Missing/Murdered Women in Colorado, 1965 to 1979.

Marilyn Joyce Pittwood (November 11, 1965, Pueblo): twenty-one-year-old Pittwood was last seen wearing all western style clothing, specifically green pants and a black shirt; she had been traveling from Swissvale, CO to Pueblo along Highway 50.

Paula Sue Steinbach (June 3, 1966, Aurora): when nine-year-old Steinbach vanished from her Aurora neighborhood, prompting a massive 26-day search by law enforcement and hundreds of community volunteers. On June 29, 1966, her body was discovered hidden beneath the floorboards of a backyard shed at 1657 Clinton Street, the residence of the Lange family, who lived directly across the street from the Steinbach’s: fourteen-year-old Charles Brett Lange confessed to the atrocity shortly after the discovery was made and revealed that he had given Paula Sue a ride on his bicycle and taken her to his backyard shed. After binding her limbs with twine and placing electrical tape over her mouth, he attempted to pull down her shorts, but when she started to scream, he panicked and shook her, then strangled her to stop the noise then concealed her body under the floorboards. In March 1967, Lange was found legally insane and sent to the Colorado State Hospital instead of prison; he was released in 1970 after being deemed restored to reason.

Constance Marie Paris (March 26, 1968, Englewood): at roughly 9:45 PM on March 26, 1968, Paris exited a Denver Tramway bus at Girard Avenue and South Broadway and was attacked on the Little Dry Creek path; on March 31, 1968, her body was found in a roadside dump along West Kenyon Avenue, between Sheridan and Lowell Boulevard in Denver. She had been strangled to death.

Constance Marie Paris (March 26, 1968, Englewood): at roughly 9:45 PM on March 26, 1968, Paris exited a Denver Tramway bus at Girard Avenue and South Broadway and was attacked on the Little Dry Creek path; on March 31, 1968, her body was found in a roadside dump along West Kenyon Avenue, between Sheridan and Lowell Boulevard, in the City and County of Denver. She had been strangled to death.

Joyce Neil (April 13, 1969, Golden): the body of seventeen-year-old Neil was found off Golden Gate Park Road down an embankment; she had relocated to Denver from Arizona and had been working as a nurse’s aide at Mercy Hospital and living in a house with several roommates. She had been stabbed and was found wearing white Levi’s jeans, a striped shirt, and moccasin boots. At the time of her murder, she had been hanging out with men in different motorcycle gangs, possibly the Husky Hustlers.

JoAnne Harris (found on November 16, 1969, El Paso): thirty-nine-year-old Harris was last seen at the Ivy Wild Inn on October 13, 1969; her autopsy revealed she died of strangulation.

Jane Doe (January 1, 1970, Durango): on January 1, 1970 a human skull was found in Durango; it’s believed the victim was between the ages of twenty and forty-nine.

Marilee Ruth Burt (February 26, 1970, Littleton): fifteen-year-old Marilee disappeared while walking home to Columbine Valley after cheerleading at a high school basketball game at Goddard Middle School in Littleton; her brother (who had been driving to their residence separately), recalled seeing a man in a van talking to a girl walking on the road. He later realized it was his sister, who was abducted within a five-minute window. A road crew discovered her nude body the following day in Deer Creek Canyon; she had been sexually assaulted and strangled, and her clothes, books, and purse have never been found.

Lena Dowerman (March 9, 1970, Denver): the seventy-one-year-old widow was found beaten and strangled to death in the apartment complex that she managed on Bayaud Street; little to no information is known about her case.

Helen Beckam (October 6, 1970, Denver): on the afternoon of October 6th, 1970, members of the Denver Police Department responded to the residence of forty-three-year-old Beckam after they received a report of a medical emergency; upon arrival, she was found shot to death.

Marianne Weaver & Cara Lee Knoche (October 13, 1970, Denver): the friends tragic deaths took place inside a rented apartment located at 2555 West 37th Avenue, a structure that was originally built as a grand mansion but had deteriorated into a tenement house by the 1970’s  (it is known today as the historic Lumber Baron Inn).

Pamela Ann Williams (March 8, 1971, Commerce City): sixteen-year-old Williams was dropped off by her mother near 12th and Milwaukee Streets, where she stayed with friends for about a week; on March 8, 1971, a Train Engineer spotted Williams partially nude remains in the bushes near Colorado Highway 2 and East 104th Avenue. It was later determined she had been shot.

Willa C. Berks-Brady (March 27, 1971, Denver): the fifty-one-year-old was brutally assaulted and beaten insider her apartment located on the 1400 block of Glenarm; she died because of the injuries sustained during the attack.

Leeora Rose Looney (August 20, 1971, Lakewood): twenty-year-old Looney disappeared during her shift at a doughnut shop, which was later discovered empty with the cash register open; roughly had been $100 missing but her purse and car were both left behind. Her nude, decomposing body was discovered three days later in a remote pasture on a rural ranch in Weld County, and an autopsy revealed she had been raped, shot twice, then eventually strangled. The investigation led detectives to the McCrary’s, an itinerant family from Texas that embarked on a cross-country crime spree that were ultimately linked to somewhere between twenty and twenty-four murders across multiple states; they often targeted young women who were working alone at night in doughnut shops.

Stanley Anita Moore (December 13, 1971, Denver): the twenty-three-year-old mother and nurse’s aide had been found strangled in her home on the 2200 block of Lafayette Street; she had an eighteen-month-old daughter at the time of her death and was described as outgoing and friendly by her family. Her original paper case file was tragically lost in a police station fire, which created incredible hurdles for future detectives investigating the case.

Loraine Wilson (March 27, 1972, Denver): on March 27, 1972, emergency medical personnel responded to the 100 block of Bannock Street on a report of an unresponsive female, and upon arrival they discovered seventy-four-year-old Wilson, who had been discovered deceased in her apartment; as part of the follow-up investigation, it was determined she had been strangled to death.

Deborah Lea Hudler (May 23, 1972, Denver): the thirteen-year-old disappeared from the Fort Logan Mental Health Center in Denver; she had epilepsy, and at the time of her disappearance took medication for seizures. After her father witnessed some concerning behavior at the facility she was residing at, he filed a complaint to have her removed, and she went missing shortly after.

Dolores House (August 16, 1972, Lakewood): that Wednesday, House went to the Westland Shopping Center to run an errand and at some time called her residence and informed her daughter that she was having car trouble but would be home within a half an hour. She was never seen or heard from again, and her vehicle was later located in the Westland Shopping Center parking lot. Witnesses reported seeing the 1967 Oldsmobile, Vista Cruiser being towed into the lot by a white over maroon Ford Bronco; its driver was described as a white male, between 5’11” to 6′ tall, around 160 pounds, with dark blonde hair, graying and thin on top.

Jane Doe (August 27, 1972, Bailey): the victim’s skeletal remains were located on Forest Road 554, about one mile east of the Park/Jefferson County line in unincorporated Jefferson County. She had been wearing a pair of black women’s shoes, one-inch heels (size 6.5 with a B width and pointed toe and an ‘Apollo’ insole), and a pair of pierced gold colored hoop earrings. She also had on her one brass button and four small ‘pearl’ buttons.

Diana Donaldson (August 29, 1972, Denver): Donaldson had been found shot behind a Northeast Denver residence near the intersection of East 29th Avenue and Marion Street; little to no information is known about her case.

Maxine Ansley (found March 3, 1973, Denver): the nude body of Maxine Ansley was found by a maintenance man who saw her feet in the water near a boathouse building in Sloan’s Lake; her hands were bound together with an electrical cord, and her mouth had been taped shut. Investigators also found a coat (that had a slit cut up its back), slippers, and a bra in the lake. Autopsy results indicated that she had died due to suffocation caused by drowning and she had visible wounds on her body.

