Discovery Of Remains May Unlock Mystery -- Man Held; Bodies Believed Those Of Wife And Sons

For 12 years, the family of Barbara Bender has been waiting and wondering what happened to her.

Her mother imagined she was in a witness-protection program and unable to contact her family. A cousin suspected foul play and wanted authorities to dig up her garden in Federal Way and look for bodies.

On Wednesday, the remains of three people were found in a storage locker in Federal Way. A Puyallup man purchased the contents at auction after Barbara Bender's husband, who rented the locker, failed to make payments for the past six months.

Although the King County medical examiner has not positively identified the remains, authorities believe they are those of Barbara Bender, then 36, and her sons Brian, 9, and Mark, 16. All three died of blows to the head from a blunt object, the medical examiner said.

Her husband, Mark "Bill" Bender, 50, was arrested last night in Nampa, Idaho. Prosecutors today filed three counts of first-degree murder against Bill Bender in King County Superior Court in Seattle.

"I've been waiting for word from her so long," said Barbara Bender's mother, Bette Jones, in Sheridan, Wyo. "But at least this is better than not knowing what happened to her."

Detectives found the bodies wrapped in plastic in Unit 929 of Shurgard Storage on Pacific Highway South in Federal Way.

Detectives also found two garbage cans containing three sets of bedding soiled by what could be blood. They also found a hatchet and

documents identifying the three victims, who had head injuries consistent with those caused by a hatchet, court documents say.

George Gennai, the Puyallup man who discovered the bodies after purchasing the contents of the locker, said they were each wrapped several times in landscaping plastic and bound with baling wire. On top of each plastic-bound body was a crucifix, a set of rosary beads and a Bible, he said.

Prosecutors are asking that Bill Bender, a car salesman, be held on $1 million bail. He was to be arraigned in Caldwell, Idaho, today on a charge of being a fugitive. He will be read the charges filed against him in King County and given the opportunity to either accept or fight extradition to Washington.

HIGH-SCHOOL SWEETHEARTS

Barbara and Bill Bender were high-school sweethearts in Miles City, Mont. They moved to Washington shortly after their marriage. Jones said her daughter seemed happy.

"She was a good girl. You couldn't ask for a better mother," said cousin Harriet Haworth of Miles City.

In April 1980, a neighbor of the Benders in Federal Way saw Barbara Bender loading a U-Haul with belongings. It's believed she was planning to leave her husband and take the children with her, said King County Police spokesman Rick Chubb.

No one ever saw Barbara Bender again.

Her family was puzzled. Jones said she contacted police, the FBI, other family members, anyone who might have a clue to her whereabouts. But she heard nothing. She said she wanted to believe her daughter was still alive, perhaps in a witness-protection program.

For some reason, Barbara Bender was not listed by King County Police as missing until February 1985, when Haworth's husband, Virgil, filed a report. Virgil Haworth, who died in 1989, strongly suspected foul play, his wife said, but couldn't prove anything.

"Every time we tried to get information from authorities, we hit a brick wall," said Barbara Bender's cousin, Dale Mangen of Miles City. "I think the police thought she just ran off, but we knew she wouldn't do that."

At one point, Mangen said, Bill Bender told her that she had a new car and $10,000 and had taken off.

Linda Hawk, manager of the storage facility, told police the unit was rented by Bill Bender on April 14, 1980. The contract for the Shurgard unit was in his and Barbara's name.

Bender is a former manager at Gem Top Sales Inc. in Federal Way. In late 1981 he was charged with second-degree theft in King County Superior Court for allegedly pocketing $648 paid by a customer for a truck canopy.

That theft charge was dropped when Bender was convicted of attempted robbery in Idaho and sentenced to three years in prison.

3 WERE LAST SEEN IN 1980

A former co-worker, Ray Shafer, this week saw news accounts of the deaths and contacted detectives. He said Bender told him in 1980 that his wife had left him and taken his two children to California, according to court documents. Shafer noted that Bender appeared nervous when he said it.

During the next two days, Bender asked to borrow Shafer's truck so he could move furnishings into storage. Bender declined Shafer's offer of help and returned the truck with a trailer hitch attached to it, the documents said. Two weeks later Shafer learned Bender had moved his furnishings into the Shurgard storage facility.

Shafer also told police that he last talked to Bender's youngest son, Brian, on April 11, 1980, and that each time he asked Bender about his family he was evasive and said his wife was the kind of woman who would leave and never call again.

And court documents say Shafer's wife, Eleanor, got a call from a woman who identified herself as Bender's stepdaughter, who said she was living with him and his new wife in Nampa, Idaho. The stepdaughter asked Eleanor if she knew anything about the storage unit and why her stepfather would continue to pay rent on it.

Eleanor Shafer said the step-daughter told her that when they were in Federal Way, Bender refused to go to the unit to remove items.

Bender has been living off and on in Nampa for seven years, according to Capt. Glendon Crawforth of Nampa Police.

Hawk, manager of the storage facility, said Bender paid his rent on time until Feb. 15, 1992. When he stopped paying for the unit, after 45 days the company held an auction of the contents, sight unseen.

The contents were purchased Tuesday by Gennai of Puyallup for $90.

Wednesday afternoon, he opened the door to find a waist-high pile of household items, including a great deal of clothing.

Gennai and his son, Charles Osterholm, began removing items and when they returned for a second load they saw three strange shapes wrapped in plastic and bound by wire.

POLICE SURPRISE SUSPECT

Chubb said a paper trail of canceled checks enabled detectives to trace Bill Bender.

Crawforth of the Nampa police said Bender was under surveillance until King County police arrived there late yesterday.

Bender answered the door last night when King County and Nampa police rang his doorbell. He was arrested without incident.

"He was very surprised. The news hadn't reached Idaho yet," Crawforth said.

Before moving to Nampa, Bender worked at a car lot in Yakima, according to Timbre Wolfe, general manager at Happy Day Ford near Nampa.

Wolfe said Bender had worked there about two years and was named salesman of the year for two years in a row for the so-called "budget" lot where cars under $3,000 are sold.

"He was very quiet and secretive about his personal life," Wolfe said.

Other employees described Bender as an outgoing and aggressive salesman who roped customers in. He rarely mentioned his present wife and never said anything about his past, said one.

Nampa, population 30,000, and nearby Caldwell, population 20,000, are a manufacturing and farming area about 20 miles west of Boise. Bender was living in a newly constructed townhouse on the outskirts of Nampa.

Mangen, Barbara Bender's cousin in Miles City, suspects the anguish over the uncertainty of her cousin's whereabouts is at long last over.

"Now at least they can be buried and rest in peace," she said.