He cried as his right leg and head were shaven. He hadn’t eaten, having refused his last meal of steak and eggs. At 7:01 am, wearing a light blue shirt and dark blue pants, Ted Bundy was led out of his cell and to the gray, freshly painted, execution chamber.
His legs buckled beneath him, only the guards on either side holding his weight. He quickly regained his composure and shuffled to the large wooden chair.
He looked around, noting all the spectators, nodding to his lawyer, Jim Coleman and his minister Fred Lawrence, who were seated in the front row. Looking on. His eyes met those of the prosecutors who had convicted him, and he smiled.
Four guards worked quickly, securing his arms and legs to the chair with the large leather straps. He appeared frightened, blinking cautiously as his chin strap was tightened.
Tom Barton, the prison supervisor, asked if he had any last words.
“Yes. Jim and Fred, I’d like you to give my love to my family and friends.” He looked as though he wanted to say more, but when no words came. The microphone was taken away, and his face was co eyed with a black leather hood. Electrodes were placed on his leg and head, then after confirming there were no stays, Barton nodded to the executioner.
The switch was pressed at 7:06 am, and Ted Bundy was pronounced dead, at 7:16 am January 24, 1989.
Rewind back to the beginning; Ted Bundy was born Theodore Robert Cowell on November 24, 1946. His mother, Louise Cowell gave birth at the Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers in Burlington, Vermont. While his mother claimed his father was a “sailor,” those claims were never confirmed, and many speculated that Bundy was actually fathered by Louise’s own father.
As an unwed mother in the 1950’s, Louise feared her son would be teased and ridiculed as most illegitimate children were often treated. She made the decision to move home to Philadelphia, with her parents.There Bundy was led to believe that his grandparents, Samuel and Eleanor Cowell, were his parents, and his mother was his sister.
While giving with his grandparents, Bundy was witness to violent outbursts and abuse. Samuel was a bigot, who often spoke out about his dislike for religious groups and various minorities. He beat his wife and children, the family dog, and was known to swing neighborhood cats around by their tails. On more than one occasion, Samuel could be found arguing with someone who wasn’t there. Whenever Bundy’s paternity was questioned, Samuel flew into a rage, yet Bundy claimed that he “identified with”, “respected”, and “clung to” his grandfather.
When Bundy was five, Louise had had enough. She packed their bags and left, moving to Tacoma, Washington where she would live with her cousins. It was while they were there that Louise met Johnnie Bundy.
Johnnie was ex military and was working as a cook in a hospital. Before long, Louise and Johnnie were married, and Johnnie formally adopted Bundy, making him Ted Bundy.
Johnnie and Louise went on to have four more children together, and while most children in Bundy’s position would fight and struggle for parental attention, Bundy spent most of his time alone, preferring isolation over family and friends. Although Johnny tried to include Bundy in camping trips and other “family” activities, Bundy remained distant. When a cousin called Bundy a “bastard,” and showed him his birth certificate, Bundy became outraged and began to resent his mother for never having spoken with him about his real father. Bundy went on to complain to his girlfriend that Johnnie wasn’t his real father, and that he “wasn’t very bright.”
Ted spent much of his free time roaming the neighborhood and picking through trash barrels. It was there that he first came into contact with detective magazines. These magazines depicted women in a vulnerable state, often scantily clad and being brutalized in one way or another. These images aroused Bundy and he continued searching for more, reading crime novels, and viewing true crime documentaries involving sexual violence.
As he grew up, he would drink copious amounts of alcohol and look from house to house, searching for open windows where he could watch women undress, or more. He had no social life, claiming, “I didn’t know what made people want to be friends,” he said. “I didn’t know what underlay social interactions.”
Ted graduated from high school in 1965 and went on to study at the University of Puget Sound, where he stayed for a year before transferring to the University of Washington. It was there, in 1967, that he met Stephanie Brooks. Stephanie was from a wealthy California family. She and Bundy began dating and it was discovered that she was a very ambitious woman, and wanted her mate to be ambitious as well. To Bundy, this was the happiest time of his life.
Ted dropped out of college and began working a series of minimum-wage jobs, and volunteered at the Seattle office of Nelson Rockefeller’s presidential campaign. He even attended the Republican National Convention in Miami as a Rockefeller delegate. But that wasn’t enough for Stephanie and she promptly broke off their relationship and returned to California claiming Bundy was immature and had a lack of ambition.
