Sheriff: Body found in Washington bunker
NORTH
BEND, Wash.
(AP)
–
After a 22-hour standoff, police blew the top off a rugged mountain
bunker near Seattle on Saturday, only to find their target — a man
believed to be a murder suspect who holed up there — dead of a
self-inflicted gunshot wound inside.
By Elaine Thompson, APA sign warning of murder suspect Peter Alex Keller is seen Friday at a trailhead near Seattle.
By Elaine Thompson, AP
A sign warning of murder suspect Peter Alex Keller is seen Friday at a trailhead near Seattle.Sponsored Links
Authorities
had not positively identified the body as 41-year-old Peter Keller, who
hadn't been seen since his wife and daughter were found shot to death
last weekend, King County sheriff's Sgt. Katie Larson said.
A bomb squad cleared the bunker, built into a ridge in the Cascade Mountains,
to make sure there were no booby-traps before detectives entered.
Officers shouted warnings before blowing the roof, Larson said. Tear gas
pumped into the bunker didn't work on Friday. With clear weather and a
fresh SWAT team in place Saturday morning, it was time to act more aggressively, she said.
It wasn't clear if any officers had heard the gunshot from inside the bunker, she said.
The
raid ended a tense week for law enforcement officials who tried to
track down Keller, a gun enthusiast described by his family as having a
"survivalist mentality." That Keller was likely armed and on the loose
in an extremely popular hiking and mountain-biking area east of Seattle
kept many people on edge.
"There's been a huge
sigh of relief," Larson said. "Our people are out safe, and the trails
are now safe for the community to use."
Keller
had spent eight years building the bunker into the side of Rattlesnake
Ridge, police said. It was thoroughly camouflaged and had multiple
levels. Photos of the inside of the bunker, released by the King County
Sheriff's Office, showed a shelf full of ammunition boxes stacked inside
Ziploc bags.
SWAT teams spent a grueling
seven hours on the mountainside Friday morning, virtually crawling over
dangerously steep terrain slick with mud from recent rains, before they
found the bunker. A number of officers were treated intravenously for
dehydration, and one broke his ankle, said sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West
said.
After long shifts, the officers appeared
exhausted, their faces smeared with camouflage paint, as they rode down
the mountain in sport-utility vehicles or armored carriers to be
replaced by fresher teams.
SWAT officers who
kept watch on the bunker through Friday night said they saw lights going
on and off, and they believed its occupant had everything necessary to
remain inside for a long time — including a generator, food, gas mask,
bullet-resistant vest and many guns.
Photographs
found in Keller's home after the killings gave authorities an idea of
where it was; in one picture that they enhanced, detectives could make
out buildings in nearby North Bend.
Combined with reports from alert hikers who remembered seeing his faded
red pickup truck at the Rattlesnake Ridge trailhead, the sheriff's
office sent experienced trackers to the area, where they found off-trail
boot prints confirming their belief that he was somewhere on the ridge.
They could smell smoke from its woodstove before they found it.
Authorities
pumped tear gas into the structure Friday, but it failed to flush the
occupant — either because it didn't penetrate deep enough into the
structure, or because the person had a gas mask.
Officers
described the bunker as "amazingly fortified" and said the photos
recovered from Keller's house don't do it justice, West said.
The
bunker was found at about the 1,350-foot level, several hundred yards
due east of a trailhead at Rattlesnake Ridge. It had several entryways
and ladders.
Court documents described Keller as a loner who has a survivalist mentality and has been stockpiling supplies in the woods.
An
arrest warrant issued Wednesday accuses him of two counts of
first-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson; the home was
set on fire after Keller's wife and daughter were shot.
The
fire at Keller's home was stopped before the house burned down, and
authorities said they found seven gasoline cans placed in different
areas of the home.
The King County medical
examiner has determined Kaylene Keller, 18, and her mother, Lynnettee
Keller, 41, both died from gunshots to the head. Their bodies were found
in their bedrooms.
Kaylene's boyfriend told
detectives that Peter Keller had shown him his gun collection and
several large-caliber rifles and handguns, court documents said. The
boyfriend, who was not identified, said Kaylene had told him her father
took long hikes on the weekends and was stockpiling supplies at a fort
in the woods.
Peter Keller withdrew $6,200
from a bank last week and told one of his co-workers at a computer
refurbishing store in Preston that he might not return, according to
court documents.
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