Bender Pleads Not Guilty In 3 Deaths -- Bodies In Storage Thought To Be His Wife, Children

Mark "Bill" Bender pleaded not guilty today in King County Superior Court to three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the 1980 hatchet deaths of three people, believed to be his wife and two children, whose bodies were found in a Federal Way storage unit last week.

Bender, a strong-looking 50-year-old, whispered one-word answers in the courtroom and kept his head bowed as his second wife, Ann Bender, and his step-daughter watched from the front row. Afterward, they declined to comment.

King County prosecutors believe that Bender killed his first wife, Barbara, 35, and his two sons, Mark Jr., 16, and Brian, 9, and kept their bodies hidden in the storage unit he rented for a dozen years. But the King County medical examiner's office today said the bodies have not been positively identified.

The bodies were discovered after Bender fell behind in the rent and the storage company auctioned the contents of the shed sight unseen to a Puyallup man. He discovered the bodies, wrapped in plastic and bound in wire, amid household furnishings last week.

Bender, a car salesman, was arrested in his new home in Nampa, Idaho, Thursday and brought to Seattle during the weekend. His bail is $1 million.

Prosecutors believe Bender killed his family in April 1980, just two months after he rented the unit.

His new wife, who paid some of the family bills, apparently chose to stop payment on the locker after Bender refused to retrieve or show her the contents, authorities say.

Prosecutors said last week they considered filing first-degree aggravated-murder charges against Bender, but the statute allowing that charge was not enacted until after the alleged date of the deaths.

A temporary counsel for Bender asked for continuance until he can find permanent representation, but Judge Carmen Otero denied the request and the not-guilty plea was entered.

Deputy Prosecutor Craig Peterson said evidence recovered from the storage unit is being sent to the State Patrol laboratory, but would not say what the material is.