Forensic investigators traveled to one of the Manson Family hide-outs in Death Valley National Park to explore old rumors of other victims that may have been buried there in the late 1960s. According to the new research described in an Associated Press article, there “are two likely clandestine grave sites at Barker Ranch, and one additional site that merits further investigation.” From the AP:
For years, rumors have swirled about other possible Manson family victims — hitchhikers who visited them at the ranch and were not seen again, runaways who drifted into the camp then fell out of favor.
The same jailhouse confessions that helped investigators initially connect the band of misfits living in the Panamint Mountains to the gruesome killings that terrorized Los Angeles hinted at other deaths. Manson follower Susan Atkins boasted to her cell mate on November 1, 1969, that there were “three people out in the desert that they done in.” Other stories surfaced. In the absence of bodies, they were forgotten…(Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Arpad) Vass said that, considering the quantity and the types of markers of human decomposition found, the cadaver dog’s response, and the probing exercise, he found enough evidence to warrant further testing at a deeper level and a full scale excavation at Barker Ranch, according to the report he issued to law enforcement.
“I’d recommend a dig, excavate the sites,” said (police detective Paul) Dostie, who reviewed the report.