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Sheriff hopes hunters can help with three-month old triple homicide case

Posted at 5:13 PM, Sep 29, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-29 19:15:43-04

As the crime scene chaos dies down off KCID Road in Canyon County, three crosses now stand to remember the victims found dead on the property in mid-June.

"It's the first triple homicide I've been involved with," Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue said. "It's way up there at the top of the list of heinous crimes I've been involved with."

Each of the three female victims died of a single gunshot, including a 13 year old girl, and all with close ties to the man police believe is responsible - Gerald "Mike" Bullinger -who's still no where to be found.

"This is clearly a domestic violence homicide," Sheriff Donahue said. "This isn't some random person he met on the street; he's lived with these people and he killed them."

The five-acre property, now owned by the bank, is noticeably more private than neighboring homes, full of foliage, and the view from the street is almost entirely blocked.

The murders themselves "took place on a pretty discrete part of the property," according to the Canyon County Sheriff. Possibly, part of the explanation as to why no one saw the murders, and as to why the bodies weren't discovered for roughly ten days.

Unique to this case, though, is the importance of three separate locations in three different states:
Where the bodies were discovered in Canyon County; where witnesses place the suspect after the murders in Ogden, Utah; and the last clue pointing to his whereabouts over the Wyoming border in remote Teton County, where the suspect's car was discovered three weeks after the bodies.

"[Where the suspect's car was found] isn't some place that you happen upon, this is some place you go to," Sheriff Donahue said.

"The area which we believe the suspect could have headed is one of the most remote areas in the lower 48," Matt Carr of the Teton County Sheriff's Office said.

The area is so remote that most people wandering in and out are hunters; Hunters Sheriff Donahue hopes can help.

"I want them to be looking for things that are out of the ordinary - if you stumble upon a camp, if they stumble upon remnants, clothing remnants, bones, we want to know about it," Donahue said. "We want to find Mr. Bullinger whether he's alive or dead."

Investigators hope to bring closure to all families involved, who have cooperated with law enforcement from day one.

"There's multiple families involved, including mr. Bullinger's family. They need closure. "Their extended families, and even Mr. Bullinger's family, they didn't ask for this either. They've become victims of this crime in many many ways."