Remembering Janice Ott and Denise Naslund

Sunday, July 14, 1974.  Bastille Day in France and an unusually sunny, warm day in Seattle, Washington.  For Washingtonians that are relentlessly outdoorsy, this was a perfect day to spend at one of the local lakes.

At Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah, roughly 20 miles east of Seattle,  some 40,000 people had descended on the park, including employees from Rainier Beer; Rainier was holding its annual picnic at the park.  By noon, the temperatures hit 90 degrees.

Jan in June 1974. She had less than a month to live. 

She's wearing the same shorts she would wear on July 14, 1974.

Janice Ott was one of the 40,000 people to flood the park that day.  Petite (only 5'1") with long blonde hair and grey-green eyes, Jan was still a newlywed, having married her husband Jim the year before.  A probation officer in Seattle, she had moved from the larger, busier city to Issaquah, feeling the smaller community was safer after her car was broken into.  She lived with a roommate, as her husband was in school in California, and was known for her sunny, bubbly personality.

Jan had spent the morning of the 14th doing laundry at her local laundromat and then having a cup of coffee with a friend she met and made there.  Returning to her apartment, she pulled on a black bikini, cut-off shorts and a white blouse she tied at her midriff, left a note for her roommate that she would be sunning herself at Lake Sammamish, and then hopped on her yellow Tiger bike for the quick ride.

Jan, who looked much younger than her 23 years, was such a pretty, sparkling girl that she was noticed by others, who watched her take out her towel, kick off her shoes, remove her blouse and shorts and apply cocoa butter to her skin.  Unfortunately for Jan, she was also a caring, compassionate person who, having studied psychology and the anti-social personality while in school, felt she could handle herself as well as lend a hand to others.

As she had been spotted upon arrival, she was also noted when, after being approached by a young man with his arm in a sling, she got up, re-dressed and left with him, pushing her bike.  It was around 12:30 and the last time Janice Ott was ever seen alive.

A school photograph of Denise

Denise Naslund had also chosen to spend this glorious Sunday at Lake Sammamish.  The 19 year old was a stunning girl with long dark hair and dark eyes.  A friendly girl, she had ambition to be more than just a secretary in life.  She was taking computer programming classes and paying for them by working as an office helper.

She had spent the earlier part of the day with her boyfriend of nearly a year and another couple.  The group had socialized, enjoying each other's company, and drank some beer and smoked a joint. When they decided to soak up the fresh air and sun at Lake Sammamish, they took Denise's car, a gift from her mother.  Denise's mother thought owning her own car would keep Denise safe.  The four friends arrived at Lake Sammamish in the afternoon, after Janice Ott had walked off with the mystery man.

The foursome, still high from beer, pills and the joint they smoked, had eaten hot dogs for lunch while at the park and then dozed off in the sunshine.  Denise had awoken around 4:30 and, noticing her dog, whom she had brought with her, was gone, headed off on her own to look for it and find the women's restrooms.  She was spotted in the restroom by a Seattle policewoman, who left the building at the same time Denise did.  She then vanished.

The man with his arm in a sling was noted by several women around that same time.  Denise's friends  would later say that Denise would always help someone in need and was friendly; more so, if she was under the influence.

Like Janice Ott, Denise had simply walked off, dressed in her blue halter top, cut-off jean shorts and Mexican style sandles.  The dog would return to Denise's boyfriend and friends; Denise would not.  She left them behind, as well as her car, with her handbag locked in the trunk.  

These most recent disappearances, after months of young women vanishing in the Seattle area, put residents on edge.  Jan was a mature and responsible woman; Denise had been warned by her mother of Washington State's missing women. Neither had a reason to voluntarily leave their lives.

Searches for both your women began immediately.  The lake itself was searched, as well as the park and wooded areas close by.  While many articles of clothing, underwear and bathing suits were discovered, neither Jan nor Denise was found, nor anything belonging to them.

Local authorities were baffled.  The killer had struck out in the open, in broad daylight - - the first abduction not to occur at night.  And he had taken two young women within the space of four hours.

For nearly two months, the fates of Jan and Denise would be unknown, until a hunter in Issaquah stumbled upon their remains and that of a third body, which would be unidentified until Ted Bundy's end of life confessions in 1989 where he disclosed the body had been that of Georgann Hawkins, who was abducted in June of 1974.  All three were found only two miles from Lake Sammamish State Park.

As is the case with other Bundy victims, the victims were overshadowed by the victimizer.  Jan and Denise were remembered more for their killer, and their horrific ends in this "double event" Bundy staged and committed, than the kind, generous people they were.  For the Ott and Naslund families, this tragedy was compounded by their daughters' remains being "misplaced" or "lost" by King County authorities when the department moved.