Elizabeth Katherine Frye (June 9, 1973, Centennial): the forty-five-year-old settled into her normal weekend routine of cleaning her house, and her husband, Herbert, later claimed that he spent part of the morning helping her with chores before he left to go and watch their son’s karate class in Boulder. He told police he returned home late in the day with their son, only to discover his wife brutally bludgeoned to death in their garage. The case sat cold until the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department cold case team officially reopened it in 2005, and the breakthrough came from a hidden family secret: prior to her death in 1995, Herbert’s mother Lolita revealed to her daughter that her son had privately confessed to killing Elizabeth. Compelled by this confession and life insurance policies totaling over $149,000, a grand jury indicted the then eighty-one-year-old Herbert Duane Frye for first-degree murder in January 2007. The following year a district court judge ruled that the sister’s testimony about the mother’s statement was inadmissible hearsay (as there was no corroborating evidence regarding the circumstances or details of the alleged confession) and because of this, prosecutors were forced to drop the charges against Frye.

Linda Vernell Thompson (June 18, 1973, Colorado Springs): twenty-year-old Linda Thompson had just dropped her young son off at her babysitter’s house near Airport Road when she was shot by an unknown assailant in the front yard of that residence; she managed to walk back inside the house and ask for help, then collapsed on the floor. She was taken to St. Francis Hospital, where she later died of her injuries.

Mary Byrd (found on July 1, 1973, Colorado Springs): on July 1, 1973, the Colorado Springs Police Department received a call about a possible dead body in the Palmer Park area of Colorado Springs. Upon investigating, they found the remains of Mary Byrd, who had been deceased from multiple stab wounds. Later in the investigation it was determined that Byrd came to Colorado Springs to work as a prostitute; several POI were interviewed, however no suspects were ever identified.

Kathy Sue Wells (found on September 3, 1973, Portland): the nineteen-year-old had been shot seven times with a .22 caliber gun and her body had been found on a parking strip (near SE 61st Avenue and Stark Street)

Harley & Esther Moon (found on September 8, 1973, Portland): the couple were discovered by Eugene police, dead of ‘chop wounds to the head; neighbors said they had not seen them since a few days prior to the discovery.

Delores Thompson & Gwendolyn Fulce (found on September 8, 1973, Portland): Roy Lee Jernigan, the father of twenty-four-year-old Delores Thompson’s 2.5-year-old son, came to her rented home on the 500 block of North Ivy Street to pick up the boy, and upon arriving he discovered Delores and her best friend, twenty-one-year-old Gwendolyn Fulce bludgeoned to death (most likely with a hammer).

Rebecca Hernandez (September 20, 1973, Denver): on the afternoon of September 20, 1971, twenty-three-year-old Rebecca Hernandez and her child were walking home after shopping at the grocery store, when they were confronted by a pair of unknown suspects near 34th Avenue and Marion Street: the suspects shot Rebecca and stole her wallet. She died from the injuries sustained during the robbery.

Brenda Joyce Pierce (August 30, 1973, Colorado Springs): twenty-one-year-old Brenda Pierce was the victim of a stabbing in the 200 block of South Prospect Street.  

June Kowaloff (October 20, 1973, Denver): the twenty-year-old University of Denver mathematics major was found stabbed on her front porch near the 2300 block of South Race Street.

Roxanne Leadbeater (November 19, 1973, Platteville): a fifteen-year-old from Redondo Beach, California whose unidentified remains were found by hunters along the St. Vrain River in Platteville. For fifty-one years, she was known as Weld County’s oldest ‘Jane Doe,’ but in late 2024 investigative genetic genealogists successfully identified her. Her cause and manner of death and how she ended up in Colorado remain unknown.

Beverly Jean Pagarigan (January 1, 1974, Breckenridge): little information is known about this case.

Peggy Ann Reynolds (disappeared on June 4, 1974, Breckenridge): Peggy Reynolds was last seen while boating with three friends on the Blue River near Silverethorne when the rowboat capsized. The other passengers were able to make it safely to shore, but she presumedly drowned. Divers discovered her life jacket about a half mile from where the boat capsized but her body has yet to be recovered. Reynolds was last seen wearing a dark blue turtleneck, plaid shirt, blue corduroy, white underwear and bra, brown hiking boots, her gold wedding band and possibly earrings.

Colleen Kay Burgess (August 31, 1974, Englewood): thirty-one-year-old Burgess left her job at Frito Lay in Denver and never returned home; roughly one week later one of her close friends received a letter (strongly believed to be written by Colleen) that said she had a terminal illness and left home because she didn’t want her husband and four children to see her suffering. It was the last time anyone has heard from her, and she may have left in a 1967 green Chevrolet Nova.

Kathleen Louise Salamat-Baldwin (December 5, 1974, Denver): the twenty-five-year-old was found stabbed to death in her Capitol Hill apartment when a friend went to check on her when they became concerned after several failed attempts were made to contact her.

Diocela Espino-Simpson (December 6, 1974, Denver): twenty-two-year-old Diocela Espino-Simpson had moved to Colorado from Texas about two years prior her murder; during her time in Denver, Diocela and her roommate were employed as seamstresses at Gerry’s Sporting Goods store, and on the day she disappeared she left work early and went home. When her roommate came home later that day, she found Diocela dead inside of their residence.

Betty McDade (December 7, 1974, Denver): twenty-two-year-old Betty McDade was found dead in her apartment; she had been stabbed and strangled. Little to no information is known about her case.

Margaret Renee Armbrust (reported missing on January 1, 1975, Golden): Margaret and her husband Anthony moved from California to an apartment in Golden in late 1973; around that time, they sent letters to members of their church in San Diego to come get their belongings and their puppy, and shortly after they went missing. Anthony was terminally ill at the time of their disappearance and its strongly suspected they went to Colorado with the intentions of killing themselves. On February 11, 1974, two teens hiking in Guanella Pass in Park County came across a body partially frozen in the ice, and in October 2020, the remains were identified as Anthony’s; according to his autopsy, he died not long after he disappeared. It’s believed he was climbing the rocks, looking for a higher place to jump when he slipped and fell to his death. Margaret remains missing.

Caryn Eileen Campbell (disappeared on January 12, 1975, Snowmass Village): originally from MI, twenty-three-year-old Campbell was vacationing in Snowmass Village with her fiancé (Dr. Raymond F. Gadowski DO) and his two children when she was abducted from the lobby of the Wildwood Inn. A month later her beaten body was discovered on Owl Creek Road, just west of the Sinclair Divide; it was this case that led to Ted Bundy’s initial arrest in Colorado.

Elizabeth Gail Andrews (January 18, 1975): at about 5:30 AM on January 18, 1975 Andrews was found lying on the floor of her home; little to no information is known about her case.

Harriett Perez (February 10, 1975, Denver): on the evening of February 10, 1975, the Denver PD were called to the residence of twenty-six-year-old Perez to conduct a welfare check; once inside, they discovered her deceased.

Julie L. Cunningham (March 15, 1975, Vail): Cunningham disappeared early in the evening after she left her Apollo Park apartment to see a friend at a local tavern. Although he was never charged in her case, Ted Bundy confessed to her murder: he said that he lured her into his vehicle by posing as an injured skier on crutches and asked her to help him carry his ski boots to his car. From there, he knocked her unconscious, placed her in his Beetle then drove her to a remote area about eighty miles west of Vail and raped her. He then strangled her and disposed of her body in a shallow grave near Rifle in a high desert area with a circular drive and some large trees; despite Bundy’s confession, her body has never been recovered.