Ted was devastated, and once again picked up and left, traveling first to Colorado where he enjoyed skiing, then on to Arkansas and Philadelphia to visit relatives. He enrolled at Temple University, but only stayed for one semester before returning to Washington where he met Elizabeth Kloepfer. Elizabeth worked as a secretary at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Ted renewed his focus and by mid 1970, he had enrolled again at the University of Washington as a psychology major. An honor student, he was well-regarded by his professors, and in 1971, he even took a job at Seattle’s Suicide Hotline Crisis Center. That is where he met Ann Rule. Ann was a former police officer and crime reporter. She was over 40 years old, with four children of her own, and volunteered at the crisis center one night a week.
Ann took an instant liking to Bundy, after he brought her a cup of coffee and waved his arm over the banks of phone lines, asking, “You think we can handle all this?” Ann later recounted that people loved him. Not only did he volunteer for the Republican Party, he convinced people not to kill themselves over the phone; he dated and he was kind of hot. Ann even admitted, “I can remember thinking that if I were younger and single or if my daughters were older, this would be almost the perfect man.”
After he graduated from the University of Washington in 1972, Bundy went on to join Governor Daniel J. Evans in his re-election campaign. He would pose as a college student and shadow Evans’ opponent, former governor Albert Rosellini. When Governor Evans was re-elected, Bundy was hired as an assistant to Ross Davis, Chairman of the Washington State Republican Party. Ross Davis described him as, “smart, aggressive, and a believer in the system.” It was no surprise that Davis and Evans both wrote Bundy recommendation letters for Law School, where he was accepted to both the University of Puget Sound, and the University of Utah.
Still dating Elizabeth “Liz” Kloepfer, Bundy goes to California on a Republican Party Business trip. There, he rekindled his relationship with Stephanie who was amazed by his transformation into such a serious and professional man. He ended up in Seattle, attending the University of Puget Sound, where Stephanie flew out to stay with him several times, all the while keeping Liz and Stephanie in the dark about each other.
Ted spoke with Stephanie about marriage, and even introduced her to Ross Davis as his fiancée, but n January 1974, however, he abruptly broke off all contact. He no longer returned her phone calls or letters, and when, a month later, she finally managed to reach him by phone, she demanded to know why he had abruptly and without instigation, ended their relationship with no explanation. Bundy responded in a flat, calm voice, “Stephanie, I have no idea what you mean” and hung up. That was the last she heard from him, and he later explained, “I just wanted to prove to myself that I could have married her.”
Having taken his revenge on Stephanie, Bundy’s attendance at law school began to slip as he began exploring his other desires.
Just after midnight on January 4, 1974, Bundy snuck into the basement apartment of Karen Sparks (18). Karen was a dancer and student at the University of Washington. Bundy bludgeoned Karen as she slept with a metal rod from her bed frame. He then sexually assaulted her with the same rod which caused extensive internal injuries. She remained unconscious for 10 days, ultimately surviving the attack, but had permanent physical and mental disabilities.
Early February 1, Bundy moved on to break into the basement bedroom of Lynda Ann Healy, another University of Washington student. He beat her unconscious, then dressed her in blue jeans, a white blouse, boots, and then carried her away.
March 12, donna Gail Manson (19) left her dormitory at The Evergreen State College in Olympia to attend a jazz concert on campus, but she never arrived. April 17, Susan Elaine Rancourt disappeared while on her way to her dorm room after an adviser’s meeting at Central Washington State College in Ellensburg. Later, two female Central Washington students came forward, reporting encounters with a man wearing an arm sling, asking for help carrying a load of books to his brown or tan Volkswagen Beetle.
On May 6, Roberta Kathleen Parks left her dormitory at Oregon State University in Corvallis, to have coffee with friends at the Memorial Union, but she never arrived. Girls were disappearing at a rate of 1 per month, and both the King County and Seattle police departments were at a loss. There was next to no physical evidence, and the missing girls had nothing in common aside from being young, attractive, white college students with long hair parted down the middle – similar to how Stephanie wore her hair.
