WA WA - Karen Bodine, 37, Murdered, Thurston County, 2007

[IslandGirlTC]

According to the timeline, Karen had been in a crisis the weekend of her murder in January 2007. Friday, she’d been forced out of the apartment she was living in with her boyfriend because of a domestic violence situation.

For the rest of the weekend, detectives believe she was hanging out with a rough crowd in an alleged drug house. In the early morning hours of Monday, her body was found near the entrance to an old gravel quarry in Thurston County.

Karen’s youngest child was in sixth grade, her middle child was a freshman, and Karlee, her oldest was a senior in high school. When Karlee got the devastating news she fell to the ground in horror and disbelief.

“I literally sank to my knees and was in shock and just laid in the mud and started screaming, ‘No! No!”

Original news reports of the murder described Karen as a drug addict and transient. Karlee believes that since the media had painted her mother negatively, the case didn’t get the attention it deserved and police didn’t put time into the case.

“She did have drug and alcohol problems, but that was on and off throughout her life. It was more off than on,” Karlee said.

Source: A mother’s dying wish: What happened to Karen Bodine?

Other Sources

Who Killed Karen Bodine? The vicious murder of the mother of three in 2007 still remains unsolved
Vigil Marks 15 Years Since the Unsolved Murder of Karen Bodine

Facebook Page ran by her daughter: Justice For Karen Bodine: My Mother's Unsolved Homicide Investigation

 

[imstilla.grandma]

It has been over 15 years since Karen Bodine was murdered; her nude body posed and left near a Washington state gravel pit. Who Killed Karen Bodine?​

Karen Bodine was a 37-year-old mother of three living in Olympia, Washington. She was loving and creative–known to streak her hair with pink highlights and leave secret notes in her kid’s school notebooks as a way to let them know she was thinking of them. While she struggled with substance abuse; her family and friends remember her as a loving mother, daughter, and friend.

The last time Karen was seen alive​

On Sunday, January 21, 2007, Karen was wandering through the streets of Lacey, Washington when a neighbor noticed her and called the police. When police arrived, Karen brushed them off telling them she was fine, despite not wearing a winter coat despite the cold. After lots of insisting, the officer left. At the time Karen was staying with a friend, she had left her parent's home after an intense domestic incident with her boyfriend, resulting in a protection order.

The next day, Monday, January 22, Karen was staying with that same friend and many other house guests at the time who were known to do drugs. They reported seeing her around 3 AM when she left the house on foot. This would be the last time Karen would be seen alive.

When she was discovered​

The next morning on January 23, 2007, Karen’s nude body was discovered at the entrance of a gravel pit on Little Rock Road in Rochester, Washington— approximately 30 miles from her home. A witness would tell police they saw a small, brown early 1980s Datsun with a lighter color camper shell seen around 7:50 am at the gravel road entrance. Despite being found in an unnatural position, investigators determined that there were no signs of sexual assault but she was strangled; but her body was left in a position that would suggest that the murderer “wanted the shock value.”

Source: Adam Amato / The Chronicle (2007)

Additionally, Karen was completely nude with a ligature around her neck. Multiple DNA profiles were identified on the ligature and sent off for testing–which has still not been shared to this day. Law enforcement are hoping advancements in DNA technology will result in answers. The detective in the case is quoted as saying: “...when you have a case that has as little evidence as this one does and has gone on as long as it has, more than one person was probably involved."

Where the case stands today​

It’s been15 years and Karen’s case remains unsolved, but her children are still actively fighting for answers for their mother. In 2019, her children participated in a CrimeCon-sponsored event aimed at sharing details of her case with the public in hopes of finding additional information, and earlier this year her case was featured on "Still a Mystery: A Community Betrayal" on the ID Channel. Her daughter Karlee also maintains several billboards in the area where she was last seen hoping someone will come forward with information.

Murdered: Karen Bodine | Rochester, WA | Uncovered

A young mother of 3 is found murdered and posed outside of Olympia, WA

uncovered.com

*OMG, this is a… (I don’t even know what word to use)revolting sad story. I’m very surprised there aren’t more comments.

 

[PommyMommy]

FEB 17, 2023

Thurston County Cold Cases Get Increased Attention - The Daily Chronicle

Matthew Anfeldt, Karen Bodine, Nancy Moyer and Logan Schiendelman are familiar names to many South Thurston County residents for the mystery still surrounding their cases. But those names …

www.chronline.com

Matthew Anfeldt, Karen Bodine, Nancy Moyer and Logan Schiendelman are familiar names to many South Thurston County residents for the mystery still surrounding their cases.

[...]

In an effort to raise awareness for unsolved cases in Thurston County and to show victims and their families that they have not been forgotten, Boheme started the Facebook page Thurston County Cold Cases, also known as Southwest Washington Cold Cases, in December 2022. The page, which is not affiliated with any law enforcement agency, features publicly-available information related to cold cases and active missing persons cases across Southwest Washington.

“To be completely honest, the goal of the page is simply to show the victim respect and to honor them as they deserve,” Boheme said.

The secondary goal of the page is to keep the victims’ cold cases in the public eye, which could encourage someone with possible information that could help advance the case to come forward.

[...]

Boheme also wants to showcase her field, forensic genetic genealogy, as a tool that can be used in the investigation of cold cases.

[...]

Boheme has expressed interest in speaking to Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders about the possibility of using forensic genetic genealogy and DNA testing to help solve cold cases, but the continuance of those investigations depends on the sheriff’s office having a detective to pursue them.

[...]

To help solve that issue, Sanders said he plans to ask for a full-time missing persons/cold cases investigator position to be added to the department’s budget.

[...]

 

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Investigation into Karen Bodine's 2007 unsolved killing kept alive by her daughters, Olympia detectives