Denise Lynn Oliverson (April 6, 1975, Grand Junction): Oliverson decided to go for a bike ride to visit her mom and dad in Grand Junction after having an argument with her boyfriend; when she didn’t return that evening, he assumed she had decided to stay the night. She never arrived at her parents, and the next day her sandals and bicycle were found under a viaduct near a railroad bridge close to the Colorado River on US Route 50. She is strongly suspected to be a victim of Ted Bundy, who later claimed to have dumped her body into the Colorado River roughly five miles west of Grand Junction.

Sheila Sawyer (found on April 10, 1975, Craig): Sawyer’s remains were discovered at dawn by two truck drivers lying on the east side of US Highway 13 (seven miles south of Craig) close to the old Sterling Hard Ranch; the Moffat County coroner determined she had been shot three times with .38 caliber bullets. She had been working as a clerk at Scotty’s Liquors the night before her body was discovered, and at around 11 PM a customer found the store unattended and reached out to police.

Melanie Suzanne Cooley (April 15, 1975, Nederland): eighteen-year-old Cooley was last seen hitchhiking, and had last been last seen wearing jeans, a blue jean jacket with an embroidered eagle on the back, and tan colored boots; a road maintenance worker found her remains on May 2, 1975 in Coal Creek Canyon. The coroner determined she had had been hit over the head repeatedly with a large rock.

Linda Benson & Kelley Ketchum (July 24, 1975, Grand Junction): twenty-four-year-old Linda Benson and her five-year-old daughter Kelley were found dead by a neighbor in their Chateau Apartment: Linda was found in the master bedroom, and Kelley was in the hallway. Both victims had been stabbed multiple times. On October 27, 2010, Jerry Nemnich was convicted of first-degree murder in relation to their deaths.

Mary Theresa Gushurst (November 18, 1974, Denver): on the morning of November 18, 1974 eighty-one-year-old Mary Gushurst and her husband were inside of their residence in the 100 block of South Elm Street when they were attacked by an unknown intruder. They were both severely beaten and required immediate hospitalization: Mr. Gushurst survived his injuries, but his wife succumbed to them one month later.

Portia Leon Perez (March 19, 1975, Commerce City): Perez was reported as missing to the Denver PD by her son, Herb Denton; several months later, the black/dark blue vehicle she owned was found abandoned on the street. As was customary, it was towed to the impound lot and during a customary search, she was found deceased in the trunk.

Marjorie Sue Fithian (June 23, 1975, Greeley): Fithian and her eighteen-month-old son, Dylan Sage Fithian, were supposed to return from a family visit in Denver to their home in Greeley but they never boarded their bus; instead, she was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head later the same morning on a desolate gravel road about fifty miles from Denver. Her son sat nearby and was thankfully uninjured (despite sitting amidst broken glass); he had been found clutching her hand.

Kathleen Tennant (June 30, 1975, Pueblo): after an unknown car pulled into her driveway, Tennant was fatally shot in front of her home and she was approaching it (there are many neighboring witnesses that corroborate this story); the assailant was driving a late 1960’s greenish-blue Mustang.

Bertha Behrent (July 1, 1975, West Denver): eighty-six-year-old Behrent lived alone in her residence located at the 1700 block of Irving Street, and after her a family member was unable to make contact with her, they reached out to the Denver PD; upon entry she was found deceased, and it was determined she had been beaten and strangled.

Shelley Kay Robertson (July 1, 1975, Arvada): the twenty-four-year-old was determined to be missing after she failed to show up for her job in Golden; on August 21, 1975, two mining students discovered her naked and badly decomposed remains roughly five hundred feet inside an abandoned mine on Berthoud Pass. She is strongly suspected to have been a victim of Ted Bundy.

Vinnie Lee Newbury (July 23, 1975, Commerce City): Newbury was found deceased in her apartment located at 5591 East 70th Avenue; she was last seen the night before by several friends who had visited her at her residence. Little to no information is known about her case.

Rebecca Bell (disappeared on August 25, 1975, Denver): on August 24th, 1975, nineteen-year-old Rebecca Bell went to spend the night at a family member’s home, and the following day she was unaccounted for and a Missing Person’s Report was filed with the Denver PD. On August 26th, 1975, construction workers discovered her remains in the South Platte River near the 15th Street Bridge, and an autopsy determined that Rebecca’s death was the result of drowning.

Patricia Botham & Linda, Chad, and Troy Miracle (October 1975, Grand Junction): on the night of August 22, 1975, twenty-five-year-old Patricia Botham, twenty-four-year-old Linda Miracle, and Linda’s sons, five-year-old Troy and three-year-old Chad vanished from their neighboring homes under mysterious circumstances (food was left on the kitchen tables, and no cars or extra clothing were taken). Linda’s remains were found in the Gunnison River on September 26, 1975 (roughly 18 to 25 miles southeast of Grand Junction) and Patricia was discovered on October 2, 1975; the following day, the bodies of Chad and Troy were also found in the river. They had been weighted down with pieces of railroad iron tied with coaxial cable and thrown from a bridge: the women had been asphyxiated, and the two young boys had been shot. Patricia’s husband, Kenneth H. Botham Jr., was arrested and charged with the murders and in 1976, a Mesa County jury convicted him of first-degree murder for his wife’s death and second-degree murder for the deaths of Linda, Troy, and Chad. Though his first conviction was overturned by the Colorado Supreme Court, he was retried, convicted again in 1982, and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Teree Becker (found on December 6, 1975, Brighton): the twenty-year-old went missing after leaving home on December 4, 1975 to go visit her boyfriend, who was incarcerated at the Adams County Detention Center; two days later two men out riding motorcycles found her remains in a Westminster field located at approximately 100th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard; she was partially clothed, had been raped and asphyxiated. In 2024, DNA technology officially identified her killer as Thomas Martin Elliot, a career criminal who died by suicide in 1991.

Deborah Kathleen Tomlinson (December 27, 1975, Grand Junction): Tomlinson was found in her apartment (located at 1029 Belford Avenue) lying partially clothed in a bathtub. She had been sexually assaulted, bound and strangled, and a gash on her forehead suggests she may have fought with her attacker; authorities have no evidence that a weapon was used. The manager of the apartment complex found Tomlinson’s body around 6:00 PM after she used a pass key to enter her locked unit when she grew worried that repeated phone calls were not answered, the bedroom window was left open, and the toilet was left running.

Billie E. Harris (May 29, 1976, Denver): on the afternoon of May 29, 1976, members of the Denver Police Department responded to a home located in the Baker neighborhood on a report of a shooting. Once inside the residence, the officers found fifty-six-year-old Billie E. Harris shot to death along with her roommate, Cecil Richards.

Gayle Noelle Page (September 5, 1976, Brighton): on September 5, 1976, Page was found near 100th Avenue and Highway 2 just west of the railroad tracks; she was last seen on August 26, 1976.

Doris Evon McKinley (September 7, 1976, Denver): on the evening of September 7, 1976, thirty-four-year-old McKinley was visiting friends on the 3000 block of Welton Street in Denver’s Five Points Neighborhood. While they were listening and dancing to music, an unknown suspect fired a shot into the residence; she was struck by the round and immediately collapsed. Police and emergency medical personnel responded and transported her to a local hospital, but she died from the gunshot wound she sustained.