June 1, Brenda Carol Ball (22) disappeared after leaving the Flame Tavern in Burien, having been last seen in the parking lot speaking to a brown-haired man with his arm in a sling. June 11, Georgann Hawkins disappeared while walking down a brightly lit alley between her boyfriend’s dormitory and her sorority. Seattle homicide detectives combed the area on their hands and knees, finding nothing. Once Georgann’s disappearance was made public, multiple witnesses came forward to report seeing a man that night in an alley behind a nearby dormitory. He had crutches and a leg cast, and was struggling to carry a briefcase. One of the women recalled him asking if she would help him carry the briefcase to his car – a light brown Volkswagen Beetle.
During this time, Bundy was working in Olympia at the Department of Emergency Services (DES), a state government agency that was involved in the search for missing women. Although he was still dating Liz, he sparked a relationship with Carole Ann Boone, whom he met at DES. Carole was a twice-divorced mother of two.
Then, July 14 in the middle of the day, witnesses reported having seen an attractive young man wearing a white tennis outfit with his left arm in a sling. He had a light accent, either Canadian or British, and introduced himself as, “Ted.” He asked the group of five girls if they would help him unload a sailboat from his tan or bronze-colored Volkswagen Beetle. Four of the girls refused, but the one girl who agreed accompanied him to his car, but when she saw there was no sailboat, she ran. Later, witnesses report that they saw the same man approach Janice Anne Ott (23), and she left the beach with him. Later that day, Denise Marie Naslund (19), left a picnic to go to the restroom and never returned. Bundy later admitted that Janice was still alive when he returned with Denise, and he forced one to watch as he murdered the other. A statement he later denied on the eve of his execution.
With so many witnesses coming forward, the police had a detailed description of the man and his car. They posted fliers throughout Seattle, even had a sketch drawn up and printed in newspapers and broadcast on local TV stations. Bundy’s girlfriend, Liz, Ann Rule, a DES employee and a professor from the University of Washington all saw and recognized the profile, the sketch, and the car. All four of them came forward and reported Ted Bundy as a possible suspect, but detectives thought it was unlikely, with Bundy being a clean-cut law student with no adult criminal record.
It wasn’t until September 6, when two grouse hunters were out near a service road in Issaquah, that the remains of Janice and Denise were found. Among their remains was an extra femur and several vertebrae, identified as belonging to Georgann Hawkins. Then, six months later, students from Green River Community College, found the skulls and mandibles of Lynda Ann Healy, Susan Elaine Rancourt, and Brenda Carol Ball on Taylor Mountain, one of Bundy’s favorite hiking grounds. No remains of Donna Gail Manson have ever been recovered.
Still eluding capture, in August 1974, Bundy received a second acceptance from the University of Utah Law School, and moved to Salt Lake City. He and Liz agreed to give the long-distance relationship a try, however Bundy couldn’t help himself, and while he was in Salt Lake City, he dated at least a dozen other women.
In school, Bundy became disheartened to discover that his peers were highly intelligent, and understood in a way he could not. So, it was only a month before Bundy returned to his old ways. On September 2, he raped and strangled a hitchhiker in Idaho. Her remains were dismembered and dumped into a nearby river. She remains to be identified.
October 2, he kidnapped Nancy Wilcox (16) in Holladay, and dragged her into a wooded area. He wanted to “de-escalate” his urge to kill, so he raped her and then released her. But she began to scream, so he strangled her, not intentionally, but rather by trying to silence her screams. Bundy claimed to have buried her remains near Capitol Reef National Park, but her body has yet to be recovered.
Then Bundy kidnapped Melissa Ann Smith (17) on October 18, as she left a pizza parlor. Melissa was the daughter of the police chief, indicating that no woman was safe. Her nude body wasn’t found until nine days later, in a nearby mountain area. It is believed that she had remained alive up to seven days after her disappearance. Then on Halloween, Bundy picked up Laura Ann Aime (17) in Lehi, as she left a cafe just after midnight. Her body was discovered on Thanksgiving day by hikers, nine miles away in American Fork Canyon. Both Melissa and Laura had been beaten, raped, sodomized, and then strangled with nylon stockings. Bundy later described washing their hair and applying makeup to the women after they were dead.
