Sara A. Survivor's Blog: "Reconstructing Sara" The Lost Victim of Ted Bundy , page 4

Why Wasn’t DNA Given More Consideration at Bundy’s Trial? It was known in 1989….

NEW INFORMATION IN THE BUNDY CASES



Why wasn’t DNA used by WA State to determine the identity of victims before Bundy was executed???
Ted Bundy was executed in 1989. DNA testing was in its infancy back then but it existed. It had been used, per what I can find on the internet of its history, in 1986 in England. It appeared in the USA by 1987 and was used for the first time in 1987 to gain a conviction. The person convicted was Tommy Lee Andrews and the case was in Florida. Here is a link to an article by the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/06/us/…

That was 1-2 years prior to the execution of Ted Bundy – and the case was in Florida during the time Bundy was on trial. They had to have been aware of the advent of DNA testing. So why didn’t authorities take steps to preserve his blood and other evidence knowing full well that questions remained about how long he’d been killing and WA State knew that unidentified girls had been found [remains] at both the Issaquah and Taylor Mountain sites who did NOT match the girls who were known to be missing. It seems to me that instead of accepting on face value the narrative that has been out there all these years, the public needs to start questioning this case very specifically. Why would you cremate a known serial killer without preserving evidence and DNA? Why would you close cases and then turn it into a media circus? There were victims left behind and other serial killers have left living victims. I was one of Bundy’s living victims. There’s a lot about this case that needs scrutiny.

Why wasn't DNA used by WA State to determine the identity of victims before Bundy was executed???

Ted Bundy was executed in 1989. DNA testing was in its infancy back then but it existed. It had been used, per what I can find on the internet of its history, in 1986 in England. It appeared in the USA by 1987 and was used for the first time in 1987 to gain a conviction. The person convicted was Tommy Lee Andrews and the case was in Florida. Here is a link to an article by the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/06/us/...

That was 1-2 years prior to the execution of Ted Bundy - and the case was in Florida during the time Bundy was on trial. They had to have been aware of the advent of DNA testing. So why didn't authorities take steps to preserve his blood and other evidence knowing full well that questions remained about how long he'd been killing and WA State knew that unidentified girls had been found [remains] at both the Issaquah and Taylor Mountain sites who did NOT match the girls who were known to be missing. It seems to me that instead of accepting on face value the narrative that has been out there all these years, the public needs to start questioning this case very specifically. Why would you cremate a known serial killer without preserving evidence and DNA? Why would you close cases and then turn it into a media circus? There were victims left behind and other serial killers have left living victims. I was one of Bundy's living victims. There's a lot about this case that needs scrutiny.

NEW INFORMATION IN THE BUNDY CASES

I have been silent for quite a while but not due to giving up. What I had not realized in the documents that I had received from officials was that buried in a folder titled simply SAR were the lists of evidence found during the original searches of Bundy's dump sites at Issaquah and at Taylor Mountain. What I found shocked me: the evidence in both was more extensive than what had been reported publicly. In fact, while publicly it has been put forth that Taylor Mountain was less of a find than Issaquah and that only skulls, jawbones were found there along with a single mass of hair, Taylor Mountain was in fact a major crime scene with many pieces of evidence that showed the killing had taken place there [body parts were not moved around] and that there was evidence of possible bondage [snug tie]; animal activity; graves; evidence of weapons and that the killer spent time there. I have put together a formal complaint and filed it with authorities, requesting that an investigation be opened on the new evidence into my experiences back then. I am also trying to inform the public that there has been an injustice done - not only to me as a survivor of that time period, but also to the victims [known and potential] left behind.

UPDATE: An investigation into those years has begun now in response to the evidence I found and my own experiences. I will not know the results for awhile but it's a start. I have been refused that right for over 16 years.

Why the evidence is important to these books, "Reflections On Green River," and "In Defense of Denial" is that Bundy was not a rare case but in fact acting in a manner that other serial killers have done.

