The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History (9 page)

Washington investigators believe this may be a picture (and if so, the only one) of Bundy sitting in his Volkswagen, temporarily blocked from moving by a string of police cars. One of Bundy's intended victims who followed him that day to the parking lot at Lake Sammamish but refused to go with him identified his car as being at this location and under this tree (courtesy King County Archives).

As they made their way through what was now beginning to be an immense crowd, he said, "This is out of sight, there are so many people." He also inquired as to where she worked and lived. "He stopped many times to hold his arm against his body as if it was hurting," Graham explained. "He said he hurt it playing racketball. Then he asked me if I ever played it ... said it was a lot of fun." As they entered the parking lot he pointed out his car, a VW Bug, "metallic brown in color." Surprisingly, it had neither a boat attached to it, nor a trailer to place it upon. When she asked about this, he responded: "It's at my folks' house. It is just up the hill." Shaking her head no, she said she couldn't do that as she was meeting her husband and parents in a few minutes. "Oh, that's okay; I should have told you it wasn't in the parking lot." Walking back towards the large mass of humanity, he was again apologetic. "Thanks for coming with me; I should have told you it was not in the parking lot." Graham would later emphasize how pleasant he was. "He was very polite ... very sincere ... and did not get upset when I told him I would not go with him."36

Leaving Janice Graham at the concession stand to wait for her family, he continued walking in the direction of the bandstand. Still standing there eating a snow cone, about ten minutes later Graham spotted him coming towards her with another female who was pushing what appeared to be a yellow 10-speed bicycle. "I thought to myself," she remembered, "that it didn't take him very long to get someone else to go to the parking lot with him." That was the last time Graham saw him.

Because of the distance between Snyder and Ott, his ability to hear the conversation between the two of them was quite limited. However, others who were sitting much closer to the couple would give authorities a more detailed description of the encounter.

Theresa Marie Sharpe, twenty-six and a housewife from Waltham, Mass., sat within ten to fifteen feet from the pretty blond with long hair parted in the middle. The following is taken from her statement of July 17, 1974. Speaking of the girl, she said, "She was dressed in blue jean Levi cut-offs, real short, similar to hot pants, an off-white midriff blouse with three or four buttons. She took these articles of clothing off and sat down in her swimsuit ... she put on cocoa-butter.... Prior to laying down, she laid her 10-speed bike down in the sand, in front of where she was going to sit. The bike was bright yellow."

At 12:30 P.m., Sharpe said, "A guy came walking up to her. He said something about a sailboat. It sounded like, Will you help me with my boat, or Would you like to ride in my boat. The girl sort of hesitated, but then said can I bring my bike with me. He said, sure, okay. She thought the boat was at the lake, and he said no, it was at his parents' house. She looked like she wasn't going. I couldn't hear what was said then, but then I heard her say, under one stipulation, that I meet your parents. He said, sure. Then she said I don't know how to sail. He said that's OK, it will be easy to teach you. She asked him if there was room in the car for the bike. He said it will fit in the trunk. She got up, slipped her blue-jeans and her top on, and then she picked up her beach bag.... The two of them then left."

Her description of him was quite similar to all the others: "6', 180-185 lbs., his hair was brown and about collar length, wavy. He had a tan ... his shirt was white, with some type of design, I don't remember what it was. He wore white shorts, similar to a swimsuit [and] his left arm was in a sling." There was something about the sling that bothered her: "I didn't feel his arm was really hurt. I do remember he took his arm from the sling and moved it around."37

Sylvia Valint was a fifteen-year-old the day Janice Ott disappeared from Lake Sam, as it is known to the locals. Even so, she would deliver one of the most accurate descriptions of what occurred between killer and victim on that hot July afternoon in 1974. Getting such a clear and concise description of events from one so young is somewhat unusual. Most children her age would not remember a seemingly inconsequential conversation, much less be able to articulate it. She sat only two feet from Janice Ott.

"This guy came up to her," Sylvia explained to Detective Robert Keppel the following Wednesday. The report states: "He is about 5'6" to 5'7", med. build, blondish brown hair down to his neck, parted on the side, had (a) dark tan, left arm in a sling. The cast started at [the] wrist and bent around the elbow. He had on white tennis shoes, white socks, white shorts and a white `T' shirt. He said, `Excuse me, could you help me put my sail boat onto my car because I can't do it myself because I broke my arm.' She said, `Well, sit down and let's talk about it ... where's the boat?' He said, `It's up at my parents' house in Issaquah.' She said, `Oh really, I live up in Issaquah.' She said, `Well, OK.' She stood up and put on her clothes. She picked up her bike and said, `Under one condition, that I get to ride in the sail boat.' He said, `My car is in the parking lot.' She said words like, `Well, I get to meet your folks then."' She told him her name was Jan. He introduced himself as Ted. He was smooth talking, Sylvia said.38

It was a beautiful day. He was handsome and articulate. He'd started a conversation with Janice in front of hundreds of people. They walked through an immense throng of people on the way to the parking lot and everything pointed to this being a normal situation. But it wasn't. As Janice Ott closed the passenger door of his light brown VW, she was entering a world so horrible, so nightmarish, that it defies imagination. In this world, the overriding emotion is paralyzing fear, and he would use this terror to his advantage. More than that, it would be an igniting fuel, propelling him forward. He would take her terror within himself and it would empower and arouse him sexually. It is the monster revealed.

