The Case of the Lake Sammamish Murders

Janice Ott, 23, and Denise Naslund, 19, disappeared separately from Lake Sammamish State Park in Washington on 14 July 1974. Ted Bundy lured both women away from the crowded park before murdering them. Their remains were discovered together near Issaquah in September 1974.

Janice Ann Ott was a 23-year-old married woman who worked as a caseworker for the King County Youth Services Center. She had gone to Lake Sammamish State Park to spend the day at the popular lakeside recreation area. Denise Marie Naslund, 19, was a computer programming student who worked as an office assistant. She was spending the afternoon at the park with her boyfriend and friends. On the afternoon of 14 July, Bundy approached women at the busy park while wearing a sling and claiming his name was Ted. He asked them for assistance with loading a sailboat onto his Volkswagen. Janice agreed to help and was seen leaving with him around 12:30 p.m. Approximately four hours later, Denise left her friends to use a restroom and disappeared. Her friends became concerned when she failed to return. Her sandals remained behind, while her dog eventually returned to the group.

The two women were abducted from Lake Sammamish State Park in separate incidents on the same afternoon. Their remains were discovered on 7 September 1974 on a wooded hillside near Issaquah, approximately two miles from the park. Investigators recovered remains belonging to three women at the site. Janice and Denise were identified through dental records and other evidence; additional remains were later attributed by Bundy to Georgann Hawkins.

The simultaneous disappearances generated an enormous police response. Witnesses described the man calling himself "Ted" and his unusual sling, and several other women came forward to report that the same man had approached them with the sailboat story. Investigators distributed descriptions of the suspect and his vehicle and received hundreds of tips. The discovery of the women's remains in September provided a major breakthrough in the investigation. Ted Bundy was eventually identified as the man responsible. He later confessed to murdering both Janice and Denise before his execution in 1989.

Ted Bundy was never separately tried or convicted for the murders of Janice Ott or Denise Naslund. He confessed to both killings before his execution. The recovery and identification of their remains established that the two women had been murdered after disappearing from Lake Sammamish State Park.

The Lake Sammamish disappearances became one of the most significant episodes in Bundy's Washington murder series because two women vanished from the same crowded public location within approximately four hours of one another.