What he was stating in the interview of 1984, supported by the evidence found at both Issaquah and Taylor Mountain, shows that Bundy was an experienced serial killer in 1974 with two well developed sites and that the possibility there were other sites was very real and that the information in the Bundy cases should have been protected over the years instead of being released in the manner that it was. It also raises questions about the questioning tactics at the 1989 interview where none of the evidence found at Taylor Mountain was discussed or the evidence at Issaquah - such as the bicycle shift cable noted as a find with a question mark. The girls that were missing and found at Taylor Mountain [heads] were also killed at Taylor Mountain per the evidence and the ME report which stated that they were not decapitated as some have claimed publicly. Several of the claims about the Bundy years which have now seemingly become "fact" are in reality not at all supported by the evidence that was supposed to be sealed for 75 years.

I was traumatized by Bundy and then traumatized by the very justice system I thought would protect me.

It's raw trauma that was delayed many years in its expression but it's real. I still believe the original testimony with all its flaws is of value.

To those who win any of the giveaways of the book Reconstructing Sara please bear in mind that severe trauma causes broken memory and impairs the ability of the person to express what happened.

Reconstructing Sara, my memoir of the years 1970 to 1976, Is Being Withdrawn From Release To Be Professionally Rewritten

“Reconstructing Sara” will no longer be available in a few days. It is being removed from public sale to have it professionally rewritten and organized with more documentation of my travels, locations and other factors, supporting statements by people who knew me, independent investigation of specific situations, as well as more case information that is critical to what happened back then.  The narrative that has been put out about the Bundy years in WA State is embellished for drama and is essentially false.  This narrative claims there was decapitation [not true to original records] that Taylor Mountain was not a major crime scene [not true to the original records and all the evidence found there] and that the narrative of Bundy’s “final confession” was a great revelation [not true – it appears to have been orchestrated and is not supported by any evidence of the original records nor by any evidence found at the crime scenes].

Another statement will be online as soon as the new version becomes available but that will be several months out.

Reconstructing Sara Is Being Withdrawn From Release To Be Professionally Rewritten

“Reconstructing Sara” will no longer be available in a few days. It is being removed from public sale to have it professionally rewritten and organized with more documentation of my travels, locations and other factors, supporting statements by people who knew me, independent investigation of specific situations, as well as more case information that is critical to what happened back then.  Another statement will be online as soon as the new version becomes available but that will be several months out.

Reconstructing Sara Is Being Taken Off Market for a Rewrite with Professional

I am removing Reconstructing Sara from the market. The testimony that it contains is truthful but it is difficult for people to read and understand how it all correlates. I couldn't help that - I truly do have areas of brain damage.

What I can remember is for the most part accurate. I just can't express it in a manner that isn't scrambled up.

I am pulling it to have a professional write it in a manner that is easier to follow and which contains more documentation of what I am claiming as well as more documents associated to the case. Any one wanting a copy of the original testimony as it stands can write to me but this particular testimony will not be available soon [within hours to days] unless by request. Requests and questions can be made through Reconstructingsara.com

Severe PTSD in the context of Severe Brain Injury

Severe PTSD and Severe Brain Injury: Makes it Even Harder for a Victim like Myself to Come Forward
I have just received my first negative reaction to my book “Sara”. It was criticized as boring and repetitive and is posted on another website and not this one. I’d like to share my feelings/reactions to this criticism so that people who have not read it yet have realistic expectations. Most of the comments I’ve received behind the scenes and online are positive. I am not being defensive. I just don’t want people to have expectations that can’t be met.

I have made every effort I could to try and let people know that I did not write this book as an “author” building up a story to achieve some kind of dramatic ending. It’s testimony to the events. It’s not an easy to read book. I know that. I wish I could have been clearer and more organized. I couldn’t. My brain simply wouldn’t allow it even though I write for a living and can express myself very well – I can’t about what happened to me back then.

I am not lying when I say that I have brain damage from that time period. I have all the symptoms now and I had them back then and they are and were documented independently by professionals. They just didn’t understand what those symptoms meant back then. The science had not caught up to what I had experienced at that time. I can’t undo this damage – counseling doesn’t fix it because it is structural damage. I can only go forward. For example, I was documented by the nursing school, by physicians and dentists and friends as having profuse and diffuse sweating. This can be related to psychological stress but it is also a key diagnostic symptom of severe traumatic brain injury. This sweating is documented during the time period of escalation of spring of 1974 through 1975 and it directly correlates to my memories of the severe headaches that were contained in fragments all the way back at least to 2001 if not earlier.

