was turned down.  One month later approximately the blood was located and all inquiries per the AG Office would be refused except where blood could be used.  Now apparently, in 2018 they are starting to look at witnesses and victims yet they still have not reached out to me. And I have supporting documentation of my case.  It proves my case.

I have some very real concerns and valid questions about not only the timing of this find but about it overall.  I have listed them below.

  The FBI states the vial was found in Florida.  News reports state that the blood was taken when Bundy was arrested and was somehow preserved despite an order to destroy evidence.     There are two immediate questions here:  first, why would anyone give an order to destroy evidence in a murder conviction situation?  Who gave that order and why isn’t that order in the public domain?  It should be available FOIA.  I’ve never seen it.  Second, why would you take a vial of blood from him in 1978 when he hadn’t yet been convicted?  Where were his attorneys at the time and wouldn’t you need a warrant for that blood?  Again, where is the paper work for the drawing of the blood? Where is the paper trail and provenance?
What is the actual provenance of the blood – who drew it, when it was drawn, where was it kept, why was it drawn in the first place – who ordered that draw?  Where is the chain of custody paperwork and the trail of paper between 1978 and 2011?  Where was the blood found and who found it – was the find logged in via proper channels?  What condition was it in?  How was it stored over the years?  Who tested it?  An independent lab or the FBI?  How did they prove it was Bundy’s – what sample did they obtain and compare it to?  Where is the actual data of that comparative analysis – where was the comparative sample obtained, how old was it and how did they come by that comparative sample?  If the chain of custody cannot be proven and the blood was in poor condition has it been retested at all independently?   If they had blood before his final appeals why wasn’t the blood evidence there in the vial factored in to his trial in Florida and compared against any found at the scene in Florida?  They had blood evidence but they were relying on teeth marks?  In so serious a case as his?  Couldn’t it have been compared against the semen found?  There was semen evidence from what I’ve read in the bedroom of at least two of the girls and there were also the other items which could have been tested against this blood.  If they indeed drew it at the time of his arrest why wouldn’t it have been used in the trial? DNA was in use at the time.
Here is a link to one of the articles: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ted-bund...
They located the blood after a Tacoma detective started looking into Ann Marie Burr  – a victim of someone but one Bundy emphatically always claimed was not his – even if she was and we will never know that now,  what about all those years that passed between the time the trial of Bundy ended and the execution and all the families who were still seeking loved ones who were missing and all the evidence of Taylor Mountain?  Why weren’t their cries for resolution heard for decades?  Why wasn’t that vial of blood used to test the materials at Taylor Mountain both retrieved at the site and also at Issaquah and also directly associated to Bundy like the axe handle?  The FBI report claims in 1992 “we’ll never know”.  Why didn’t they search for a vial of blood immediately in 1978 if one was drawn?  Why again was any order given to destroy any evidence?
What about the evidence found at Taylor Mountain and proven by the original search lists…
Has there been any independent testing in a lab certified to do so of the sample given out by FBI to verify the profile?  Has it ever been carbon dated as to its actual date of origin?
Who authorized Bundy to be cremated when DNA was already in its infancy and being used and there were multiple unsolved cases in WA State and other states?
Where is the medical examiner report issued after the execution?  According to Florida law any inmate executed or dying on state premises has to be examined by the medical examiner.  Where are those records and who authorized the image of Bundy post mortem appearing on the internet?
Bundy’s clothing that he wore in prison also would have had DNA on it and so DNA was present all the time that he was incarcerated in Florida and during his entire trial.  Why wasn’t this used when at the same time DNA was being used in Florida in another case and it was known of?  A warrant could have been obtained to test his DNA using his clothing or his blood during the trial – again so why the vial of blood drawn when he was arrested and why wasn’t it put forward as evidence and called out to the attention of the court and to his attorneys and so forth.  Nothing in the Bundy cases adds up to the way the justice system is supposed to work.

Ted Bundy & Pornography: His interview before his death on the subject was NOT the first time he’d brought it up – behind the scenes he had been voicing concerns about it for years to authorities….

