Search and Rescue workers from around the state plan to conduct several searches Saturday for clues to the whereabouts of one of serial killer Ted Bundy's Utah victims.
Saturday's searches will be held at 11 or 12 different sites throughout a 65-mile area in Sanpete County where "Bundy trees" have been sighted, said Sheriff Wallace Buchanan.Three trees carved with Bundy's name and about nine others carved with his initials have been spotted throughout several high mountain areas in Sanpete County. During preliminary searches, deputy sheriffs have located all but two of the reported "Bundy tree" sightings and will lead volunteers in ground searches of the surrounding areas on Saturday.
During the week before his execution in Florida, the former University of Utah law student confessed to killing Debi Kent and several other woman and said he buried Kent's body near Fairview. The 17-year-old high school student was apparently abducted from Bountiful's Viewmont High School parking lot On Nov. 8, 1974.
Searchers from Bountiful and Sanpete County discovered a human kneecap bone last May in an area they believe is the general location Bundy described as the burial site. But despite subsequent searches of the area, no additional human bones were located.
Buchanan says he still believes, however, that the bone probably belongs to Kent. But even if searchers find no additional clues Saturday, the sheriff says he owes it to Kent's family to investigate everything he can.
"I have the feeling that I've got to do it. Why I have that feeling, I don't know," he said. "I know if I had a daughter . . . I'd feel better if someone did all that they could."
Buchanan expects about 80 volunteers from throughout Utah and parts of Nevada to participate in the searches. "Search and Rescue people are a different breed. They want to help everyone," he said. "It has caused lots of interest and they all want to do their part."
If all of the areas are not searched on Saturday, Buchanan said they will continue the efforts on Sunday.
"If we don't come up with anything, then I'm through. I will have done all I can."