SEATTLE -- A skull found in a swampy area of Bothell, Wash., last week apparently belonged to Sheraton Hotel heiress Marcia Moore, a nationally known author on psychic phenomena who vanished two years ago.
The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday dental records were used to confirm the skull, of which only the upper portion was found, was that of Mrs. Moore. It was discovered Friday by people who were clearing land for a construction project.
One or two other bones, believed to be human, also were found in the area, police said.
Mrs. Moore, the daughter of Robert L. Moore, founder of the Sheraton Hotel chain, had a national following as an author of several books on yoga, astrology, reincarnation and a subject she called 'hypersentience' -- a technique for determining if a person had previous lives or will have future ones.
Mrs. Moore, 51, disappeared from her home in the Alderwood Manor section of Seattle on Jan. 14, 1979, under what were termed mysterious circumstances. Her experimentation with a mind-altering drug might have played a part in her disappearance.
Her husband, Dr. Howard S. Alltounian, an anesthesiologist formerly with the Seattle Public Health Service Hospital, told authorities at the time that he found his wife gone when he arrived home shortly after midnight.
Later, Alltounian said he and Mrs. Moore had been experimenting with the psychedelic drug ketamine.
In 1978, the couple had published a paperback book on their experiments, titled 'Journeys Into the Bright World.'
Alltounian, who since has moved to the Detroit area, said after her disappearance that Mrs. Moore had been taking ketamine on a daily basis for 14 months, two 50-milligram doses each day. Research on the drug indicated she might have begun suffering from amnesia and severe depression and become lost, he said.
He said he and Mrs. Moore, who were married in 1977, were experimenting with the drug to 'explore the forbidden zones of the higher consciousness.'
One of Mrs. Moore's brothers, Robin Moore, is the author of 'The Green Berets' and 'The French Connection.'