Still on the loose, Bundy approached Carol DaRonch (18) at Fashion Place Mall in Murray on November 8. He introduced himself as “Officer Roseland” of the Murray Police Department and informed Carol that someone had tried to break into her car. He asked her to accompany her to the station to file a complaint. Carol got into the car with him, but quickly realized that they were not heading to the police station, and pointed it out.Hearing this, he quickly pulled his car onto the shoulder and attempted to handcuff her, however she fought back and he somehow managed to secure both cuffs to the same wrist. Carol pushed open the car door and escaped.
Ted may have lost one woman that day, but that didn’t deter him. Later that evening, Debra Jean Kent (17), a student at Viewmont High School in Bountiful, disappeared after leaving a show at the school to go and pick up her brother. Outside the auditorium, police found a key, that just so happened to unlock the handcuffs on Carol DaRonch’s wrist. It was unfortunate that the school’s drama teacher and a student had had a “stranger” ask each of them to go out to the parking lot to identify a car. Also unfortunate that another student saw the man pacing in the back of the auditorium. If he had been reported, Debra may not have become another victim.
Again, Liz called the King County police after hearing that more women were disappearing in towns surrounding Salt Lake City. Bundy was looking more and more like a suspect, however a witness was unable to identify him from a photo lineup. Liz wasn’t about to let it go, and in December, she called the Salt Lake City Sheriff’s office. There, they added Bundy’s name to a list of suspects, but they had no credible evidence to link him to any of the crimes.
In January, Bundy returned to Seattle, and Liz, and everything seemed just fine. She was careful not to let him know that she suspected him of murder.
By this time, Bundy had decided he needed to broaden his hunting grounds, and on January 12, he abducted Caryn Eileen Campbell (23) from the hallway to her room at the Wildwood Inn in Snowmass Village in Colorado. She had been beaten in the head with a blunt object that left linear grooved depressions on her skull. She also bore deep cuts from a sharp weapon. Her naked body was dumped next to a dirt road just outside the ski resort.
Moving on to Vail, on March 15, 1975, Bundy lured Julie Cunningham (26), to his car. He had crutches and asked if she would help him carry his ski boots. Once to the car, he clubbed and handcuffed her. He drove ninety miles away, just outside of Rifle, Colorado, where he assaulted and ultimately strangled her. Weeks later, Bundy made the six-hour drive from Salt Lake City to revisit her remains. It is said that Bundy enjoyed having sex with his victims, even after death. Her body has never been recovered.
He took his next victim on April 6, from Grand Junction in Colorado. Denise Lynn Oliverson (25) was riding her bike to her parents house. After assaulting her, he threw her body into the Colorado River, yet all that was ever found were her sandals, and her bike, beneath a viaduct near a railroad bridge.
Perhaps his youngest victim yet, on May 6, Bundy lured Lynette Dawn Culver (12) from Alameda Junior High School in Pocatello, Idaho. He drowned her, then sexually assaulted her dead body in his hotel room. He claims to have disposed of her body in a river north of Pocatello, possibly the Snake River, but her remains have never been found.
Later that month, Carole Ann Boone and two other of his former DES coworkers, visited and stayed with Bundy in his Salt Lake City apartment. In June, he went back to Seattle and stayed with Liz for a week. Together they talked about getting married, maybe the following Christmas. Again, Liz did not let him know of her suspicions, and Bundy did not divulge the fact that he was still dating other women, including Carole Ann Boone, or Utah Law student, Kim Andrews (also known as Sharon Auer).
But then, on June 28, in Provo, Susan Curtis (28) disappeared from the campus of Brigham Young University. Her body was never found.
Ted, still trying to change, made the decision to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He didn’t actively participate in services and didn’t follow the restrictions or guidelines.
During his hiatus from killing, investigators made a move to analyze the information they had. They compiled information including classmates and acquaintances of each of the victims. They looked at Volkswagen owners named “Ted,” known sex offenders, and anything else they could think of. Thousands of names went through, and only 26 came out on four separate lists. Detectives also compiled a list of their “100 best” suspects. Bundy was on all 5 lists, and quickly became a prime suspect.
While cruising a residential area in Granger, before sunrise on August 16, 1975, Bundy was spotted by a Utah Highway Patrol officer. Upon seeing him, Bundy fled the area at high-speed, but he was ultimately stopped. Upon searching the car, the officer found that the Volkswagen’s front passenger seat had been removed and placed in the rear seats. He also found handcuffs, trash bags, a coil of rope, a ski mask, and another mask made from pantyhose. He found a crowbar and an ice pick as well as other items assumed to be the tools of a burglar. Bundy was arrested.
