When he looked around the shop’s parking lot, he didn’t find Jessica or Karen a nywhere. When Ben arrived at the store for the second time to convince his sister it was time to come home it was just after 4:00pm in the afternoon. It’s not clear from the research material that’s out there exactly how far the Westphal’s house was from the convenience store and the lake, but the town of Marion was really small and the lake literally sat right next to it on U-S Highway 2, so even though I don’t have the exact mileage, it’s safe to say it was a short enough distance from the house to the store in order for Ben to go back and forth on his bike. When Ben came back home without his sister for a second time and told his mom what Jessica had told him, their mom once again sent him back out and essentially was like, I don’t care what she wants to do I said it’s time to come home. When Ben got to the store though, Jessica told her brother that she and Karen weren’t ready to come home yet and that they wanted to get some more candy and continue hanging out. When Ben had last seen Jessica she’d been with her best friend, 11-year-old Karen Tyler. On July 31, 1973, Ben Westphal got home around 3:30pm after a typical summer day swimming at Bitterroot Lake, which was right by his hometown of Marion, Montana.Īccording to reporting by Cheryl Sabol, when Ben’s mother realized his 9-yeear-old little sister Jessica wasn’t with him, she sent him right back out the door to go and tell her it was time to come home.īen did as he was told and rode his bike back to where he knew his sister last was – which was the Marion General Store less than a mile from the lake. Their disappearance remained a total mystery for years…until a woman who narrowly escaped the clutches of a ruthless predator helped authorities catch a break and put a sadistic killer behind bars.

On July 31 st two best friends spent the day swimming and having fun at the lake and then stopped at a local store to buy some candy before they headed home. It was the kind of town where everybody knew everybody and families felt safe letting their children ride their bikes a lot of places, including Bitterroot Lake.

This whole area shares similar terrain with the national park– rural, mountainous, and filled with dense forests.Īccording to The Montana Standard, Marion’s population in 1973, when this story took place, hovered around 150 people…so really small. The case takes place in Northwestern Montana in and around the town of Marion which is located about an hour southwest of Glacier.

And the story I have for you today is about two girls who disappeared one summer day from their small Montana town near the boundary of Glacier National Park.

Promises to Keep by Janet Miller