Rebecca Ann Kellison (disappeared on June 19, 1976, Denver): Kellison left her sister’s residence in Denver and it’s possible that she may have been hitchhiking home to Aurora. On December 26, 1977, some of her shoes, some clothes, her blue shoulder purse, and her Armed Forces Dependent ID card were found buried in a rural farmer’s field in Adams County, Colorado.

Mary DeLaughter-Panzan (June 27, 1976, Denver): at the time of her murder Mary was a runaway from out of state and lived at various places around the Capitol Hill area; she went by both Mary Panzan or Mary DeLauther. On June 27, 1976, police officers in the parking lot across the street from The White Spot Diner heard what sounded like a gunshot; upon investigating they found the body of twenty-three-year-old DeLaughter, who had suffered from a gunshot wound. Further investigation found Mary and a friend were walking by the diner when multiple men in a car pulled up and told them to get in, and when they refused, the driver pulled out a gun and shot her.

Sharon Marie Copp (August 16, 1976, Pueblo): on August 16, 1976, a fisherman discovered a plastic bag on the banks of the Pueblo Reservoir that contained human remains; hours later, another plastic bag was found containing more remains approximately twenty miles away on Pueblo’s east side. The investigation quickly identified the victim as Sharon Marie Copp, a thirty-four-year-old mother of three girls. Copp had been beaten and sexually assaulted, and it was determined that she died from blunt force trauma.

Pamela Jean Bluemel (disappeared on December 11, 1976, Lakewood): on the evening of Saturday, December 11, 1976, Pamela Jean Bluemel was last seen attending the joint wedding reception of two sisters and two brothers at the VFW Hall located in the City of Lakewood. On August 18, 1977, her body was located near Balsam and West Colfax Avenue, in Lakewood; her cause of death is unknown.

Tina Grant (December 26, 1976, Denver): during the early morning hours of December 26, 1976, a passer-by noticed the body of twenty-two-year-old Grant lying on a dirt field just off the road near West 7th Avenue and Alcott Street.

Lillian Hurtado (July 8, 1976, Denver): on July 8, 1976, the Denver Police and Fire Departments responded to the Connection Bar at the intersection of Alameda Avenue and South Zuni Street to a structure fire; twenty-two-year-old waitress Lillian Hurtado was one of two people that died due to smoke inhalation, and her death was being investigated as an arson-related homicide due to its suspicious nature.

Maria Loraine Honzell (February 7, 1977, Colorado Springs): fourteen-year-old Maria Honzell was found stabbed to death on February 7, 1977 at the Suncrest Apartments, where she was babysitting: the woman who had hired her to watch her children made the discovery when she returned home, and she notified the Colorado Springs Police Department that she’d found Maria dead of stab wounds on the floor.

Beverly Jean McCool (February 7, 1977, Lakewood): on February 6, 1977 at approximately 9:00 PM, Beverly McCool left her residence on West Warren Drive to go for a walk; she has not been seen or heard from since.

Zdenka Kalendovsky (February 7, 1977, Denver): forty-year-old Zdenka Kalendovsky was a physician at a medical clinic located near the intersection of East Colfax Avenue and Washington Street; on the day she was killed after she finished work, she walked across the clinic’s parking lot to her vehicle, and it was at this point that an unknown suspect wielding a firearm confronted her: he shot Dr. Kalendovsky, and then immediately fled the area. The victim was transported to a local hospital but died because of her injuries.

Patricia Bowden (June 7, 1977, Sedalia): on June 7th, 1977, forty-one-year-old Patricia Bowden and her husband, Roy Bowden, were found dead in their home; there was no sign of forced entry into their house and it’s assumed that they were familiar with their killer.

Christine Michelle Jones (September 1, 1977, Boulder): at about 1:00 PM on September 1, 1977, Boulder County Sheriff Deputies responded to a reported drowning in Left Hand Creek, one and one half miles above Buckingham Park in Left Hand Canyon: the body of Christine Jones had been found face down in the creek by her family, who went to find her after she did not return home from washing her car at the creek. She was suffered from a single gunshot wound to the back of her head.

Carol Lynn Scott (September 19, 1977, Colorado Springs): on December 19, 1977 the body of eighteen-year-old Carol Scott was found near the City of Colorado Springs Municipal Service Center on its access road; she may have been kidnapped from a phone booth while making a call on December 18, 1977, as a friend of hers reported being on the phone with her when they heard a verbal argument between Carol and an unknown male. Further investigation led police to believe there was a struggle at the phone booth.

Irene Cruz (November 2, 1977, Denver): the twenty-eight-year-old rented a room at the Bean Hotel, which was located on the 2100 block of Arapahoe Street; on November 3, 1977 housekeeping staff found her deceased in her room, and it was determined that she had been strangled.

Maria Abbatiello-Smith (November 20, 1977, Denver): six days after thirty-year-old Smith was reported missing, her body was discovered in a vacant field close to the 700 block of Mariposa Street.

Katherine Sue Barnum (February 19, 1978, Aurora): twenty-four-year-old Barnum resided in an apartment near the 900 block of South Salem Street with Randal Francis Arnold; the two had been living together for approximately two months at the time she went missing. When he was questioned, Arnold speculated that she went to California with an unknown male and joined the ‘Hare Krishna’s'(which is a mystical, monotheistic sect of Hinduism formally and is a Western branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavismy). She was reported missing by her sister, Bonnie Buckley the following year, and a DEA informant provided information that her body may be somewhere a mine shaft near Central City.

Baby Jane Infant (May 18, 1978, Greeley): little information is known about this case.

Jeanette Louise Baca (June 11, 1978, Conifer): Baca’s nude remains were found by two hikers at the bottom of a ten-foot embankment, roughly 6.7 miles south of US Hwy 285 on Foxton Road; it was suspected she had been deceased somewhere between five and ten days. On June 20, 1978, some of her personal belongings were found roughly a mile and a half from where her body was recovered, and some of them had been burned.

Alma Anderson (July 10, 1978, Denver): eighty-three-year-old Alma was the target of a violent purse-snatching incident in the 1300 block of South Federal Boulevard in Denver, outside a Skaggs Drug Store; she suffered severe injuries from the attack and tragically passed away three days later.

Pauline Uhl (August 4, 1978, Denver): the fifty-six-year-old was found unresponsive inside her Capitol Hill home located near the 800 block of East 11th Avenue; she had been strangled to death.

Barbara J. Bradley (August 30, 1978, Trinidad): Bradley was twenty-nine-years-old; little to no information is known about her case.

Vivian Christine Velarde (October 27, 1978, Denver): Velarde was found stabbed and lying in the street near a vehicle parked in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Madeleine Livaudais (December 7, 1978, Denver): thirty-three-year-old Livaudais was in her north east Denver home (located near the 1600 block of Poplar Street) when an unknown suspect came to her front door, forced his way inside, and stabbed her to death.

Christine Cashman (December 8, 1978, Denver): shortly after midnight on December 8, 1978 a call to Denver 911 was placed reporting gunshots in the area of West 7th Avenue and Klamath Street; the reporting officers found thirty-three-year-old Christine Cashman, who had been shot to death.

Peggy Sue Gaylord (found on December 12, 1978, Colorado Springs): eighteen-year-old Peggy was last seen hitchhiking south on Highway 115, south of Colorado Spring; her body was discovered along Barrett Road and it was later determined that she died of blunt force trauma.

Bonita Raye Morgan (March 27, 1979, Denver): Morgan was found strangled behind the Dewitt Hotel in the alley of the 1500 block at Glenarm and Tremont Streets; little to no information is known about her case.