When his apartment was searched, police found a brochure for the Viewmont High School play in Bountiful, where Debra Kent had disappeared. They also came across a guide to Colorado ski resorts, which contained a check mark next to the Wildwood Inn. Lacking enough evidence to hold him, Bundy was released on his own recognizance. But they had not done a thorough enough search, missing Bundy’s collection of Polaroid photos of his victims. He admitted to destroying them all once he was released.
But they didn’t stop there. Police placed Bundy on a 24-hour surveillance, and Detective Jerry Thompson and two other detectives boarded a plane to Seattle to interview Bundy’s girlfriend, Liz. Liz reported that before Bundy moved to Utah, she had discovered crutches, a bag of plaster of Paris, a meat cleaver that was never used for cooking as well as surgical gloves, an Oriental knife that he kept in a case in his glove compartment, and even a sack full of women’s clothing. She didn’t understand why he possessed these items, and also knew that he was always in debt. When he came home with a new TV and stereo system, Liz was puzzled and confronted him, to which he responded, “If you tell anyone, I’ll break your fucking neck.”
Liz also recalled Bundy getting very upset whenever she considered cutting her hair, which just happened to be long and parted down the middle, just like Stephanie Brooks’. He kept a flashlight by the bed, and several times she would awaken to him under the covers, examining her body. After they confirmed that Bundy had not been with Liz on any of the nights during which a victim vanished, she was interviewed by Seattle homicide detective Kathy McChesney. It was then that Liz learned all about Stephanie Brooks, and even her engagement to Bundy around Christmas, 1973.
To get rid of any incriminating evidence, Bundy sold his Volkswagen Beetle, however it was impounded by the Utah police, and FBI technicians dismantled and searched it. Inside were hairs that belonged to Caryn Campbell. Other hair strands were determined “microscopically indistinguishable” from those of Melissa Smith and Carol DaRonch.
October 2, Bundy was put into a police lineup, and immediately, without hesitation, Carol DaRonch identified Bundy as “Officer Roseland.” Other witnesses from Bountiful were able to pick Bundy out as the man who had been in the back of their school auditorium.
Unfortunately, police did not have enough evidence to link him to Debra Kent, but they had more than enough to charge him with aggravated kidnapping and attempted criminal assault against Carol DaRonch. His bail was set at $15,000, and his parents paid, setting him free. He stayed with Liz, and police kept him under close surveillance.
On February 23, 1976, Bundy faced the judge for kidnapping and assault charges. His attorney suggested he waive his right to a jury, knowing they wouldn’t get even one un-tainted juror. So on March 1, after a four-day bench trial, Judge Stewart Hanson Jr. found him guilty of kidnapping and assault. On June 30, he was sentenced to serve a minimum of one to a maximum of fifteen years in the Utah State Prison. But Bundy did not want to stay in prison, and in October, he was found hiding in the bushes of the prison yard, carrying his “escape kit,” which consisted of road maps, airline schedules, and a social security card. As a result, he was sent to solitary confinement for several weeks.
During all this time, the three main investigators on the case, Jerry Thompson from Utah, Robert Keppel from Washington, and Michael Fisher from Colorado, met in Aspen Colorado. There they exchanged information with 30 detectives, and prosecutors from five states. The meeting, known as the Aspen Summit, convinced everyone involved, that Ted Bundy was the murderer they had been searching for.
In October 1976, Colorado authorities finally had enough to charge Bundy with the murder of Caryn Campbell. Waiving his extradition proceedings, Bundy was transferred to Aspen in January 1977.
A preliminary hearing was set for June 7, 1977 at the Pitkin County Courthouse in Aspen, Colorado. Bundy elected to serve as his own attorney, and the judge excused him from wearing handcuffs or leg shackles. When court was in recess, Bundy asked to visit the courthouses Law Library to further research his case. There, hidden behind a bookcase, he carefully opened a window and jumped from the second story. Bundy was fine, aside from a sprained right ankle, and he shed his outer layer of clothing before heading out through Aspen.