The tragedy for me now isn’t that it happened anymore but in the struggle to get people to believe me and to look past all of the trauma: to tolerate the confusion, repetition, and fragments of my mind that are present in the book and reach an understanding that I am telling the truth and that all of these memory pieces and evidence combined are like DNA – no other person could fit into so many locations, know evidence and fit as many of the characteristics as much as I did back then in the manner that I said it happened. If what happened to me is not factored in to that era, then the understanding of serial killing in context to what happened back then is forever incomplete. I may not be the final solution to the case but what happened to me back then is important to its overall understanding.

You don’t have to like what I’m saying. You don’t have to experience this book like a “book”. I will tell you now honestly it is not an easy read. But please, understand the risks, and cost to me personally, of having to go this route. Look past me personally to what my journey in this represents to others who may be victims of crime with head injuries and struggle like I do when trying to testify and be believed; or who may be in prison now unjustly accused or convicted because of similar practices of law enforcement with-holding or suppressing evidence or by victim/witness bullying. Because that is what some have done to me – they have bullied, using their power and position to deny me my right to access the justice system and have my case evaluated.  Bullying is hurtful to anybody who is victimized by it but when it comes from those in institutions you trust it can be devastating.

While it does hurt to have negative comments from the public, I don’t feel anger to anyone who does not like the book. There are so many issues associated to this book that will take time for people to truly understand.   I am only grateful to each reader that they cared enough to read it. I am a firm believer that sometimes what you don’t like or don’t initially believe can evolve and change over time as you go back and think about things or as new things come to light or as your own life experiences evolve and change you.

But while I am forgiving of people, I am not so forgiving of the institutions and the power people hold in those institutions. In my opinion, no one who serves the public in the justice system has the right to decide who gets access to it and who doesn’t…our justice system was meant for everyone.  I was denied that right.

As I have mentioned several times, there are more issues associated with what happened to me than just those connected to Ted Bundy and his cases. I hope this post clarifies what my book is like so that if you do read it, you are not expecting a “story” and so that you understand I cannot help how scattered and shattered and repetitive and confusing it may be at times. I banged on law enforcement’s door for over a decade; I approached publishers, writers and media for over a decade to get help; and I went to over 40 “victim rights” attorneys and victim organizations and no one would help me.  I never wanted to initially go public at all – but then I felt I had no choice.  At some point, it became more important to me to speak out than to never say anything at all – regardless of the risks to me.

My book Sara is as much a statement about serious brain injury occurring from a violent sexual assault as it is about what happened back then. It is more than just a Ted Bundy story.  I survived because the physical injury did not impact my ability to learn new things or express myself in other ways – but it greatly limited my life and it left me handicapped in many ways. I hope my book helps people understand the symptoms when there is head trauma as well as psychological trauma from sexual assault. — Sara

Severe PTSD and Severe Brain Injury: Even Harder for a Victim like Myself to Come Forward

I have just received my first negative reaction to my book "Sara". It was criticized as boring and repetitive and is posted on another website and not this one. I'd like to share my feelings/reactions to this criticism so that people who have not read it yet have realistic expectations. Most of the comments I've received behind the scenes and online are positive. I am not being defensive. I just don't want people to have expectations that can't be met.

I have made every effort I could to try and let people know that I did not write this book as an "author" building up a story to achieve some kind of dramatic ending. It's testimony to the events. It's not an easy to read book. I know that. I wish I could have been clearer and more organized. I couldn't. My brain simply wouldn't allow it even though I write for a living and can express myself very well - I can't about what happened to me back then.