Martha Ruth Brunhoff (June 3, 1979, Littleton): around 1:30 PM on Monday, June 4, 1979, a neighbor and friend of Brunhoff’s returned to her home on South Pearl Street to feed her cats while on her break from work, and when she walked past Martha’s apartment (which was located on the same block) she noticed that one of her windows was broken. After she attempted to contact her with no success, the friend ran returned to her apartment with her spare key, and when she opened the front door (which had a chain lock on the inside) she could see Brunhoff, slouched over on her sofa. She then ran to the back door, unlocked it and went inside, where she found Martha covered in blood with a gunshot wound to the head: she was sitting with her left leg crossed over her right with a half burnt cigarette in her left hand, and a television guide in her lap. Further investigation revealed that the gunshot penetrated the window from the outside in, and an analysis of the lead projectile obtained from the crime scene concluded that it came from either a .38 Special or 357 Magnum bullet; the weapon used most likely was a Colt revolver, or a Garate Anitua. Some residents that lived close to Brunhoff reported they heard a possible gunshot between 9:30 PM and 10:30 PM on June 3, 1979.

Sandra JoAnn Rushing (June 15 , 1979, Lakewood): Rushing was driving her sister’s vehicle when she was shot and killed; no suspects have ever been formally charged, and the true motive behind the shooting remains an unresolved mystery.

Kimberly J. Grabin (August 18, 1979, Centennial): on the morning of August 18, 1979, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a field near Interstate-70 and Gun Club Road, where they discovered the remains of seventeen-year-old Kimberly Grabin: she had been beaten, strangled and left on the side of the road.

Marie Ann Blee (November 22, 1979, Craig): fifteen-year-old Blee was last seen alive on November 21, 1979 at a party at a trailer in the Shadow Mountain Village Mobile Home Park; she told a friend that she had a ride home with an unidentified driver during sometime in the early morning hours and was last seen wearing a purple collared V-neck top, a brown velvet vest, jeans, and a leather rope necklace.

Evelyn Kay Day (November 27, 1979, Greeley): little to no information is known regarding this case.

Judy Hird (April 11, 1979, Greeley): little to no information is known regarding this case.

Jeanette Marie Jones (April 26, 1979, Aurora): the Aurora Police responded to a shooting in the 1500 block of Alton Street and found the victim in the stairway area with a single gunshot wound to the back; a suspect was seen fleeing from the scene.

Norma Jean Halford (August 24, 1979, Georgetown): twenty-one-year-old Halford was last seen on August 24, 1979 in Georgetown, Colorado. Her vehicle was found abandoned 6.4 miles up Guanella Pass Road on August 22, 1979; it had been tagged by the Colorado State Patrol.

Linda Ruth Hutchings (September 1, 1979, Golden): a family out picking cattails found the remains of seventeen-year-old Hutchings down an embankment, near Indiana and West 82nd Avenue; she had been reported missing to the Arvada Police Department on August 15, 1979 and was last seen at a friend’s apartment in Lakewood wearing white jeans, a white peasant-style top with embroidery, and tennis shoes (and possibly also a red coat). She left the residence in the early morning hours of August 15th and left a note telling them she was headed home; friends believed she had intended to hitchhike.

Roxanne ‘Dixie’ Valverde (December 18, 1979, Denver): on the evening of her death thirty-four-year-old Valverde met friends at some local bars to watch the Denver Broncos game; the following morning, her body was found near the roadway at East 46th Avenue and Glencoe Street. She had been strangled.

Rita Sellers (December 16, 1979, Golden): little to no information is known about this case.

Gary Leon Ridgway, Case Files: Part Three.

Documents courtesy of the King County Sheriff’s Department.

David Richard Berkowitz, Arraignment Details.

David Berkowitz was arraigned in the Criminal Court of New York, County of Kings on August 11, 1977 on charges of murder in the second degree, attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, and criminal possession of a weapon, and was represented by attorneys Phillip Peltz and Leon Stern; the prosecution was represented by DA Eugene Gold and Assistant DA Ronnie Aiello. Berkowitz was charged with killing Stacey Moskowitz and injuring Robert Violante with a .44 caliber revolver on July 31, 1977. 

Documents Related to Dennis Rader & Sedgwick County Court.

Documents related to Dennis Rader/BTK post-arrest, courtesy of Murderpedia.

Information Related to Bryan Kohberger Taking Back his Guilty Plea.

Page one of the questionnaire related to the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page two of the questionnaire related to the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page three of the questionnaire related to the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page four of the questionnaire related to the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page one of the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page two of the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page two of the affidavit.
The text of what the affidavit said.
The transcription of the handwritten affidavit.

Missing/Murdered Women in Washington state, 1965 to 1975.

Here is a complete list of missing/murdered women from Washington state from 1965 to 1975.

Lisa Wick and Lonnie Trumbull (June 23, 1966, Seattle): Wick and Trumbull were twenty-year-old United Airlines flight attendants who were brutally attacked in their Seattle apartment in 1966: Lonnie Ree Trumbull suffered a fractured skull and severe brain hemorrhaging and tragically succumbing to her injuries, but Lisa E. Wick survived, but was left critically injured and suffered permanent memory loss regarding the incident. A third roommate, Joyce Bowe, was not home at the time of the attacks. It is a case famously suspected of being linked to Ted Bundy (who had been nineteen at the time), however he denied any involvement and there is no official evidence tying him to the case.

Ruby Agnes Schwanbeck-Lampson (reported as missing on June 6, 1967, Spokane): Lampson lived in an apartment above the Falls View Tavern (a popular local establishment with a rowdy reputation) and was known to frequent and even work at the establishment; she was last seen alive at the nearby Hi-Neighbor Tavern with an unidentified, much younger man. Four years after she vanished, on November 16, 1971, her skeletal remains were discovered in a shallow grave in the remote woods of the Seven-Mile ORV Park (a 600-acre off-road vehicle area located inside Riverside State Park near Spokane); due to the advanced decomposition of her body, medical examiners were unable to determine an exact cause of death. The suspected killer of Dorothy Fielding was Duke J. Pierson, a former detective for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department.

Dorothy Fielding (reported as missing on August 19, 1967, Spokane): frequented the same local tavern as Ruby Lampson; found in April 1968. disappeared in August 1967 and was found in a shallow grave eight months later in April 1968 at the Seven-Mile ORV Park. She was an avid member of the tavern’s bowling team. The suspected killer of Dorothy Fielding was Duke J. Pierson, a former detective for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department.

Susan Galvin (discovered on July 13, 1967, Seattle): the twenty-year-old records clerk for the Seattle Police Department had recently moved to the area from her childhood home in Spokane; after failing to show up for work, her body was discovered inside a parking garage elevator at the Seattle Center complex. Autopsy results revealed that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

Verla Helen Winter (October 21, 1968, Kent): Last seen at home after she had an argument with her estranged husband, who stayed at the residence and supposedly went to bed. When he awoke, his wife and all of her belongings had disappeared, as well as $400 in cash; she left behind two children who were raised by her parents. Prior to this, Verla was in frequent contact with her family by phone and mail.

Linda Mary Louise Garrison (November 19, 1968, Sumner): about a month before her disappearance the nineteen-year-old had been thrown from a horse and had been treated for back injuries; it’s unknown if the injuries she sustained resulted in scarring or indications of trauma to the bones. She left home after a horse ride.