Roadblocks were going up everywhere, so Bundy hiked southward, onto Aspen Mountain. There, he broke into a hunting cabin, stole clothing, food, and a rifle. The following day, he set out, heading toward the town of Crested Butte, but not knowing his way around the Rocky Mountains, he became disoriented and lost. He wandered aimlessly for two days until June 10, when he came upon a camping trailer on Maroon Lake. He stole food and a ski parka, then headed back north towards Aspen, avoiding the roadblocks and search parties. Three more days went by, and Bundy stole a car from the edge of Aspen Golf Course. He was cold, tired, and his sprained ankle was really causing him pain. He drove back into Aspen, where he was pulled over by police after they spotted him swerving from one lane to another.
Ted was once again arrested, and put back in jail in Glenwood Springs. The case against him was dissolving with significant pieces of evidence were being ruled inadmissible. If Bundy would have just sat back and allowed the case to run its course, he would have had a good chance of an acquittal, which would have dissuaded the other prosecutors. He could have been set free, but instead, Bundy hatched a new escape plan. He acquired a detailed floor plan of the jail, and managed to get his hands on a hacksaw blade from the other inmates. Visitors, namely Carole Ann Boone, helped by smuggling in cash.
Ted took the time, while other prisoners were in the showers, to saw a one-foot square hole in the ceiling. He had lost weight (approximately 35 pounds), and was able to wriggle through the hole into the crawl space above. For the next few weeks he practiced, getting to know his space and best ways to move.
By late 1977, Bundy knew he had to do something. He filed for a change of venue to Denver, and on December 23, the judge granted his request, but instead of Denver, moved it to Colorado Springs, knowing juries there were less forgiving of murder suspects. On December 30, Bundy made his move. Most of the jail staff was off for Christmas break. Bundy piled books and files in his bed, and covered them with a blanket to simulate his sleeping body. He climbed into the crawl space, broke through the ceiling into the apartment of the chief jailer, who was out for the evening, and changed into street clothes from the jailers closet. From there, all he had to do was walk out the front door. Ted Bundy was once again, a free man.
He stole a car and drove east, away from Glenwood Springs. When the car broke down in the mountains off of Interstate 70, he was fortunate that a passing motorist didn’t recognize him and offered to give him a ride into Vail. From there, he was able to take a bus into Denver, where he caught a morning flight to Chicago.
The guards in the jail did not discover he was missing until noon, on December 31, by which time, Ted Bundy was already in Chicago.
Ted took the train to Michigan, then stole a car five days later and drove to Atlanta. In Atlanta, he boarded a bus and on the morning of January 8, he arrived in Tallahassee, Florida.
Ted resolved to change his ways. He wanted to refrain from criminal activity, so he could remain a free man. He took the alias, Chris Hagen, but quickly discovered that without proper identification, he could not get a job. So, he did what he thought was best, and began stealing credit cards from unattended purses and shoplifting.
Old habits die hard, and on the morning of January 15, 1978, Bundy entered Florida State University’s Chi Omega sorority house through a rear door with a faulty lock. At about 2:45 am, he Bludgeoned Margaret Bowman (21) with a piece of oak firewood while she slept. He finished her off by garroting her with a nylon stocking. He wasn’t done yet; Bundy then went into the room of Lisa Levy (20) and beat her unconscious. She was strangled, and he tore one of her nipples. He bit hard and deeply into her left buttock before sexually assaulting her with a hair mist bottle. Lisa had an adjoining bedroom, and Bundy went there next. He found Kathy Kleiner and attacked her, breaking her jaw and deeply lacerating her shoulder. Karen Chandler was next, who suffered a broken jaw, loss of teeth, a crushed finger, and a concussion.
Tallahassee detectives believe the four attacks only took fifteen minutes within earshot of more than 30 potential witnesses, who all claim to have heard nothing.
Ted had not yet had enough, so he walked to an apartment, eight blocks away where he found Cheryl Thomas, another Florida State University student. He attacked her, dislocating her shoulder and fracturing her jaw and skull in five places. She survived, but was left with permanent deafness, and equilibrium damage that destroyed her future as a dancer. Investigators found a semen stain on Cheryl’s bed as well as a pantyhose mask that contained two hairs, believed to belong to Ted Bundy.