Ted’s cause and effect excuse of pornography could have been just an attempt to blame someone else and it could also have been an attempt to try and explain influence on a susceptible mind.  After all, we are all influenced to some degree by outside sources, be it friends, family, books, movies, games, whatever.  No matter what the influences, most of us don’t hurt anyone else and we don’t commit serial murder.  So pointing the finger at pornography as a cause is not justified.  Nor is the elimination of it as a contributing factor helpful to understanding behavior.  Behind the scenes it is noted that in FBI studies some serial killers do have problems with pornographic materials being too influential in some of their behaviors.

Nevertheless, officials have been quick to discredit Bundy’s interview as a “last ditch attempt” to save his life or allay his guilt and that last ditch reference simply isn’t true to the records behind the scenes.  There are multiple references and statements to pornography in the records of that time period related to Bundy including at least 2 porno books taken into custody which have never been talked of publicly – one in particular.  These points will be listed below…

more to come.

Ted Bundy & the FBI: the FBI was involved with Bundy before 1977

The FBI website states: “In 1977, Theodore (or Ted) Robert Bundy (1946-1989) escaped from custody while being transported to Colorado to stand trial for murder. Salt Lake City issued an escape warrant that prompted the FBI’s involvement.” The records show that this statement is not entirely true.

In 1973, the WA State Justice and Planning commissioned a report/study on recidivism which was done by “Theodore R Bundy” Corrections Consultant.  This study followed approximately/ [per the records] 1000 people being released from prison without their knowledge and was supported by, and followed by, the FBI, at least on a regional basis with the WA State project reviewed by the Regional FBI.   There are concerns about this project discussed in internal memos as being a potential violation of privacy laws. Bundy interfaced with the FBI regionally on the project per the internal memos of that project and was given access to people’s records and to the courthouse apparently without supervision.  He was a trusted member of the Republican party at the time at a high level and he was also on the crime commission and serving on committees that investigated rape and white collar crime.  The irony is that these are two areas Bundy was already involved with personally having been reported multiple times for records thefts [even in college] at various places and also having been reported to the police for rape in 1972.  Officials may have not known of these activities at the time and only in retrospect but that is not a valid reason for trying to downplay Bundy’s activity in killing in WA State and the two crime scenes that were there.  Bundy was paid for the report on recidivism which he completed and which identified flaws in the current system of the time period – contrary to public statements.  That report detailed multiple flaws in the justice system which allowed criminals to repeat and not get caught.

Additionally, when Bundy was in Utah, the FBI was present there BEFORE he was transferred to Colorado.  This is proven by the 1984 recordings [not redacted] in which Keppel on tape is discussing with Bundy the days before Bundy’s transfer from Utah and how an FBI official was on the scene when Utah was effecting the transfer and so also was Richard Larsen [book author].  It was discussed back then [per Keppel to Bundy] fears about what Larsen would say in a book related to Utah and perhaps to WA State.  The FBI was there it seems to help Keppel in some capacity because the tape states [direct quote] “all of a sudden, they [investigators from another region than WA] show up and FBI called me and said do you want this guy there and I said well I guess I do now, they’re here….” I took the FBI aside and I said, ‘look, this is not good…you’ve got to stay the interview…do something…because it’s just not right this guy’s going to go out there and we don’t know what he’s going to say or what kind of deal he’s going to make with this guy but something’s wrong…so the FBI guy stays in the interview with him…”  The conversation apparently had to do with an informant.  But why is the FBI already there if as they say they were never involved until 1977?