Their drive would be short, to a pre-selected area. Their conversation would consist mainly of banter or chit-chat, for it was all part of his plan. "Reinforcing the ruse," he would call it.39 What he was about to do, he'd do to an object, and as soon as he'd taken control, there would be few words spoken between them. He didn't want anything popping up that would make her more human or cause him to view her as a person. She was now his plaything, and would remain so throughout the afternoon.

But today would be different. His overwhelming need to possess and kill another human being would not be satisfied with the taking of only one; no, he would have to abduct a second young woman just to quench what was inside him. That pre-eminent need to destroy (something he would later refer to as being like a malignancy) would take him to new heights today. He'd be taking risks he'd never taken before, and the confidence he had in his ability to snatch his victims whenever he desired would prove to be correct. Yet a tiny crack would finally emerge in his cloak of secrecy, allowing the investigators (and the public at large), their first look, and their first real clue that would eventually lead them to this phantom killer of women.

Around 4:00 P.M., Jacqueline Plischke of Seattle arrived at the park on her bicycle. As she peddled to the location where bikes could be parked and locked, she noticed a man staring at her. His left arm was in a sling, she said. Her attire at the time was "blue-jeans, sort of cut-offs, and a pink, very brief bikini top."

After securing her bike, she walked over to the water skiers' jumpingoff point at the lake. Within fifteen minutes she saw that the same man who had been watching her as she entered the park was now coming straight towards her. After saying hello, he said, "I was wondering if you could help me put my sailboat on my car?" "I'm not very strong," she said. "It's better that I asked someone who was alone," he countered. "I'm waiting for someone," she shot back. Seeing this was going nowhere, he said, "Oh, I see," and began walking towards the restrooms. The time of this encounter was approximately 4:20 P.M.4o

Authorities would later discover that only moments before he watched Jacqueline Plischke riding her bike, he attempted to convince sixteen-yearold Sindi Siebenbaum to follow him to his car. "I was heading back from the restrooms when a man who was walking towards me said, `Excuse me, young lady, could you help me launch my sailboat?' I then asked him what he had done to his arm; he stated that he'd sprained it and he couldn't find anyone to help him. I told him I was sorry, but I couldn't help him because I had people waiting." Not wanting to take no for an answer, he told her the "sailboat was up the beach, and ... it would only take a few minutes." This discussion apparently continued a minute or two longer until she had had enough. "I finally just told him I was sorry and left. The last I saw of him he was walking towards the restrooms."41

Patricia Ann Turner believed it was around 4:15 when she was approached by the man whose arm was in a sling. "As I walked to the concession stand, he followed me," she remembered. "We talked to each other on the sidewalk.... He said, `I need to ask a really big favor of you.' I looked at him as if I didn't understand. He said, `I normally wouldn't ask this favor but my brother is busy and is unable to help.' He sort of pointed in the direction of the parking lot. I said: `Well, I am sort of in a hurry to go.' He said: `That's OK.' He just stood there for a few seconds, that's when I walked on to the concession stand. I glanced off into the crowd and saw him walk away. 1142

It was a numbers game. He knew that. His eyes kept scanning the crowd. There was another victim out there just waiting to accept his offer. He just needed to be patient. He would keep concentrating on those traveling to and from the restrooms and the concession stand. Despite the fact he was somewhat tired from the day's activities and found himself to be a little more forceful in his persuasion and even a little more edgy, he could still pour on the charm once he detected a receptive heart.

Around 4:30, Denise Naslund, eighteen, a pretty girl with long, dark hair parted in the middle, carefully raised herself up from the beach towel shielding her from the ground. As she did so, she steadied herself momentarily as she was still feeling somewhat drowsy from the downers and beer she'd had earlier in the day. She made no attempt to awaken Ken, nor did she say anything to Bob or Nancy. She was only going to the restroom and would return in a few minutes.

Denise Naslund was pretty, friendly, and wasn't even supposed to be at Lake Sammamish on what turned out to be the last day of her life (courtesy King County Archives).

At the same time Denise was leaving, moving slowly so as to give her legs time to steady themselves, it was reported that a man with a sling on his left arm "was walking back and forth in front of the restroom." According to a witness who later positively identified Denise from a photograph, she was in fact the one who stopped to speak with this man after leaving the bathroom. This would be the last known sighting of Denise Naslund. Sixteen days after her disappearance, her good friend Robin Woods would warn detectives: "If she was high on July 14, 1974, she would be loose [meaning relaxed]. If the guy was a smooth talker and good looking, Denise would then help him."43 Sadly, she hadn't even planned to be at Lake Sammamish that day.

Earlier that morning, Denise and her boyfriend Kenneth Little (they had been living together for the past nine months), received a call from Bob Sargent and his girlfriend Nancy Battema inviting them to go to Lake Sammamish for the afternoon. They thought it was a great idea, and the couples agreed to meet at Charlie's East Tavern around 12:15 for a quick beer. Leaving Bob's car at Charlie's, they (along with Little's dog) rode in Denise's tan Chevrolet, stopping only once along the way to purchase ice for their cooler, and arrived at the park between 1:00 and 1:30 P.M.

Although they had a case of beer with them, Sargent admitted: "En route to the park, Denise, Ken, and myself each ate four valiums." After parking her car they "walked to the main picnic area, and took up a spot halfway between the bathroom and the Rainier bandstand. At the parking lot we had met Don Cook and two girls who were friends of mine and Nancy's. They joined us at our picnic spot. The seven of us shared a marijuana joint. We sat and talked and drank beer and listened to the band. Then, Denise, Ken, Nancy and I went over and watched the keg toss until it was over," Sargent remembered.