He was sustained until February 8, when he drove 150 miles to Jacksonville in a stole Florida State University van. There, in a parking lot, he approached Leslie Parmenter (14), who just happened to be the daughter of Jacksonville Police Departments Chief of Detectives. He identified himself as “Richard Burton, Fire Department,” But when her older brother arrived and challenged, he left.
This time, he went 60 miles westward to Lake City. He waited until the next morning, and there, at the Lake City Junior High School, he took Kimberly Diane Leach (12). She had been called to her homeroom when she had forgotten her purse, but she never returned to class. Her partially mummified remains were found seven weeks later in a pig farrowing shed near Suwannee River State Park.
February 12, Bundy had to leave Tallahassee. His unpaid rent was piling up, and he feared the police were closing in on him. He stole a car and headed west across the Florida Panhandle. Three days later, near the Alabama state line, he was stopped by Pensacola police officer, David Lee. When he performed a “wants and warrants” check, he found that the Volkswagen Beetle Bundy was driving was stolen.
When the officer told Bundy he was under arrest, Bundy kicked his legs out from under him and took off running. David fired a warning shot, quickly followed by a second shot, then took off chasing him. He was able to tackle ted, where the two struggled over the gun until he was finally able to subdue and arrest Bundy. Search of the stolen car provided three sets of IDs, belonging to female Florida State University students, 21 stolen credit cards, and even a stolen TV. They also found a pair of dark rimmed glasses, and a pair of plaid slacks – the disguise worn by “Richard Burton” in Jacksonville.
On the ride to the jail, unknowing just who he had arrested, David Lee heard Bundy say, “I wish you had killed me.”
Ted Bundy’s trial was moved to Miami, where he was charged with the Chi Omega homicides and assaults. It was the first trial to be televised nationally in the United States.
Ted had five court appointed attorney’s assigned to him, but prefered to handle his own defense, much to the chagrin of the other attorneys. One attorney, Polly Nelson later wrote, “[he] sabotaged the entire defense effort out of spite, distrust and grandiose delusion. Bundy [was] facing murder charges with a possible death sentence, and all that mattered to him apparently was that he be in charge.”
A Tallahassee public defender, and a member of Bundy’s defense team, negotiated a plea-bargain, in which Bundy would plead guilty to killing Lisa Levy, Margaret Elizabeth Bowman, and Kimberly Diane Leach in exchange for a solid 75-year prison sentence. Bundy liked the deal; it meant he could avoid the death penalty and, later when evidence disintegrated and witnesses moved on, he could file a post-conviction motion to set aside the plea and obtain an acquittal.
However, at the last-minute, Bundy refused the deal.
At the trial, witnesses placed him near the Chi Omega House that evening, and even saw him leaving carrying the oak murder weapon. The bite wounds he left on Lisa Levy were matched to castings of Bundy’s teeth. On July 24, 1979, after less than seven hours of deliberation, Ted Bundy was found guilty on three counts of attempted first degree murder, and two counts of burglary. Judge Edward Cowart imposed death sentences for each of the murder convictions.
A second trial took place in Orlando only six months later, for the abduction and murder of Kimberly Leach. Once again, Bundy was found guilty after less than eight hours of deliberation.
During the penalty phase of the trial, Bundy took advantage of an obscure Florida law, that provided a marriage declaration in court, in the presence of a judge, constituted a legal marriage. As he was questioning former Washington State DES coworker, Carole Ann Boone, who had not only moved to Florida to be closer to Bundy, but was also testifying on his behalf, Bundy asked her to marry him. She accepted, and there Bundy declared to the court that they were legally married, and as such, she could not be forced to testify against her husband.
On February 10, 1980, Ted Bundy was once again sentenced to death by electrocution. As the sentence was announced, he stood and shouted, “Tell the jury they were wrong!”
Most of what we know about Ted Bundy comes from his interviews while incarcerated. With Stephen Michaud, and Hugh Aynesworth, he recounted his life as a thief. “The big payoff for me,” he said, “was actually possessing whatever it was I had stolen. I really enjoyed having something… that I had wanted and gone out and taken.” Sexual assault, he said, fulfilled his need to “totally possess” his victims. While murder was necessary at first, to avoid detection, it later became something he craved. “The ultimate possession was, in fact, the taking of the life. And then… the physical possession of the remains.”
