***NEWEST ADDITION - WEDNESDAY 5/21 @ 5:03 PM - SCROLL DOWN ***
Monday, May 19th @ 1:30 PM
For the next few days we'll be covering a great mystery. Was Charlie Manson and his so-called family involved in still unknown murders? Were the bodies buried around his last hideout -- the Barker Ranch in Death Valley? There have been rumors for decades.
Authorities say family member Sue Atkins talked of 11 people they had "done in".
The Associated Press reports Atkins once told a cellmate they killed 3 people out in the desert. There were no bodies so no cases were pursued.
Did they kill others? Are bodies buried at the ranch? Or will this be a bust?
Going on our trip are photographer/editor Darryl Kim. and, in our satellite truck, Kim Gardiner., Except for the heat, Darryl and I (who are traveling together) are looking forward to seeing the outcome of this story. Neither of us are sure what to expect though some I know think this could be a case of Al Capone's Vault. Remember that TV show? It was a show hosted by Geraldo Rivera back in 1986 in which a secret vault owned by the gangster was opened, but for all the hype surrounding the program, the vault turned out to be essentially empty.
It's 1pm - Monday -- 5/19/08: Right now we're on the 14 Freeway. The trip should take us about 3 hours. While neither of us will guess on whether the rumors of buried bodies are true, we know two things: there will be lots of media and intense heat. This story has generated incredible interest from not only mainstream media, but also channels like Discovery. As for the heat. The high today is expected to be 118. There is an INTENSE HEAT WARNING in effect in that area. There are winds. This may be the closest I'll ever come to finding out what it feels inside a microwave oven.
OKAY YOUR TURN: Will there be bodies buried at the ranch? Will this be another case of Al Capone's Vault? What's your sense of the upcoming exploratory excavation planned for 3 days beginning tomorrow morning in which all kinds of law enforcement officials, scientists, cadaver dogs, soil testers, and other experts will converge on the ranch.
Have you followed the Manson case? Will you be following the goings-on in Death Valley this week as officials try to dig up answers to long-rumored beliefs?
Monday, May 19th @ 3:25 PM
it's 3:25pm -- just got some updated information. Had a good chat with the Undersheriff of Inyo County. He told me that an advance team went up today to begin setting up tents and prepare for the exploratory mission.
There will be 16 on the mission including forensic scientists, Sheriff's Department personnel and workers from the Park Service.
Because of testing in April using ground penetrating radar, soil testers and a cadaver dog five spots around Barker Ranch captured their attention. Three of them more than the other two and one in particular.
Undersheriff John Eropkin is more of the opinion that they'll end up with Al Capone's Vault than bodies. He says if there were bodies someone in jail would've said something about it by now.
Nonetheless, he will be one of the 16 up at the ranch working. He says there are two reasons to pursue this.
One .. (he says to me) "if it was your relative you would want to know?" He also said that any Sheriffs Department in the California has the duty to investigate any homicide if that, in fact, what turns out to be. So, they will dig, he says "with shovels a couple inches of dirt" at a time. First at the site of most promise. Then the next. Then, the third, if the first two yield anything.
Wednesday, May 21st @ 2:44 AMWe went from really hot weather Monday to slightly cooler (only about 100 degrees) and very windy conditions Tuesday. It was so windy we could feel our satellite truck blowing back and forth and that's a really heavy truck! The dig started Tuesday on the first of 5 possible sites. Its the "most promising" of the locations around Barker Ranch the diggers say and sometime today they'll be done with that one. That means sometime today we MAY get the first indication as to whether any bodies really are buried around the ranch.
So, why is this weeks exploratory excavation at the Barker Ranch significant? Those involved have reason to believe there may have been crimes committed. As the Undersheriff of Inyo County said to me when I said to him there are people who can't believe this is all going on .. "wouldn't you want your relatives found?" If any evidence is found of murder there will be a big job ahead to figure out whose buried there?
What's going on in Death Valley is also very interesting because of the resources being thrown at this project. Sure, they're using plain old shovels, but they've also brought in special forensic laser and alternate light source tools from Utah to explore the holes after they're created. And, its not just Deputies and Park Service personnel involved. Scientists have come here from the Oakridge National Laboratory in Tennesee. The sheriff's department here is paying for its expenses, but the chemists and forensic scientists are volunteering their time because they believe, as chemist Marc Wise told us, that its sometimes difficult for law enforcement to find hidden graves. This is an opportunity to try out new methods to help them in the future. Is it a learning exercise? In many ways it may be. The laser and alternate light technology has never before been used to explore possible multiple graves. Do they think they may find the remains of family members long lost? That's what they are hoping may be the result.
Some have wondered if the excavation story is worthy of news coverage? Sure it is. Charles Manson and his followers wrote an infamous chapter in American criminal history. The Tate-Labianca murders were awful. So, the team of 16 at the ranch dig while, at the same time, some worry. They worry there may be bodies and they may not find them. As one of the dig team members said, his greatest fear is that they may be "three feet off the mark" and because "they can't dig up the whole desert" they may never know if stories of murder in the desert are real or rumors if the sites they've pinpointed don't produce results.
More later... You can
watch the videos by clicking here.
Wednesday, May 21st @ 12:21 PM
This morning Inyo County Sheriff's Department Public Information Officer Carma Roper updated the department's website with the following information. It indicates work on Site #1 was complete and did not produce the results they were hoping for. They are pressing on. Here is part of that information released at 8am:
FROM INYO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT. WEBSITE:
The Inyo County Sheriff's Department concluded excavation at the first dig site at Barker Ranch. According to Lieutenant Jim Jones, one bullet casing was found in the first site but forensic testing indicates that there were no human remains in or around that site.
Excavation of the second site of interest commenced and was turned over to the National Park Service when remnants of what appears to be ash, and small animal bones were discovered. The National Park Service determined that this particular site would be handled as an archaeological dig.
Wednesday, May 21st @ 5:04 PMThe search for human remains rumored buried at Charlie Manson's one-time hideout at Death Valley's Barker Ranch has ended with investigators turning up no evidence of remains at the scene.
The crime scene investigators were disappointed as they went through four of the five sites that were previously chosen as potential search areas. They decided to call it quits this afternoon before exploring the fifth because they felt they wouldn't turn up anything there either.
As much as the CSIs and others at the scene didn't want this to turn into something like to Geraldo Rivera's 1980s bust of an excavation of mobster Al Capone's vault, this attention-grabbing search didn't turn up anything either... and that's essentially how this ended up.
"Al Capone's Vault - The Sequel."
I'll be reporting live from Ballarat on FOX 11 News at 10 O'clock and My13 News at 11 O'clock with all the details.
Until then,
Hal
