The bar where Brenda Carol Ball was abducted
Crime Scene Location in Burien, Washington
This is the bar where Brenda Carol Ball was last seen.
It is located at 12803 Ambaum Boulevard SW in Burien, Washington.
Serial killer Ted Bundy abducted Ball after she left the Flame Tavern during the early hours of June 1st, 1974.
Ten months later, her skull was found on Taylor Mountain.
The Flame Tavern
Ball spent her night at this bar on May 31st, 1974.
At the time, it was a working-class dive bar called the Flame Tavern. In more recent years, the property has housed restaurants such as Fiesta Del Mar and El Baron Rojo.
When the bar closed at around 2 a.m., the 22-year-old asked one of her friends if he could give her a ride home. However, the friend in question declined, as he was driving in a different direction.
One person who was reportedly present that night claimed that they saw Ball talking to a brown-haired man who had his arm in a sling. If this witness wasn't mistaken, then it would square up with Bundy's M.O., as he often faked injuries whenever he was on the prowl for a new victim.
There are some doubts hanging over this sighting, as others reported that Ball left the bar by herself and was planning on hitchhiking home. Furthermore, the details about the "man in the sling" didn't emerge until after Bundy was convicted.
By that stage, almost everyone in the country had read about his injury ruses.
Regardless of how Ball left the Flame Tavern that night, one thing is for certain: this was the last time anyone saw her alive.
At some point in the early hours of June 1st, she crossed paths with a sexual predator who had already abducted and murdered at least four women.
Bundy speculated about Brenda Ball's death
Bundy "speculated" about what "might" have happened to Ball while he was sitting on death row.
During interviews with journalists Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth, he offered up his own personal "theories" about what "the real killer" might have done.
By doing this, he could talk about his crimes in the third person without having to confess to them. It also gave him the opportunity to throw a few strategic lies into the mix, as the journalists were unable to call him out on any discrepancies.
Bundy told the journalists that Ball's killer may have picked her up while she was hitchhiking. At that point, they drove back to his home, drank some alcohol, and had consensual sex.
Later, "the killer" strangled her to death while she was sleeping.
When Michaud pointed out that bringing a victim home would have been a very risky move, Bundy countered by saying that "the killer" probably lived by himself at his own house.
He was probably lying
There are several issues with Bundy's story.
The first problem is that he didn't live by himself. In reality, he was renting a room at the Rogers' rooming house, which had other tenants.
Secondly, the right side of Ball's skull was missing. This suggests that she may have been hit on the side of the head with a heavy object (his preferred modus operandi was to strike his victims with a crowbar when they weren't looking).
Thirdly, witness accounts from survivors indicate that Bundy struggled to control himself whenever he was talking to a potential target. Therefore, it seems highly unlikely that he drove all the way from Burien to Seattle in the middle of the night with a woman sitting in his passenger seat.
The most plausible scenario is that he picked Ball up, parked in the first secluded spot he could find, and then struck her over the head.
Lastly, Bundy's speculative narrative about Ball falls short of a genuine confession. At the time, he was still maintaining his innocence and was likely using this third-person format to deceive and manipulate.
Brenda Ball abduction location
The address and the GPS coordinates for this location are as follows:
Address
12803 Ambaum Blvd SW, Burien, Washington, WA 98146, USA
GPS coordinates
The latitude and longitude coordinates for the bar are:
47.488194, -122.350324
Directions
It is situated on the corner of Ambaum Boulevard SW and SW 128th Street.
Details about the general area
The bar is in Burien, which is a city that lies to the south of Seattle. It is relatively close to Seahurst Park and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Private Property Warning
This is a private property. It is not a public place. Therefore, you should be respectful and not step foot on the property without permission.
Photos
Photos of the bar and other related images.
2011
This Google Street View image of the bar was taken in 2011.
The property was built in 1928. It was last sold for $990,000 in 2007.
During the 1970s, the Flame Tavern was known for its live music. It also had a reputation for being a "rough" place, as fist fights would often break out in the parking lot.
Coincidentally, Bundy's ninth victim, Denise Naslund, was also frequented the bar.
Parking lot
This is an image of the back of the property.
One witness claimed that they saw Brenda Ball talking to a brown-haired man with a sling in this parking lot. However, there are question marks hanging over this statement.
Ball was not the first or last person to disappear from the Flame Tavern.
On August 8th, 1977, a 21-year-old woman named Rhonda Louise Burse vanished after she got into a car outside the bar.
Burse was a topless dancer who had just finished her shift at the Flame.
Sadly, she remains missing to this day.
The Flame Tavern
Former patrons will recall how the Flame Tavern had a sign outside that advertised "Dancing Nightly."
Bundy missed the baptism of his girlfriend's daughter
Bundy's former girlfriend, Liz Kloepfer, said that he hurriedly left a dinner with her parents on the day that Ball went missing. He also missed her daughter's baptism the following day and then blamed it on car trouble.
It is likely that Bundy missed the baptism because he was preoccupied with the disposal of his victim's remains. He may have also been destroying evidence and tying up other loose ends.
A more disturbing possibility is that he wanted to revisit her body.
Brenda Carol Ball
Brenda Carol Ball was born on November 8th, 1951. She was 5'3" and weighed 110 lbs.
If she were still alive today, she would be in her seventies.
At the time of her murder, she had recently dropped out of college.
Unfortunately, her roommates didn't report her missing until a later date, as Ball (like Donna Gail Manson) was a free spirit who often partied, couch-surfed, and hitchhiked to various places.
Like many young women, the carefree 22-year-old had been looking forward to the summer of 1974.
Newspaper
Reports about Ball's disappearance did not appear in newspapers until two months later.
At the time, the police didn't see a link between her and the other missing girls. Not only was Ball slightly older, she also wasn't a coed. Furthermore, she had been last seen leaving a dive bar, while all of the others had been abducted from college campuses.
Ironically, it was Ball's remains that led investigators to the other victims on Taylor Mountain. Had two forestry students not stumbled upon her skull, the four women might still be missing to this day.
El Baron Rojo
This image shows the western side of the bar.
El Baron Rojo is now permanently closed. In March 2020, its owner, Sonia Olvera Jimenez, was arrested for murdering a man who was renting a room in her house.
During the 2000s, it was called the MVP Sports Bar. In 2008, a man was shot dead at the MVP Sports Bar with an AK-47 assault rifle.
2021
Image source: Google Maps
The property sits on the corner of Ambaum Boulevard SW and SW 128th Street.
Rhonda Louise Burse
Rhonda Louise Burse was a 21-year-old exotic dancer who worked at various bars in the Burien area. In the past, she had also danced in Texas and Colorado.
The middle photo above was taken on August 8th, 1977, which was the same day that she disappeared.
Burse was last seen getting into a car outside the Flame Tavern after she finished her shift.
She was 5'7" and weighed 110 lbs. Her missing person profile states that she was wearing cutoff jeans and a blue and white striped top on the day of her disappearance. She also had expensive rings, two gold chains, and small gold earrings.
Burse was known to use the alias Lisa Fisher. She may have also used the surname "Weeks".
This location belongs to the following categories:
Crime ScenesSerial KillersTed Bundy Seattle LocationsTed Bundy LocationsClosest Locations
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