In another statement from the tape, Keppel seems distressed about the situation and says to Bundy about what he said back then, Keppel goes on to tell Bundy about fears of what was going to be put in a book.  Was FBI presence in Utah to prevent Larsen from either becoming aware of information or gaining access to it.  Was it knowledge that Bundy had been working on a project with WA State officials and the FBI?  Larsen’s book went out of print shortly after or near the time Keppel’s book “Riverman” was published with many misstatements and inaccuracies about the time period back then and investigations.  There is also an official letter from Keppel at the AG Office in 1981 to Utah about another author and possibly charging that person with obstruction depending on what a book about to be published said.  To me, this is aggressive tactics on silencing information about the case that is tantamount to bullying and given the information with held about Taylor Mountain raises serious ethical issues.  How much did the FBI know about all of this going on behind the scenes?

In researching the FBI BAU it is stated on the internet that the BAU started in 1972 with the analysis of a New York case that was I believe related to bombing and that in 1974 profiling started and its first serial case was Ted Bundy.  Interesting that the public story is always about 1974 as being where it all started with Bundy, with years prior to that never investigated even though records show clearly Bundy was active prior to 1974, and that the evidence of Taylor Mountain was suppressed and the evidence from Issaquah was mishandled and lost.  They have also supported the story of the decapitation even behind the scenes – did they know that skeletal remains were found at Taylor Mountain and did they have a role in suppressing that information and making sure that evidence was “lost” “sealed” or “destroyed”?

Nearly all activity of Bundy’s in WA State was suppressed related to his killing and to his close involvement with the Republican Party and FBI.  In the records behind the scenes the FBI met with Bundy [more than just Hagmaier] in prison in Florida and even helped him get in touch with the Green River Task Force – but it wasn’t through any attorney – it was through a judge in Tacoma.  Why would the FBI help facilitate communications between a serial killer and the AG Office without Bundy’s defense attorneys and assist with Bundy contacting a judge.  In the original case records there is a letter from Bundy to an FBI official thanking him for the visit to Ted in prison and Bundy stating he could help the FBI with more than just information about serial killer profiling.

How did Bundy, whose family had no money relatively speaking, end up so closely ingrained in relationships with high level officials and with the FBI to the point where they helped facilitate his communications with other officials.   How did he afford college or law school without scholarships or student aid?  How did he get into college and law school without outstanding grades and proof of financial ability.  How is it he never seemingly left a paper trail and officials could never really get any background on him [in the files and also in Keppel’s book that his whereabouts were always mysterious and unknown]   they never fully investigated him all these years – they left the questions open ended even when girls were missing and murder cases remained unsolved related to Bundy.  That too is in the 1992 FBI report – “we’ll never know.”  Perhaps because officials were determined to make sure of it…there is and always will be now suspicions and criticism of Taylor Mountain.  The evidence was there.  The skeletal remains were there.

I don’t know why someone authorized that evidence to be moved out to me.  I don’t know why Ted Bundy allowed me to live when he could have killed me many times while I was in captivity and helpless due to drugging and being restrained but he didn’t.  Perhaps because when it all started when I was in high school his attempts to lure me out and his use of the phone to talk to me to entice me out and to entice me to trust him when his attempts at break-in and outright abduction failed, allowed him to get to know me on a small level and that made it harder.  But he also held other victims for awhile and he did kill them – Laura Aime and Melissa Smith were held and so too was another Utah victim and I would suspect by the lean-to and food wrappers, and bong and thermos and other items that a few victims were held on Taylor Mountain and possibly at Issaquah.

All I can state is that for me having these records and combing through them is closure to a very long and difficult journey.  I’ve lost so much but I have my life.  I want justice for the girls left on Taylor Mountain who were never identified and I want the final justice for families and for myself:  recognition of what’s been done over the years that isn’t within the public expectations of the justice system, redemption [I was indeed a victim and I was not responsible for his actions] and peace – the kind of peace that comes from knowing that what is false is given new light and the cases are viewed more realistically.  The ultimate peace for me will come when the officials finally admit to what has happened in this case and make it right by the public for the decades of deception.  I personally believe if the FBI was involved in this that the agency owes an apology to all the law enforcement people and search and rescue teams who did their jobs only to be betrayed by how they were portrayed in the public eye.  I also want policy and procedure and transparency laws to be more strictly enforced internally within the justice system.