Lost Skeleton Found 20 Years Ago Could Be Victim Of Ted Bundy -- Pierce County Authorities Misplaced Remains

TACOMA - A skeleton found 20 years ago in the foothills of Mount Rainier might be that of a 19-year-old college student whom serial killer Ted Bundy admitted killing in 1974, forensic experts say.

But confirming the identity might prove impossible because the Pierce County Sheriff's Department lost the remains a few years after their discovery, along with X-rays and other forensic data.

A key piece of evidence was a multicolored shirt found with the remains in 1978. Donna Gail Manson, a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, reportedly was wearing a similar shirt when she was last seen in 1974.

To try to confirm the identification, Sgt. Bob Hoffman has contacted Manson's parents, Marie and Lyle Manson of Auburn, and would like to show them photos of the clothing, which also has been lost.

"Some things make me think it's not her," Hoffman said. "Some things make me think it's close."

The Mansons told The News Tribune of Tacoma that they long ago put their daughter's memory to rest and declined to comment further. But they asked Hoffman to send a copy of the photo so they can look at it.

Bundy was executed in Florida nine years ago Saturday for killing a 12-year-old schoolgirl. Before his death, the former law-school student confessed to killing Manson, making her one of 28 known Bundy victims from Washington, Utah, Colorado and Florida.

Manson was last seen headed for a jazz concert on the Evergreen campus March 12, 1974.

On Aug. 29, 1978, two fishermen found a human skull while walking near Highway 7 southwest of Eatonville.

Searchers found more human bones, hair and clothing.

Pierce County authorities checked with local jurisdictions, looking for a missing person who would fit the evidence. Dental X-rays were compared to some missing-persons reports.

But they were never compared to the dental charts of Manson, even though Robert Keppel, a King County detective investigating the Bundy killings, had called Pierce County to inquire about the remains.

When Pierce County Detective Roy Durham described the clothing to Keppel, the King County detective was interested in the multicolored shirt, noting Manson was last seen wearing something similar.

But he "was advised that the skeletal remains did not appear to be as old as 1974," Durham wrote in a report two days after the bones were found.

Nevertheless, Keppel recommended calling a Thurston County detective who was in charge of the Manson case. But a message left with him was never returned, Hoffman said.

On Sept. 12, 1978, Durham wrote, "This case closed." It was not to be looked at again for 19 years.

An investigation was revived after it was reported that three unidentified skeletons had disappeared from the property room at the sheriff's department.

Two of the skeletons were destroyed in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the Tacoma landfill, during routine purges of the property room at the sheriff's department.

Neither the Pierce County Sheriff's Department nor the Medical Examiner's Office can say what happened to the third skeleton found near Enumclaw.

Officials also haven't been able to explain why the X-rays and other coroner's records concerning the Eatonville skeleton also are missing.

A recent check of the dental records of missing persons in the state produced eight possible identities for the Eatonville skeleton. A forensic dentist hired by the sheriff's department ruled out all but one case - that of Manson.

If the skull - or even X-rays of the teeth - were still available, a comparison of dental records probably could show conclusively whether the skeleton was Manson.

If the Enumclaw remains are confirmed as those of Manson, it wouldn't be the only time a Bundy victim's body has been lost.

The remains of Janice Ott and Denise Naslund, found near Issaquah in 1974, were later lost by King County authorities. The victims' families sued King County and eventually settled for about $112,000 per family.