Lake Sammamish State Park
Crime Scene Location in Issaquah, Washington
This is the park where serial killer Ted Bundy abducted Janice Ann Ott (23) and Denise Marie Naslund (19).
It is called Lake Sammamish State Park, and it is located at 2182 NW Sammamish Road in Issaquah, Washington.
On Sunday, July 14th, 1974, Bundy approached Ott and Naslund in broad daylight and asked them to help him unload a sailboat at his parents' house.
After striking up a conversation with them, he explained that his arm was injured and that he was unable to unload the boat by himself. He also claimed that his parents' house was "just up the hill."
The abductions of Ott and Naslund occurred separately, just five hours apart. On both occasions, he convinced his victim to get into his Volkswagen Bug and accompany him to his "sailboat."
In reality, there was no boat. Nor did Bundy have a sore arm. At the beginning of his murder spree, Bundy quickly learned that he could prey on young women by taking advantage of their helpful nature.
![Abductions Abductions](i/2024/02/12/20240212113622-abductions.webp)
Once his victims got into his car, he immediately drove to a secluded dirt road in Issaquah, where their skeletal remains were discovered roughly two months later.
![Route Route](i/2022/01/30/20220130122003-route.webp)
Ott was abducted at around 12.30 p.m.
![Bundy at Lake Sammamish Bundy at Lake Sammamish](i/2024/01/02/20240102113602-bundy-lake-sammamish.webp)
Three and a half hours later, Bundy returned to Lake Sammamish to look for a second victim.
At 4.30 p.m., he approached Naslund by the restrooms and successfully employed a similar ruse.
During the investigation into the disappearances, the police learned that a man calling himself "Ted" had approached multiple women at the park that afternoon.
After speaking to several witnesses, they released a sketch to the public.
![Sketch Sketch](i/2023/02/06/20230206120704-sketch.webp)
When Bundy's girlfriend, Liz Kloepfer, learned about the abductions, she immediately began to suspect his involvement. The composite sketch looked just like him. Furthermore, witnesses at the park stated that the man introduced himself as "Ted" and drove a Volkswagen.
Adding to her suspicions was the fact that he had blown her off that Sunday afternoon by claiming that he had "other things to do." When she pressed him to elaborate, he bluntly replied, "Just things, Liz."
Where were Janice Ott and Denise Naslund abducted?
The address and the GPS coordinates for this location are as follows:
Address
2182 NW Sammamish Road, Issaquah, Washington, WA 98027, USA
GPS coordinates
The latitude and longitude coordinates for the park are:
47.558129, -122.063144
Photos
Photos of the park and other related images.
Lake Sammamish map
![Lake Sammamish map Lake Sammamish Bundy](i/2022/01/29/20220129110451-Lake-Sammamish-Bundy.webp)
This aerial map of Lake Sammamish State Park highlights the locations where Bundy approached Janice Ott and Denise Naslund. It also illustrates the general area where Bundy's Volkswagen Bug was parked when he abducted Ott.
He approached Ott at 12.30 p.m. while she was sunbathing on the beach. Then, five hours later, he lured Naslund away from the restrooms by the parking lot.
These days, the restroom no longer exists.
It is unclear where his vehicle was parked during the second abduction.
Janice Graham
![Janice Graham Janice Graham](i/2022/01/29/20220129164730-Janice-Graham.webp)
Bundy's first abduction attempt at Lake Sammamish ended in failure. Early that afternoon, he put a beige sling on his arm and approached 22-year-old Janice Graham near the bandstand.
After politely saying hello and introducing himself, he asked Graham if she could help him load a sailboat onto his car.
She agreed to lend a hand, and the pair started walking toward the parking lot. While they were walking across the grass, Bundy paused three times to hold his arm, which he claimed had been injured during a game of racket ball.
When they reached the parking lot, Graham saw that there was a tan-colored Volkswagen Bug. However, there was no boat in sight.
Upon noticing her confusion, Bundy motioned toward the passenger-side door and explained that the boat was at his parents' house "up the hill."
Graham refused to get in the car and leave with him, as she was due to meet her husband and parents at the park.
When Bundy learned that she couldn't leave, he calmly responded, "Oh, that's OK. I should have told you that it wasn't in the parking lot." He then accompanied Graham back towards the bandstand before apologizing again and veering off to his right.
Seconds later, he noticed Janice Ott sunbathing on the beach by herself.
The park was extremely busy that day
![The park was extremely busy that day Lake Sammamish 1974](i/2022/01/29/20220129172817-1974.webp)
Roughly 40,000 people visited Lake Sammamish State Park that afternoon.
It was sunny, and the temperature ranged between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The nice weather provided people with a much-needed break from the typical damp and gloomy climate of the Pacific Northwest.
Kelly Snyder
![Kelly Snyder Kelly Snyder](i/2022/01/29/20220129182133-kelly-snyder.webp)
An off-duty DEA agent named Kelly Snyder was on the beach that day.
He was close enough to witness Bundy approaching Ott:
"I noticed a guy walking down the beach. A young man, probably in his mid-to-late twenties. He was wearing white shorts, and they had a red stripe, which immediately caught my eye.
When he got close, I noticed he had really curly hair, and his left arm was in a sling. It piqued my interest because every time he approached a woman, or a group of two or three women, he was getting turned down.
And I just kept watching him, and he eventually ended up being right in front of me, where he approached a young girl.
