Lingering rumors mixed with forensic technology are prompting Inyo County authorities to excavate potential Barker Ranch grave sites for possible victims of Charles Manson. It was here that Manson and 23 of his followers were arrested in 1969. File photo

By Ken Koerner
Register Staff

5-10-2008

State-of-the-art forensic technology and the uniquely-dependable noses of highly-trained search dogs have failed to provide conclusive evidence as to whether possible Manson family victims lie in undiscovered graves at a remote Death Valley ranch – leaving Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze with only one way to learn for sure if bodies are buried at the Barker Ranch: start digging.
In a statement released Friday, Lutze announced he will authorize “exploratory excavation” at the former Manson Family hideout later this month.
“There was no consistent response from the dogs that searched and no conclusive findings from the soil samplings tested by top experts in the field,” Lutze stated. “Therefore, I believe the only way to determine once and for all whether there are bodies buried at Barker Ranch from the time of the Manson family is to proceed with limited excavation in a very few areas.”

Going back to late 2007, there have been several exhaustive searches conducted at the ranch where local authorities arrested Manson and 23 of his followers in the aftermath of the brutal murders they committed in Los Angeles in 1969.

Charles Manson

In each instance, “hot spots” were targeted by both search dogs and scientists. In the wake of an international media frenzy about the potential for finding more Manson murder victims, some 40 years after his arrest, Inyo County authorities felt there was sufficient preliminary information to conduct a formal search of the property under the watch of the Sheriff’s Department.
Limited excavation will be done “beginning May 20 through about May 23,” according to Lutze, at a very few sites on the ranch where cadaver dogs gave mixed indications and subsequent soil testing was inconclusive. Lutze noted that additional excavation days can be added if findings during those scheduled days warrant it.
Inyo law enforcement explained that four methods of testing were done at five sites on the ranch, with scientific practice awarding high confidence where all four techniques corroborate a possible find of human remains. This was not the case in any of the sites tested, but there was some level corroboration on some sites, leading to the inconclusive findings.
The Barker Ranch is on Death Valley National Park property and will be closed to the public during the excavation. National Park Service personnel and Inyo Sheriff’s Deputies will enforce the closure.
The Inyo Sheriff’s Department has indicated that news access will be limited to the local newspaper (The Inyo Register) and radio/television outlet and a pool of representatives of other media “to be chosen among the media themselves.” That pool will consist of one television network that will agree to share video; one radio broadcast representative and one print representative who will post coverage on a major news wire service (like the Associated Press). The Sheriff’s Department advises those in the international media that it “will not consider requests to extend this pool or select its members.”