Police find body of murder suspect inside fortified bunker

Authorities in Washington state say they’ve found the body
of Peter Keller
in an elaborate bunker they had surrounded in the Cascade
Mountains. Keller was charged with the murder of his wife
and teenage daughter last weekend.

The King County Sheriff’s Office sent word via Twitter on
Saturday that they’d found the body, nearly 23 hours after
they first located the structure carved into the side of
Rattlesnake Ridge.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Katie Larson says a tactical team used
explosives to breach the top of the bunker, and when they
looked inside they found a man who appeared to be 41-year-
old Keller dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.

Police had been surrounding the rugged underground bunker
since it was located on Friday. With clear weather and a
fresh SWAT team in place Saturday morning, it was time to
act more aggressively, Larson 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.

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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.