She was a young and attractive blonde girl. And he asked her—words to the effect of, 'I need some help.' She's saying that she just got here.
So obviously, going through her mind is 'I'd like to help you out, but I'm here to relax.' He kept on and on and on, and he talked her into whatever he talked her into. He said something about a catamaran.
And ultimately, she gets up—reluctantly—because her head is down and she is like, 'I can't believe I'm doing this.' And then she started walking back past me. She had this frown on her face, like, 'I'm helping this guy when I should be enjoying myself on the beach.'
And the end result is she's no longer with us because she was a nice person."
The police arrive at Lake Sammamish
![The police arrive at Lake Sammamish police](i/2022/01/29/20220129185144-police.webp)
At around 4.30 p.m., Naslund went to the restroom by the parking lot and never returned. It wasn't long before her boyfriend and friends realized that something was wrong.
Everyone was aware that a predator was on the loose, as a number of women had recently gone missing in the Seattle area.
For example, only 34 days prior, university student Georgann Hawkins had seemingly vanished from the alley beside her sorority house.
Although a number of photographs show the police at Lake Sammamish on July 14th, 1974, they were not there because of the abductions. Instead, they were responding to reports that a group of bikers were disturbing the peace.
Naslund and Ott were not officially reported missing until the following day.
Police map
![Police map Police map](i/2022/01/30/20220130113901-Lake-Sammamish-police-map.webp)
This map from the King County Sheriff's Office pinpoints the exact locations where Bundy approached several women.
Besides Ott and Naslund, he also approached Janice Graham, Sylvia Valint, Sonia Siebenbaum, Patricia Turner, and Jacqueline Plischke.
A number of other sources place Ott's location in the middle of the park, between the concession stand and the parking lot. However, both this map and several witness statements indicate that she was closer to the beach. It is possible that someone confused Ott's location with the area where Bundy parted ways with Graham.
The following is an excerpt from a police report:
At about 12:30 hours, Sylvia Valint was laying on the beach at the park with her two friends. Jerry Snyder was about 15 feet from Valint with his wife. Theresa Sharp was with her family about 10 feet from Valint. They were all on the beach, about 200 yards directly in front of the east restroom. The above three witnesses all observed Janice Ott arrive on the beach and position herself between them.
Did Bundy kill Ott and Naslund at the same time?
![Did Bundy kill Ott and Naslund at the same time? Janice Ott and Denise Naslund](i/2022/01/30/20220130122554-ott-naslund.webp)
Bundy's decision to kidnap two women within five hours of each other was a brazen deviation from the norm.
Because of this, many authors have speculated that he was aiming to "increase his high" by attacking two women at the same time. In other words, he may have incapacitated Ott, gagged her, and then returned to the park to search for a second victim.
Although Bundy did imply that one had to watch the other die, that statement was made during one of his third-person pseudo-confessions. We also know that he was a narcissist and a habitual liar who loved to paint himself as a daring and sophisticated serial killer.
Therefore, we need to be extremely careful about taking his word as fact.
It is possible that he tied Ott to a tree and then left her there. The area in question was secluded, and it is unlikely that someone would have discovered her in time, especially if she was gagged.
Another plausible theory is that Bundy murdered Ott before he returned to Lake Sammamish. There is a noticeable gap between the abduction of Ott at 12.30 p.m. and Bundy's return to the park at around 4 p.m. If we take the length of the journey between the park and the dump site into account, then it means that he was gone for 2–3 hours.
That seems like a lot of time if the original plan was to kidnap two women and then kill them at the same time.
It is the author's opinion that his decision to hunt for a second victim was motivated by other factors. Most likely, an event occurred during the murder of Ott that prevented Bundy from achieving sexual gratification.
This left him so desperate for a "release" that he felt compelled to return to the park to look for another victim.
For example, she may have struggled or escaped, leading to a situation where she died "too soon".
Lake Sammamish in 1977
![Lake Sammamish in 1977 Lake Sammamish in 1977](i/2022/01/31/20220131092410-Lake-Sammamish-1977.webp)
Image source: USGS
This aerial photograph of the park was taken in 1977. As you can see, the layout of the park has remained the same.
The Volkswagen Beetle photograph
![The Volkswagen Beetle photograph Volkswagen Beetle](i/2023/02/06/20230206114704-volkswagen-bug.webp)
One photograph that was taken in the park that day shows a Volkswagen Beetle in the background.
Although a number of media outlets have claimed that it belonged to Bundy, this seems to be false.
Firstly, the Volkswagen Beetle was an extremely popular model during the 1970s. For example, if you look closely, you will see that there is another Beetle on the left.
Secondly, Bundy's vehicle had a roof rack installed that day.
Lastly, Bundy actually denied that it was his. During one interview with detective Robert Keppel, he stated:
"You would have never seen me in Lake Sammamish State Park again with all that heat. [laughs] That's a lot of heat there."
Bikers
![Bikers Bikers](i/2023/02/06/20230206115628-park.webp)
The police showed up at the park to deal with a group of bikers.
This location belongs to the following categories:
Serial KillersTed Bundy Seattle LocationsTed Bundy LocationsClosest Locations
Other locations that are relatively close to this address:
Ted Bundy's dump site at Taylor Mountain
Roughly 11 miles away.
Crime Location in King County, Washington
The street where cop killer Maurice Clemmons was shot dead
Roughly 13 miles away.
Place of Interest in Seattle, Washington