The Ghosts of Hwy. 20
 

The Oregonian running a series of articles on a serial killer here. Possibly the most victims of any killer in Oregon history. FWIW, Ted Bundy is also part of Oregon history. This killer was raised in Sweet Home, a small town a dozen miles or so from here. Hwy 20 is 1 mile from my front door. Anyway, here's a link to part 2. The killer is dead now, died in prison. But it seems his job as a state highway worker gave him a great "base" to hunt from.

https://projects.oregonlive.com/ghostsofhighway20/kaye/

Hmmm, not much interest it seems. Probably just me because I've driven between home and Bend on hwy.20 many times. Also, the western slopes of Hwy. 20 was the hunting & fishing territory of a deceased buddy and I. In the years before Oregon's growing population clogged the road up with traffic, it was a great backroad drive in a 911. Today, not a fun drive at all..too much traffic.

Another weird fact about hwy. 20...it's the longest highway in the country. If you began in Newport, Oregon and drove hwy. 20 to it's end, you'd end up in Boston.

I think my father knew him from also working with the state highway dept. If I remember right my father was just as shocked as everyone when he was caught.

Crazy thing is, until this publicity came along, I have zilch memories of publicity on the killings. Guess I'll have to tune in to the future installments.

I grew up in Bend but don't remember anything about the missing people. I know he was spooked by it when he heard they had pick the guy up.

It would sure as hell spook me..knowing you worked with a serial killer, yet didn't have a clue.

It seems people usually don't have a clue about serial killers. I suspect they aren't as scary as TV makes them seem (evil criminal mastermind people), but they are still scary just because of the crazy stuff they usually do. They are also interesting.

Really interesting read Paul. I find the evolution of these long term investigations simultaneously fascinating and disgusting. It is interesting how many of these serial killers aren't suspected by their families and friends. BTK of Wichita fame was a county animal control worker with a family, who also tortured and killed 10 people and taunted the police with multiple letters.

They say that there are around 50 serial killers operating at any time in the US. It's almost as if they are competing against each other.

Do you ever wonder, that right now there are probably several poor souls locked in someones cellar throughout the US with no hope of escape. It really bothers me how they seem to elude capture for so long.

I think there's not much discussion because most people are like "Not me man!" I'm not touching that third rail....

I'm totally fascinated by H.H. Holmes in Chicago back around the late 1800's where he built an entire trick hotel just to capture and murder people. I mean WTF ? You spend all your money to build a hotel just to capture people?

His first rape victim speaks in this video...she was indeed lucky. The only survivor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF1O1b9j9Yo

Good lord... As long as I've been in Oregon, I've never heard of this...

Super-creepy.

angela

Most are on the sociopath/psychopath end of the scale. They have above-average intelligence and are very good at appearing "normal" when they have to. They rely on people's tendency to dismiss things that don't make sense. They manipulate when they need to. They are intensely focused on themselves and their own needs and don't really care about other people. People are basically objects to the to be manipulated, used, or disposed of as they see fit.

Most casual encounters with serial killers are no different than casual encounters between other people: they are quickly forgotten and everyone moves on. The thing is, sometimes these people display behavior that is disturbing or not easily explained. These are the stories we hear about.

The people that encounter them frequently often say something is off that they can't explain. In the case of the story above, the guy took time off of work all the time for being sick but never really seemed ill. He was known for not being completely honest for where he was when working. Sure, those are odd behaviors in retrospect, but someone with a gambling problem or an ailing parent might display the same issues.

I have driven that road many times from Salem to Bend, pretty road, sort of rough in the winter sometimes

I grew up in Bend, college in Corvallis. I have also driven that road plenty of times. I chased many a snow plow in the winter going home.

episode 3 of the 5 part series is on the oregonian's website. Pretty well written, especially considering the investigative writer looks young to me. She probably wasn't alive when all this began. Good video work as well. Love the drone shots of the road...me knowing exactly the stretch on camera.

https://www.oregonlive.com/

On that drive, you were on 22 until Santiam Junction...but I'm betting you quickly learned of possible black ice because of the constant shade in that last right turn before the straight into Sisters. I learned it on one of those clear cold days, the road perfectly dry except for there. I'll never forget that unplanned 360...that was in '61, and I still can't believe how lucky I was.

I well remember the impact Ted Bundy had over our area when I was a kid. My family frequented Lake Sammamish State Park, where he nabbed several of his victims. We were quite likely there at the very same time on at least a few occasions. I was about junior high school age when he finally left this area.

I remember what a huge story his murders were, all of the news stories, police warnings, notifications at school, and all of that. I have to wonder if that was entirely a local thing, especially in light of the fact that I had never even heard of this guy in Oregon.

Before 24 hour news, I don't think many people outside of the impacted region really paid much attention. I also think we were all probably better off....

This is absolutely true. All shootings were local stories and later fuzzy rumors...

Even though I live & drive in the area, I really don't recall much publicity about these. Vague memory of the Camp Sherman victim being searched for...but zilch else.

The Oregonian feature has hooked me though. Now, every time I drive over the the hwy. 20 pass through the Cascades...thoughts of the victims. Especially his 13 year old step daughter, whose body was never found. Sad in a way because I used to think of that country as God's country. Now I know that evil resided there.

Very true, on both counts.

The first few I would have been 10 or 11 by 1992 I had moved to Washington sate so I'm sure it was not blip on the news up here.

I grew up in Salem and our family had a vacation place near Sunriver...we traveled Hwy 20 most weekends in the 70s-90s. Never heard of this before...

It is amazing how little publicity was given...final installment on the Oregonian's website tomorrow. I'll tune in.

Lived in Eugene for several years and skied every season at Mt Bachelor. Drove Santiam pass dozens of times in all conditions. Totaled my V6 Euro Capri on black ice playing pool with the guard rails smacking three corners out of four. Didn’t make it to Bachelor that time or run into any serial killers, but there was this hot chick in Salem....

Just finished the series...thx for the tip! Passed it on to my daughter and niece...they are into serial killer podcasts SmileWavy

Just finished this - very well done.... I suspect there are more victims out there. Ones where no one spoke up for them at all. Hidden or scattered in wild places...

angela

agreed!

Yep. People like this don't take a break for 10 years.

A hunting tale from the area...way up canyon creek. Still shooting daylight, I walking a cat trail. Spotted a nice 4 point blacktail across the canyon. Had to be 350-400 yards. Buck fever, I held high, squeezed off a round. He went down. So, down into the canyon, found our way across the creek. Took a couple of hours to reach the deer. By then it was dark. So David field dressed the deer while I held the flashlight. We propped open the body cavity to cool. Decided it was too hazardous for us to try to pack the deer out by flashlight. This is really steep country. We were hunting an old logging show David's brother worked. Show was named "spit falls". No real water fall there...nope, so named because when you spit, it would fall.

Bright and early the next day we returned with packboards, knives, folding saw, etc. All we found were a few bones and bits of fur. The head with my tag tied to it's antlers, gone. We searched around the area...nope gone. My tag for the year was sacrificed feeding critters.

Coyotes are thick on the west slopes of the Cascades.

Point being...not many human remains are found in that area.

I'm as sure as can be that John Ackroyd had more than the victims mentioned in this piece. How many? We'll never know....