Janice Ott would never celebrate a second anniversary with her husband.  She was reportedly planning to join her husband in September - - the same month her body was discovered - - in California.  She never got the opportunity.  

Denise Naslund would never finish her computer course, never return to the bedroom in her mother's house with her guitar and stuffed animals.  Her mother would keep Denise's room unaltered, exactly as she left it, along with Denise's car parked out front, until she herself died in 2000.

Janice Anne Blackburn Ott

February 14, 1951 - July 14, 1974

Denise Marie Naslund

January 1, 1955 - July 14, 1974

Leslie Van Houten: Appeal Denied

Photo:  ABC News

In better late than never news, and I do mean that, Leslie Van Houten, once known as Lulu when she lived and conspired with the notorious Manson Family, once again lost her chance at parole.  (And when I say "lived and conspired with," I also mean "killed with.")

As you may know, Van Houten was recommended for parole by the California Parole Board last September, a recommendation that was shut down by Governor Jerry Brown in January.  Van Houten and her attorneys then filed a writ of habeas corpus with the Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking an appeal on Brown's refusal.  That petition was responded to last week with a 16 page ruling that stated, among other things, Van Houten "may someday be suitable for parole, when her commitment offense is no longer predictive of current dangerousness, it is not yet that day."  The legal document also called the crimes she participated in "among the most abominable committed in California in the second half of the 20th century" and Judge William C. Ryan noted "Petitioner's crimes terrified a generation and remain imprinted on the public."  Judge Ryan also pointed out that "if any crimes could be considered heinous enough to support a denial of parole based on their circumstances alone years after occurrence, they must certainly be the crimes perpetrated by the Manson Family."

Debra Tate, younger sister of victim Sharon Tate and now the only surviving child of Paul and Doris Tate, was quoted after the ruling as being "very pleased."  Ms. Tate says she believes that Van Houten is "as self-consumed today as she ever was, and that is the premiere marker of a sociopath."

Van Houten was 19 in 1969, when she joined Manson and several of his other Family members on their second night of murderous glee at the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Feliz.  By her own account, she knew that people would die that night and she put a pillowcase over Rosemary LaBianca's head and stabbed the woman some 16 times.  After the couple was slaughtered, she joined Charles "Tex" Watson and Patricia "Katie" Krenwinkel in playing with the LaBiancas' dogs, eating their food, drinking some chocolate milk and helping themselves to Rosemary's clothing.

Over the years, due to being the youngest convicted Manson killer and the argument that she "only" participated in the killing of two people, Van Houten has had more support for her release than other Manson Family members.  However, like Watson and Krenwinkel, Van Houten too has also laid the majority of the blame at the feet of the now-dead Charles Manson.  Last summer during a hearing to present mitigating evidence in Van Houten's favor, former Family member Catherine "Gypsy" Share testified that prior to the murders Van Houten was "extremely docile" and it was her belief that Van Houten would have done anything Manson asked her to.

If you've read my previous posts on Leslie Van Houten and the Manson Family in general, you'll probably guess that I'm okay with this denial.  I will never forget that Vincent Bugliosi, the District Attorney who prosecuted the Manson Family, stated that he believed that Van Houten was the least devoted of Manson's followers.  That's a frightening thought - - the least devoted of all and yet she would still kill for him.  (Unless of course that "kill for him" is utter rubbish and she simply wanted to kill.)  I also can't get out of my mind how Van Houten acted during the trial in 1970.  She giggled and laughed, even while the terrifying and painful last moments of the victims were being detailed, and when asked by her own attorney if she ever thought about Rosemary LaBianca, she said, "Only when I'm in the courtroom."  That coldness is what I believe Rosemary LaBianca saw, not the "extremely docile" person Catherine Share attempted to describe.

I've said this many, many times.  Leslie Van Houten, and all the convicted Manson Family members, were granted far more mercy than they ever showed their victims when the death penalty was declared unconstitutional in California and their death sentences were commuted.  Getting life sentences with the possibility of parole was yet another gift.

Were Leslie Van Houten not linked to Charles Manson and the infamous killings, do I think she'd get parole?  Probably.  But she is linked with Manson.  That will never change.  And the murders were horrifying, brutal and senseless.  Rosemary LaBianca was only 39 years old.  The last thing she heard before being stabbed to death was her husband, screaming in pain and begging for his life, while Tex Watson killed him in the other room.  An hour or so before she was killed, she was crying about the Tate murders the night before -- crying because she couldn't understand how anyone could be so cruel.  I have no sympathy for Leslie Van Houten; I reserve my sympathy for the LaBiancas who did nothing other than be home that night.

Van Houten's attorney, Rich Pfeiffer, refiled the writ with the appellate court.

Van Houten remains incarcerated at the California Institute for Women in Corona.

Rosemary LaBianca

December 15, 1929 - August 10, 1969

She is the victim, not Leslie Van Houten