Cold Case Detectives ID Serial Murder Suspect

Three murders. Two jurisdictions. One serial killer.

It's a theory fast-gaining strength after homicide detectives in the Northwest reopened some missing person cases from the 1970's.

But local police aren't the only ones uncovering new evidence.

KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne found the prime suspect, hunkered down in Southeast Asia, and gets him to talk.

KIRO Team 7 Investigators took significant personal risks to accomplish what detectives from Kent and Jefferson County have not been allowed to do.

We traveled across the world, tracking the movements of a former Port Townsend man who may be the key to solving a trio of murder mysteries.

1973 marked the end of the Vietnam War, the beginning of President Nixon's Watergate mess, and the last time 23-year-old Althea Blankenship and her young son Jeffrey were seen alive.

The Port Townsend single mother simply disappeared, leaving behind a large, extended family hurt, confused and grieving.

Elain Dupen was Althea’s cousin and best friend.

“It's painful to think my cousin would have met that fate but I realize it's very possible. I've had nightmares about her possible death -- and (long pause) I think that it very possibly could have been him. There's just too much that points to him. It would be wonderful to have this closed. And I'm sorry my aunt and uncle aren't here to witness it.”

While Althea's loved ones waited for answers, another family, less than 100 miles away, was soon to feel that same pain.

When Esther Mae Gesler vanished, her five children grew up thinking she abandoned them. Her oldest daughter, Tara Bishop-Ernst, remembers the moment her mom left for what was supposed to be just a weekend of studying.

“When it came time for her to go, I was in the basement and I sat on the couch and she hollered down and said 'I'm leaving, Tara!' And I remember sitting back on the couch and looking up at the ceiling and going, 'And you're not coming back.' And that was it. I never went up and said goodbye to her," said Bishop-Ernst.

For 30 years, neither family realized these missing person cases were more than casually connected by a smooth-talking playboy named Glenn Bagley.

Kent Police Homicide Detective Wayne Himple doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to describing Bagley’s likely association with a crime.

Halsne: "How would you categorize him? Is he a murder suspect?" Himple: (Shakes head yes). "That's how I would categorize him. He is a murder suspect." Halsne: "That's strong, a strong statement." Himple: (Shakes head yes again) "I have good reason to make that statement."

For starters, Esther Mae Gesler was Glenn Bagley's ex-wife.

Althea and her son Jeffery rented a small apartment inside Bagley's Port Townsend home.

They disappeared three years apart, almost to the day.

Himple says that alone makes a strong circumstantial case.

“What are the chances? What are the odds of one person being associated with the disappearance of three people? And not just three people, but of people he was closely related to or in proximity of. They lived with him. The odds have to be astronomical, in my view, and I think people would get that. This isn't an everyday occurrence. You don't hear about this type of disappearance being associated with one individual," said Himple.

The answer to this mystery could be somewhere along the dangerous streets of Manila, Philippines.

The city is 8,000 miles outside the reach of Washington's cold case detective squad and a perfect place for retired civil engineer and murder suspect Glenn Allan Bagley to lie low.

Immigration sources in the Philippines tell KIRO Team 7 Investigators that Bagley is legally in their country. They guided us to an address at the Princeville condos off Laurel Street in Manila. Getting Bagley to come out was a whole other matter.

After days of street surveillance, several unpleasant encounters with armed men guarding Bagley's condo, and some negotiation with Manila police, Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne finally gained access to Bagley's apartment complex.

He agreed to meet us on the rooftop, next to the pool, and answer “a few questions."

Police detectives have not been able to speak with Bagley since 1976, shortly after his ex-wife vanished.

Bagley says he’s vaguely aware that detectives have been recently digging for new clues and that he is the target of the investigation.

Halsne: "Cold case homicide detectives in Washington are on the record with me, saying you are the prime suspect in the murders of three people." Bagley: (rolls eyes) "Yeah."

Not exactly a rousing defense, but Bagley claims he's unimpressed with the ongoing criminal probe.

“It might be something the police made up. I know when they do that stuff, they can lie or do anything they want to trick people into saying stuff, you know?”

Halsne: "You didn't have anything to do with their disappearance?" Bagley: "No." Halsne: "Nothing to do with their murder?" Bagley: "No." Halsne: "You don't know where the bodies are?" Bagley: "No. If there are any."

Bagley's denials also came with some admissions.

Around Easter of 1973, he drove Althea and Jeffery to Sea-Tac Airport for a vacation to Greece.

Nobody ever heard from them again.

Bagley: “No? You've got me worried a little bit now. That would put me as the last person -- known person -- to see them alive. You're right.”

And as for his missing ex-wife?

Halsne: "Were you upset that she disappeared?" Bagley: "No. Not really. We're talking about Esther right? No, not really."

He says he didn't kill her -- even had an alibi the weekend of March 13, 1976, when Esther vanished.

Bagley says he was “building a cat house in his garage.”

His girlfriend at the time, Cecilia Knoph, originally backed him up, but later recanted.

In a police audio tape recorded in 2004, Knoph tells detectives Bagley threatened to kill her if she ever revealed their fake alibi secret.

Police say her statement, if true, is a damning piece of evidence.

"He said he made a mistake. I knew more about him than any other female, and if I ever repeated anything he had ever told me about him, I would end up in the same culvert in Quilcene as Esther."

It was clear that Bagley didn't know Knoph had changed her story, or that police have been combing culverts connected with his old job as a Jefferson County road projects manager.

He reacted to the new information with a pained look on his face by saying, “I never said any such thing like that; I never threatened or anything else. I wonder why she's doing that. Must be another jilted woman (laughing)."

Retired cold case detective Jim Myers of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department isn't laughing.

Myers told Halsne, “I'd say it is a homicide investigation without any body or remains.”

Esther's daughter, Tara, says even if justice has to wait, it’s time for Glenn Bagley to reveal the truth.

“I just want to know where she is. I'm not the kind of person -- I don't believe in visiting a grave. I'm not like that spiritually, but for her -- it's the only thing she deserves.”

I asked Bagley to respond to his former stepdaughter’s request. This was his answer.

(Gesturing with hands) “I guess that's about it huh? - the interview I mean.”

Our complete interview with Bagley is still being dissected by multiple police agencies and a King County criminal prosecutor.

KIRO Team 7 Investigators are also following new leads regarding the three missing persons based on our conversation with Bagley.