Murders Linked to John Dwight Canaday (1968–1969, Renton): I am going to touch on the murders committed by John Canaday as a whole, who is a lesser-discussed serial killer from Washington state that killed three women between late 1968 and early 1969. On the evening of December 17, 1968, pregnant newlywed Sandra Darlene Bowman was stabbed to death in her home after she opened the door to her Ballard apartment and apparently let her killer in; she was later found in her bedroom, tied up, raped and stabbed repeatedly, court documents say. On the evening of January 4, 1969, twenty-one-year-old Mary Annabelle Bjornson was at her apartment preparing dinner for a friend when a man knocked on her door claiming he was experiencing car trouble to gain entry. Once inside, he threatened her with a knife, tied her wrists, and drove her to Seattle’s Seward Park, where he strangled her. Canaday’s final victim was twenty-year-old University of Washington junior (some records mention her attending Washington State University) Lynne Carol Tuski, who vanished while walking to her car in northern outside a north Seattle department store; according to her autopsy, he strangled her to death. John Dwight Canaday was apprehended by police on February 22, 1969; he confessed to the murders,saying he strangled his victims and left their remains in Snohomish County; he died on December 26, 2012, while serving his time at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center.

Laura Lee Asynithe Flink (February 21, 1969, Aberdeen): Flink was last seen driving her live-in boyfriend’s 1967 Red Ford Ranchero toward Moclips at about 4 PM on Friday, February 21, 1969 (where she was supposed to pick up some furniture and children’s clothing); she never arrived at her intended destination. Flink’s brown leather wallet was found on a Hoquiam, Washington sidewalk on February 23, 1969, and the vehicle was subsequently recovered on February 24, 1969 (also in Hoquiam). Flink’s wallet was mailed by the Hoquiam Police to her Aberdeen post office box, where it was never picked up. She never returned to her waitress job, and there has been no contact with any family or friends since; she had no alternate source of income, and she left behind a sixteen-month-old son, who she had just won full custody of through the courts.

Dorothy May Thompson (August 25, 1969, Walla Walla): Thompson was fifty-three-year-old at the time she was last seen alive and had been in the custody of Walla Walla penal authorities; upon her release, official records state she was provided with a bus ticket to travel to Vancouver along with explicit instructions to report to a designated officer immediately upon arrival. While penal authorities confirmed providing the ticket, investigators note there is no official verification or proof that she ever boarded the bus; she never checked in with the officer in Vancouver and has not been seen or heard from since.

Murders Linked to Gary Gene Grant (1969–1971, Renton): I am going to touch on the murders committed by Gary Grant as a whole, who is a lesser-known serial killer who raped and murdered four young women in the Renton area between 1969 and 1971. Often referred to as ‘Seattle’s Forgotten Serial Killer, Grant was only eighteen when he began his killing spree, targeting victims who were primarily children or young teenagers: he killed nineteen-year-old Carol Adele Erickson on December 15, 1969, while she was walking home from the Renton Municipal Library; she was stabbed and raped. Grant killed seventeen-year-old Joanne Zulauf on September 20, 1970 after she left her home to take a brief walk before dinner. When she failed to return, her family reported her missing, and her body was discovered two days later in a heavily wooded area; she had been attacked and strangled. On April 20, 1971, Grant committed his final two murders when he abducted two six-year-old boys that were in their front yard playing: he threatened Scott Andrews and Bradley Lyons with a knife and took them into the woods less than two miles away from the Bradleys’ residence; he beat them both and then stabbed Andrews then strangled Lyons. Their bodies were found two days later, and when examining the crime scene, investigators found footprints of the offender’s tennis shoes, of which plaster casts were taken. Following his arrest, Grant confessed to the four murders on April 30, 1971, however, during his trial, he denied legal guilt by claiming he was legally insane. On August 25, 1971, a jury rejected his insanity plea and convicted him of four counts of first-degree murder; he was sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison.

Grace Foster (1970, Olympia): one-year-old Foster vanished during a family picnic in Olympia sometime in the summer of 1970. Despite the case going cold, Grace’s older brother, Daniel Foster, never gave up hope. He spent decades holding onto the belief that his little sister was still alive somewhere.

Patricia Garrison (January 5, 1970, Olympia): seventeen-year-old Patricia Garrison was found stabbed in a hospital parking lot on January 5, 1970 in Olympia; two days later she died from the over twenty stab wounds and injuries that she sustained in the attack.

Bertha Louise Burke (February 20, 1970, Port Angeles): Burke was a twenty-nine-year-old mother of three when she disappeared on a Friday night in early 1970: she had tucked her young children into bed at their East 13th Street home, and she was gone when they woke up in the morning. She left behind her purse, clothes, and all of her other personal effects.

Gladys Thelma Williams (February 20, 1970, Seattle): Williams was last seen on February 20, 1970 when she dropped her children off at her sister’s residence. Very little information is available about her disappearance.

Jeannette Rose Miller (September 16, 1970, Arlington): seventeen-year-old Miller was last seen walking on the Lincoln Bridge in Arlington, Washington.

Nancy Mae Richards-Winslow (July 26, 1970, Bellingham): twenty-three-year-old whose disappearance and murder became a noted unsolved cold case. Due to the timing, location, and nature of her disappearance, her case has frequently been studied by true-crime researchers investigating unconfirmed victims of the serial killer Ted Bundy.

Janice Marie Hannigan (March 1, 1971, Wapao): the sixteen-year-old was was discharged from a hospital on December 24, 1971. Janice was suffering from numerous bruises on her chest and head when she was admitted to a hospital three days prior. According to her hospital discharge summary, Janice was admitted to the hospital with multiple contusions around the head. It’s not known which hospital Janice was admitted to or the cause of her injuries. She was discharged in satisfactory condition. She never arrived home after her discharge and she hasn’t been seen since. At the time of her disappearance, Janice was living with her father on family land west of Harrah. Their parents were separated and the six younger children were with their mother in Buena.

Joyce Margaret LePage (July 22, 1971, Pullman): on the evening of Thursday, July 22, 1971, Joyce took a skydiving lesson with a friend, went out for a beer afterward, and was dropped off outside her off-campus apartment around 10:00 PM. This was the last time she was seen alive. She failed to show up for classes the next day and missed a planned weekend trip to visit her family in Pasco.

Marilyn Kay Pratt (October 8, 1971, Spokane): Marilyn was last seen on the evening of October 8, 1971 by her husband and friends at a local restaurant. Marilyn’s husband was working as a bartender at the race track. Marilyn was supposed to meet her husband at the track that evening, to bet on a race with him. She didn’t make it, so he placed the bet anyway and lost, which made him angry.

Jamie Grisim (December 7, 1971, Vancouver): climbing into Forrest’s light-blue van near downtown Vancouver. Her remains were found exactly two years later in a shallow grave on Clark County parks property at Tukes Mountain. Jamie Grissim has been missing since December 7, 1971, after she vanished while walking home from Fort Vancouver High School in Vancouver, Washington. Although she was initially categorized by police as a runaway, her high school identification card and purse were found months later along a rural road in the Dole Valley area, prompting authorities to treat her disappearance as a homicide. Her remains have never been found, and her disappearance stands as the oldest active missing person case in Clark County.

Ivah McDonnell (December 2, 1971, Pasco): the sixty-year-old was found dead inside her home at 5008 W. Sylvester Street; she had been brutally beaten with a blunt object, knocked unconscious, and strangled to death with her own pajama bottoms. Her wallet, a change jar, and items of lingerie were missing from the scene. DNA profiling matched Samuel Evans to the crime scene, though he died in prison for a separate murder.

Alisa ‘Lisa’ Francine Watson (January 1, 1972, Tacoma): Alisa had left the family home and may have been living at an apartment in the Seattle area. No contact with family since 1972.

Pamela Burrows (January 1, 1972, Seattle): Pamela and her boyfriend were going to visit her sister in Minnesota, but they never arrived and she was never heard from again; he later told her sister that she had been killed, but it was never confirmed and her body has not been found.