I am not lying when I say that I have brain damage from that time period. I have all the symptoms now and I had them back then and they are and were documented independently by professionals. They just didn't understand what those symptoms meant back then. The science had not caught up to what I had experienced at that time. I can't undo this damage - counseling doesn't fix it because it is structural damage. I can only go forward. For example, I was documented by the nursing school, by physicians and dentists and friends as having profuse and diffuse sweating. This can be related to psychological stress but it is also a key diagnostic symptom of severe traumatic brain injury. This sweating is documented during the time period of escalation of spring of 1974 through 1975 and it directly correlates to my memories of the severe headaches that were contained in fragments all the way back at least to 2001 if not earlier.

The tragedy for me now isn't that it happened anymore but in the struggle to get people to believe me and to look past all of the trauma: to tolerate the confusion, repetition, and fragments of my mind that are present in the book and reach an understanding that I am telling the truth and that all of these memory pieces and evidence combined are like DNA - no other person could fit into so many locations, know evidence and fit as many of the characteristics as much as I did back then in the manner that I said it happened. If what happened to me is not factored in to that era, then the understanding of serial killing in context to what happened back then is forever incomplete. I may not be the final solution to the case but what happened to me back then is important to its overall understanding.

You don't have to like what I'm saying. You don't have to experience this book like a "book". I will tell you now honestly it is not an easy read. But please, understand the risks, and cost to me personally, of having to go this route. Look past me personally to what my journey in this represents to others who may be victims of crime with head injuries and struggle like I do when trying to testify and be believed; or who may be in prison now unjustly accused or convicted because of similar practices of law enforcement with-holding or suppressing evidence or by victim/witness bullying. Because that is what they've done to me - they've bullied, using their power and position to deny me my right to access the justice system and have my case evaluated.

While it does hurt to have negative comments, I don't feel anger to anyone who does not like the book. I am only grateful to them that they cared enough to read it. I am a firm believer that sometimes what you don't like or don't initially believe can evolve and change over time as you go back and think about things or as new things come to light or as your own life experiences evolve and change you.

But while I am forgiving of people, I am not so forgiving of the institutions and the power people hold in those institutions. In my opinion, no one who serves the public in the justice system has the right to decide who gets access to it and who doesn't...our justice system was meant for everyone.

As I have mentioned several times, there are more issues associated with what happened to me than just those connected to Ted Bundy and his cases. I hope this post clarifies what my book is like so that if you do read it, you are not expecting a "story" and so that you understand I cannot help how scattered and shattered and repetitive and confusing it may be at times. I banged on law enforcement's door for over a decade; I approached publishers, writers and media for over a decade to get help; and I went to over 40 "victim rights" attorneys and victim organizations and no one would help me.

My book Sara is as much a statement about serious brain injury occurring from a violent sexual assault as it is about what happened back then. I survived because the physical injury did not impact my ability to learn new things or express myself in other ways - but it greatly limited my life and it left me handicapped in many ways. I hope it helps people understand the symptoms. -- Sara

Ebook versions are now in release

All three books connected to my experiences with Ted Bundy and case files related to those years are now available in e-book versions:

Reconstructing Sara
Reflections on Green River
In Defense of Denial.

Coming in Feb 2017 - Ebook versions

I am in process now of converting all three of my titles related to Ted Bundy into Ebook formats. They will be released into Amazon and other online outlets the first of February.

This includes the following titles:

Reconstructing Sara
Reflections on Green River
In Defense of Denial

Reflections on Green River contains information that was not released in other versions of the Ted Bundy prison interviews. What is contained in this book are areas of Ted's comments [such as his take on the Riverman's travels to Bellingham, Spokane, etc] that line up directly to where I had traveled, including Vancouver WA and Vancouver Canada and to the bay area of California during the years 1971 to 1973.

In Defense of Denial contains information that also relates to my experiences with Ted and what I have been telling authorities for years: that he was stalking me and that he parked outside my window the night he abducted Georgann Hawkins. That location Ted described in his talk in Riverman and also he commented in his final confession that "someone might have seen me" about where he'd parked that night. There is also the reference to a porno book found at the dump site that was never published and which I had been telling authorities about in memories which predated my receipt of the records.

All three of these volumes that I have released shed light on that time period and reveal that there is another interpretation of events that is supported by the evidence - an interpretation that is vital to the overall understanding of this case and possibly to the cases of some girls who remain missing.