FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Maria Lamarca Anderson, Community Relations Manager
206.728.7777/mlanderson@kirotv.com

SEATTLE — Three murders. Two jurisdictions. One suspected serial killer. A cold case that spans three decades and 8000 miles.

Watch KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Eleven at 11 this Thursday, October 29, for an exclusive report on a series of missing persons cases. This local mystery led Team 7 Investigators on an international search for the man considered the prime suspect in what may turn out to be a trio of murders.

The year 1973 marked the end of the Vietnam War, the beginning of President Nixon’s Watergate, and the last time 23-year-old Althea Blankenship and her young son Jeffrey were seen alive. The last known person to see them was her roommate, Glenn Allan Bagley of Port Townsend.

Almost exactly three years later, Esther Mae Gesler left her children in Kent for a weekend of intense studying and was never seen again. Phone records show a call a few days before from her ex-husband: Glenn Allan Bagley.

Cold case detectives made the connection and looked for more evidence; however for a time they were stymied in their efforts. Team 7 Investigators, led by Chris Halsne, went to work, reviewing case files and interviewing relatives and friends of the victims and suspect. Their diligence generated new clues that have police even more convinced Bagley is linked to the disappearances. Now both Kent and Jefferson County jurisdictions are more closely evaluating the possibility of prosecuting the suspect based on a strong circumstantial case. One drawback: Bagley moved to the Philippines soon after being questioned by Kent detectives in 1976. He is there legally, safe from any prosecution and too far to be questioned directly by local authorities.

Halsne and his team did something the detectives were not allowed to do: they followed Bagley to his heavily guarded condominium complex in the Philippines and confronted him. His response is unbelievable.

This exclusive Team 7 Investigation airs this Thursday, October 29, at 11 p.m. on KIRO 7.

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KIRO 7 is a Cox Media Group station and CBS affiliate serving Western Washington.

About Cox Media Group Cox Media Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, is an integrated broadcasting, publishing and digital media company that includes the national advertising rep firms of Cox Reps. With revenues exceeding $1.5 billion, the company operations include 15 broadcast television stations and 1 local cable channel, 86 radio stations, four metro newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications, and more than 100 digital services.