Nancy Jane Liptrap (January 12, 1972, Des Moines): Liptrap was a sixteen-year-old student at Mt. Rainier High School in Des Moines when she was abducted on her way to school and viciously attacked on January 12, 1972; her body was discovered in a field not far from her home.

Barbara Ann Derry (disappeared on February 11, 1972, Vancouver): was an 18-year-old homicide victim from Washington State who is believed to be one of the earliest victims of Southwest Washington serial killer Warren Leslie Forrest. Derry was last seen on February 11, 1972, hitchhiking along State Highway 14. She was traveling from Vancouver toward her hometown of Goldendale, Washington. On March 29, 1972, her body was discovered by a woman hunting.

Kerry Hardy-May (June 13, 1972, Seattle): in June 1972, Kerry was in a period of transition, having recently separated from her husband. After she failed to show up at her family home to help them pack for a trip, her mother reported her missing to the Seattle Police Department. Her whereabouts remained a complete mystery for nearly 40 years. On September 6, 2010, a backhoe operator digging a waterline trench near a golf course at the Suncadia Resort in Roslyn, Washington, uncovered human remains in a shallow grave. Along with the bones, investigators found a gold wedding band and remnants of blue material. In June 2011, the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office officially identified the remains as Kerry May-Hardy. The breakthrough came after her family noticed a striking resemblance between a forensic composite sketch circulated by authorities and Kerry. The identity was conclusively confirmed via DNA testing by the University of North Texas Center for Human Remains, using a profile her mother had proactively submitted in 2004.

Althea Dayle Blankinship (March 27, 1973, Port Townsend): Althea Blankinship and her son Jeffrey, were last seen in the City of Port Townsend, WA, where they were residing at the time. They were last reported to have been dropped off at SeaTac International Airport. Althea had made plans to travel to Greece with Jeffrey to meet her parents who were already there on vacation. Family members became concerned when it was evident that Althea and Jeffrey never arrived in Greece. They have not been heard from or seen since. Foul play is suspected.

Salie Belle Maxi Signani (June 1, 1973, Renton): she was recently divorced and left home to live with another man. She failed to show up for work on a Monday in early June 1973. Investigation done at that time was apparently lost. A new case originated in 2003.

Jody Loomis (August 23, 1972, Bothell): was a 20-year-old woman from Bothell, Washington, who was sexually assaulted and murdered on August 23, 1972. Her case went unsolved for nearly five decades until it was cracked using groundbreaking forensic genetic genealogy. On the afternoon of August 23, 1972, Jody left her home on her bicycle to visit her horse, Saudi, at a local stable. She never arrived. Roughly 30 minutes after she was last seen, two people discovered her disrobed and suffering from a gunshot wound to the head in a heavily wooded area of Snohomish County (in what is now Mill Creek Road). She was still barely breathing when found but was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.

Murders Linked to James Edward Ruzicka (1973-1974, Seattle): I am going to touch on the murders committed by James Ruzicka as a whole, who is a lesser-known murderer from Washington state; in1973, twenty-three-year-old Ruzicka was arrested and later pled guilty to second-degree assault with intent to rape after attacking a twenty-one-year-old woman at knifepoint in her Capitol Hill apartment in Seattle. Instead of receiving a standard prison sentence, Superior Court Judge David W. Soukup suspended his ten-year term, and Ruzicka was sent to Western State Hospital after being legally classified as a ‘sexual psychopath.’ In January 1974, he escaped custody from the facility and within weeks, he went on to kidnap, rape, and murder two teenage girls in West Seattle (sixteen-year-old Nancy Kinghammer and fourteen-year-old Penny Marie Haddenham) before he eventually fled to Oregon, where he was ultimately apprehended.

Teresa Kay Davis (November 1, 1973, Tacoma): Teresa was staying with her sister in Tacoma, Washington. On November 1, 1973, Teresa’s sister came home and found that Teresa was not there. The front door was left open and all of Teresa’s belongings remained in the home. Later, her sister reportedly received a letter from Teresa sent from Anchorage, Alaska, but there was no further contact.

Katherine Merry Devine (November 25, 1973, Olympia): fourteen-year-old Kathy was murdered after running away from her Seattle home and hitchhiking on November 25, 1973. Her remains were discovered on December 6, 1973, by caretakers at Camp Margaret McKenny in the Capitol State Forest near Olympia, Washington. An autopsy revealed she had been sexually assaulted and killed by a knife wound to the neck. The mystery was finally solved in 2001 when the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab utilized modern DNA technology to test physical evidence preserved from the crime scene. The DNA perfectly matched William Earl Cosden Jr., a convicted rapist who had already been serving a prison sentence since 1976.

Lynda Ann Healy (January 31, 1974, Seattle): a 21-year-old American college student who became the first widely confirmed murder victim of the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. She was known by her peers and family as a talented musician who was full of life, self-assurance, and compassion. She attended Newport High School before enrolling at the University of Washington (UW).At the time of her disappearance, she was a senior majoring in psychology and was scheduled to graduate that year. Deeply invested in helping others, she regularly worked with mentally handicapped children. Alongside her studies, she worked part-time for Western Ski Promotions, broadcasting morning weather and ski condition reports to 20 local radio stations across Washington and Oregon.Disappearance and MurderIn early 1974, Healy lived in a pale green off-campus house on 12th Avenue Northeast in Seattle’s University District with four female roommates.On the evening of January 31, 1974, Healy went out to a local establishment with friends, returned home, spoke to her boyfriend on the phone, and went to sleep. During the early morning hours of February 1, 1974, Ted Bundy broke into her basement bedroom. He knocked her unconscious, dressed her in blue jeans and a blouse, and carried her out to his vehicle while her roommates slept undisturbed upstairs.The next morning, her roommates noticed she was missing after her radio alarm clock kept buzzing continuously and she failed to show up for her scheduled morning broadcast. When police examined her room, they found her bed neatly made, but discovered her nightgown hanging in the closet with blood stains on the collar, along with blood on her mattress and pillowcase.

Heidi Birgit Peterson (February 21, 1974, Seattle): a four-year-old girl who was tragically abducted from the front yard of her Capitol Hill home in Seattle on February 21, 1974. Heidi was playing outside with her 2.5-year-old brother when she vanished. Her disappearance sparked one of the largest and most extensive law enforcement searches in the history of the Pacific Northwest at the time. Nearly a year later, on January 24, 1975, her remains were discovered in a park just a block away from her home. Investigators believed her remains had been moved there later, as the park had been thoroughly searched initially; o this day, her killer has never been identified.

Donna Gail Manson (March 12, 1974, Olympia): Manson was last seen at 7:00 PM on campus at Evergreen State College in Olympia by a college roommate whom she told she was going to attend a jazz concert being held on the campus; she was reportedly last seen between the dorms and library on the way to the concert. Ted Bundy confessed on death row to abducting Manson from the Olympia campus but never specifically said where he left her remains. As of July 2026 they have never been recovered.

Susan Elaine ‘Sue’ Rancourt (April 17, 1974, Ellensburg): an eighteen-year-old college student who became the third known murder victim of Ted Bundy. On the evening of April 17, 1974, Sue attended a meeting for future residence hall leaders at Munson Hall. After the meeting concluded around 10:00 PM, she began walking back to her dormitory. Witnesses on campus later recalled seeing a man with his arm in a sling wandering near the parking lots (which is a common ruse Bundy liked to use).

