By Ken Koerner
Register Staff

3-29-2008

After weeks of speculation in the international media over whether bodies are indeed buried at a former Death Valley hide-out for Charles Manson and his followers, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department has decided to launch an official investigation.

The Sheriff’s Department will, nevertheless, proceed cautiously.
“What we’ve determined after a careful review of all of the recent data that has been provided to us, following those trips out to Barker Ranch by laboratory scientists, professors and some highly-trained search dogs,” Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze said, “is that there’s reason enough to look for more scientific indicators  of potential burial sites – before leaping ahead to any significant excavations.”

In addition to the Barker Ranch site made rather infamous as the spot where Inyo County deputies arrested Manson back in October, 1969, there will also be forensic soil testing at nearby Myers Ranch. A granddaughter of the owners of the Myers Ranch was alleged to be a Manson follower in that era. It’s been suggested in the past that she may be the connection to Manson learning about and subsequently using adjacent Barker Ranch as a place to hide in the Panamint Mountains. Though Lutze explained his own experience suggested there may not be any such connection.
“After 30 years of working in southern Inyo County in general and the Death Valley area in particular,” said Lutze, “I’ve learned you’ll find people in the oddest of places – and some of the oddest of people, too.”
Whatever drew Manson and his followers to the location, both the Barker and Myers ranches will be included in the forensic search efforts. And each, Lutze explained, had its own reasons to recommend more testing be done ahead of a large scale dig.
“Myers Ranch is private property, Barker Ranch is National Park property, and both are compelling reasons to be as cautious as possible,” said Lutze, “and use every reasonable testing method available before disturbing the ground with excavation.”
According to information received from Lutze’s office, forensic experts report that “methods are available to further test the soil with minimal intrusion while being able to determine to a high degree of reliability whether bodies are buried in a location.”
The upcoming efforts by forensic teams “will focus on a very few spots in which search dogs recently indicated possible findings of dead bodies with some consistency,” the Inyo Sheriff’s Department explained. The information from Lutze’s office further indicated that “various dogs gave inconsistent findings at many spots on the ranch property and all dogs were not controlled in the same manner accepted by recognized dog search organizations.”
The Sheriff’s Department “will determine whether to keep testing soil if the tests at the few ‘hot spots’ fail to find bodies buried during the Manson era,” according to Lutze.
Should a body, or bodies, ultimately be found at Barker or Myers Ranch, it would still represent only the earliest beginnings of an ongoing investigation, according to experts in the field.
The former assistant district attorney that was alongside Los Angeles County District Attorney  Vincent Bugliosi throughout the long investigation and trial in the wake of the brutal Los Angeles killings by the Manson Family, has been quoted as saying that “further excavations at the Barker Ranch could prove entirely inconclusive, no matter whether bodies were to be found.”
“It would mean nothing if human remains were found out there,” the former assistant to Bugliosi and now city prosecutor for Redondo Beach, Stephen Kay, is reported to have said. “Who would you connect a murder to? I don’t know of any evidence of anyone being killed up there.”
The upcoming forensic searches to determine whether anyone “was killed up there” will be closed to the news media, explained Lutze, to “protect both the integrity of the testing and the property rights of the owner.” Information about search results is anticipated being  released to the media “by about April 25.”
Site access decisions are currently being discussed, Lutze explained, with the National Park Service having jurisdiction over the Barker Ranch grounds.
“There will have to be significant areas cordoned off at both ranch sites,” said Lutze. “Plus, as we get toward the hotter season in those mountains, it’s not going to be easy to have many people properly situated. There are no restrooms, no water source, no shade, no food. We really don’t need to saddle the investigation with concerns about caring for non-essential persons during the searching.”
There will, however, be some ongoing consideration given to “whether and how a limited number of reporters might be accommodated” should there be a true ‘dig’ site.”
In light of the media frenzy that’s been witnessed thus far, it will certainly be a challenge to satisfy the hunger of a 24/7 media universe, if and when someone starts digging for more Manson murder victims.