Brenda Joy Baker (May 25, 1974, Maple Valley): the fourteen-year-old was brutally murdered in Washington state in May 1974. She has long been suspected of being an unconfirmed victim of the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. The details surrounding her disappearance and the subsequent investigation include: Brenda lived with her family in Maple Valley, Washington, and had a history of running away from home. On May 25, 1974, she spent two days staying with friends in Sumner, Washington, who tried to convince her to go home. She refused, stating she was trying to hitchhike south toward Portland, Oregon. She was last seen alive getting into a pickup truck with two men at an on-ramp near Puyallup, Washington. Because her family immediately noticed her absence, they filed a missing person’s report the same day she vanished. On June 17, 1974, approximately three weeks after she went missing, her highly decomposed remains were discovered by chance in an isolated section of Millersylvania State Park in Thurston Count

Diane Sue Gilchrist (May 29, 1974, Vancouver): a teenager from Vancouver, Washington, who went missing on May 29, 1974, at the age of 14. Decades after her disappearance, she is heavily suspected by law enforcement to be a victim of convicted Washington serial killer Warren Leslie Forrest. She was last seen on May 27 or May 29, 1974, leaving her family’s home in the 1800 block of Franklin Street in downtown Vancouver, Washington.

Gloria Nadine Knudson (May 31, 1974, Vancouver): Gloria Nadine Knudson (which I’ve also seen spelled Knutson) was a nineteen-year-old woman that went missing on May 31, 1974 and is a suspected victim of serial killer Warren Leslie Forrest. At the time of her murder she was almost finished with her senior year at Hudson Bay High School and was last seen after visiting a friend’s house on Grant Street, where she reported that an unknown man had chased and stalked her. She left to walk home and never arrived. Her remains were later discovered in 1978 near Lacamas Lake.

Brenda Carol Ball (June 1, 1974, Burien): twenty-two-year-old Ball is the fifth official murder victim of the American serial killer Ted Bundy.( grew up in Washington and graduated from Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines, Washington. Described by friends and family as a petite, “free and fun-loving spirit,” she stood 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighed 112 pounds, and had long brown hair and brown eyes. She had taken classes at Highline Community College but decided to drop out a couple of weeks before her disappearance. At the time, she was living with roommates in an apartment in Burien, Washington. On the evening of May 31, 1974, during Memorial Day weekend, Brenda went out alone to the Flame Tavern, a neighborhood bar in Burien. She had mentioned to her roommates and friends earlier that day that she hoped to find a ride out to Sun Lakes in eastern Washington to join them at a campground later that weekend

Krista Kay Blake (disappeared on July 11, 1974, Vancouver): twenty-year-old Blake was kidnapped and murdered in Washington in July 1974 by Warren Forrest; she was last seen climbing into his light blue Ford Econoline cargo van near downtown Vancouver.

Georgann ‘George’ Hawkins (June 11, 1974, University of Washington, Seattle): Hawkins disappeared from the University of Washington campus after 1am on June 11, 1974. She was last seen in the alley outside of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. She had been to a fraternity party earlier in the evening, and visited her boyfriend, Marvin Gellatly, on the way back to her sorority house. As she left Beta Theta Pi, Georgeann spoke with another friend, Duane Covey, who spoke with her from his second-story window that faced the alley. After saying goodbye to her friend, she headed down the alley toward her sorority house, Kappa Alpha Theta. She never arrived. Ms. Hawkins is the victim of serial killer, Ted Bundy, who confessed to kidnapping and murdering her before his execution in 1989. He confessed to killing her in a remote area “across Mercer Island, east past Issaquah, up the hill, down the road, and up to the grassy area.” Bundy claimed that Georgeann’s remains were found with two of his other victims, Janice Ott and Denise Naslund, in Lake Sammamish State Park; investigators had found an extra leg bone and extra vertebrae at the site, but had been unidentified at the time and – so far – were never positively identified as Georgeann’s.

Janice Ott & Denise Naslund (July 14, 1974, Issaquah): Bundy abducted twenty-three-year-old Janice Ott and nineteen-three-year-old Denise Marie Naslund were abducted four hours apart from Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah; it quickly became one of the most notorious moments during the hunt for ‘Ted,’ marking the first time investigators realized the killer went by the name and approached multiple women in broad daylight on the same day That Sunday Lake Sammamish State Park was incredibly crowded, and had around 40,000 visitors, many attending an annual picnic held by Rainier Beer.

Joyce Tyer Jones (November 17, 1974, Bellingham): little is known about the final days of Joyce; she went for a walk and never returned home.

Vonnie Joyce VanDriel-Stuth (disappeared on November 27, 1974. Burien): was initially suspected to be another victim of Bundy, Vonnie was abducted and murdered by serial killer Gary Addison Taylor; the nineteen-year-old newlywed disappeared from her apartment in Burien, Washington. When her husband, Todd Stuth, returned home from work after midnight, he found the lights and television on, an unfinished Thanksgiving meal on the table, and his wife gone. Her only previous hint to family had been a mention of a neighborhood man coming to the door to offer her a dog.

Laurie Lynn Partridge (December 4, 1974, Spokane): on the day she disappeared Partridge left Ferris High School early, complaining about not feeling well walking at 37th & Havana Streets on Spokane’s South Hill. Unable to get a ride, she decided to walk the two-plus miles to the home where she lived with her parents and five younger siblings, saying the air might help her feel better. The family reported her missing after she failed to show up for work that evening at Lincoln Heights Theater. Initially, sheriff’s deputies thought she might have run away from home, given her displeasure when the family moved to Spokane from California, but by the time she vanished she had started to establish roots (she was also engaged to a twenty-year-old man). The couple planned to pick out engagement rings the day Partridge disappeared, and her fiancé was questioned extensively several times but never ruled a suspect.

Lorelee Sue Lhotka (January 1, 1975, Seattle): Lhotka was last seen on some unspecified date in 1975, when she left home to go to a doctor’s appointment; she was supposed to take the bus, but she may have hitchhiked instead, and she never arrived at the doctor’s office. She has never been seen or heard from again. In 1978, Lhotka’s wallet was found at Blewitt Pass in the Wenatchee National Forest.

Diana ‘Dinah’ Peterson (February 14, 1975, Shoreline): sixteen-year-old Dinah snuck out of her family’s home in the Innis Arden/Richmond Beach neighborhood to visit her older boyfriend (whom her parents disapproved of). Later that night, her dad discovered her body in their backyard; she had been stabbed. For decades, investigators primarily focused their attention on Peterson’s then-19-year-old boyfriend, Timothy Diener, who had been arrested shortly after the murder but was never formally convicted (investigators struggled with a lack of concrete evidence). In December 2007, King County Sheriff’s cold-case detectives arrested and charged James Eric Groth, who was also sixteen at the time of the crime and lived two houses away from the Petersons; authorities determined that Groth had been infatuated with Peterson and grew violently jealous of her dating an older guy.

Hallie Ann Seaman (April 29, 1975, Seattle): Seaman was an honor student just two terms away from finishing her master’s degree in architecture and was last seen working late at her drafting table inside the University of Washington’s architecture building. The following afternoon, a passerby discovered her body hidden in the bushes near a parking lot on Eastlake Avenue East; she had been sexually assaulted and repeatedly stabbed. Her case remained an unsolved mystery until advanced DNA testing identified her killer as Charles Rodman Campbell.

Jo Carrol Sanders (July 6, 1975, Camas): the fourteen-year-old was last seen alive near her residence, which was described as being ‘a tight-knit neighborhood where she lived with her father’ and investigators confirmed she was abducted in broad daylight by someone driving either a yellow or green van. Her body was discovered three days later in a gravel pit roughly ten miles east of Camas in Skamania County.