Although conjugal visits were not permitted at Raiford Prison, inmates were known to pool their money to bribe guards to allow them alone time with their female visitors. It is in this manner it is believed that Carole Ann Boone became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter in October 1982. Ted Bundy was named as the father.
Still eager to escape prison, in July 1984 guards found two hacksaw blades hidden in Bundy’s cell. In one of the windows, they found that a steel bar had been completely sawed through at the top and bottom, glued into place with a homemade soap-based adhesive. He was promptly moved into a new cell. Several months later, guards found an unauthorized hidden mirror in his cell, and again, he was moved.
Bundy was no longer in charge, and was even the victim of a gang rape by a group of his fellow death row inmates. Bundy denied the assault, however several other inmates confessed to the crime. He was later charged with a disciplinary infraction for his unauthorized correspondence with John Hinckley, Jr., who had attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
He wasn’t going to give up though, and in October 1984, Bundy chose to work with Detective Robert Keppel from Washington, on the Green River Killer case. Although both Robert Keppel and Dave Reichert, of the Green River Task Force, interviewed Bundy, the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway remained at large for another 17 years. During these interviews, Bundy called the killer “The Riverman,” which became the nickname used for the title of Robert’s book, The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer.
Finally, in 1986, an execution date was set for the Chi Omega convictions, yet when the date approached, March 4, the Supreme Court issued a brief stay, giving him a little more time. Yet in April, a new date was set for July 2, and Bundy had to act quickly. He confessed to FBI agent William Hagmaier and Attorney Polly Nelson details of what he did with some of his victims after their deaths.
He confessed to revisiting Taylor Mountain, Issaquah, and other secondary crime scenes, to lie with his victims, and have sex with their corpses until putrefaction made it too difficult and he had to stop. He would drive several hours, often spending the night with his victims. He admitted to decapitating approximately twelve of his victims with a hacksaw, and kept a group of them in his apartment for a period of time before disposing of them.
Ted Bundy was doing all he could, and less than fifteen hours before his scheduled execution, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals stayed it indefinitely, remanding the Chi Omega case for review on multiple technicalities. Seems, they no longer believed Bundy had had the mental competency to stand trial, as well as erroneous instruction by the trial judge to the jury, requiring them to break a 6-6 tie between life imprisonment and the death penalty – which was never resolved. His first two death penalty convictions would not be carried out.
But he still had one more death penalty, and the date was set for November 18, 1986 for the murder of twelve-year-old Kimberly Diane Leach. However, he got lucky again, and the Eleventh Circuit Court issued a stay on November 17. But by mid 1988, the Eleventh Circuit ruled against Bundy, and in December, the Supreme Court denied a motion to review the ruling, and a firm execution date was set for January 24, 1989. Ted Bundy had exhausted his appeals, and knew there was no way he could escape the death penalty this time.
Bundy confessed to Robert Keppel that he had committed all eight of the Washington and Oregon murders, even adding the murders of the additional victims, which were unknown to investigators – yet he would not give up their identities. He told Keppel where to find the body of Donna Gail Manson, except for her head which he had burned in Liz Kloepfer’s fireplace. Donna’s body has not been found.
He described how he lured Georgann Hawkins to his car, before clubbing and handcuffing her. He drove her to Issaquah and strangled her, only to spend the night with her body. The next morning, he drove back to the University of Washington and collected her lost earrings and one of her shoes, which had been left in an adjoining parking lot. The area was an active crime scene investigation, yet he grabbed what he wanted, and left without being seen. He later revisited her body on at least three other occasions.
He went on to speak with detectives from Idaho, Utah, and Colorado, admitting that he had committed the murders there as well. He admitted to several that the police weren’t even aware of. While he was in Utah, he had the freedom to bring his victims back to his apartment “where he could reenact scenarios depicted on the covers of detective magazines.”
“There are other buried remains in Colorado,” he confessed, but would not elaborate, thinking he could work this into an additional stay of execution. Unfortunately, for Bundy, “Ted’s bones-for-time scheme” only made authorities want to execute him on schedule. It didn’t help that any details Bundy gave up led to nothing.
Attorney Diana Weiner, Bundy’s last love interest, pleaded with the families of victims to petition Florida Governor Bob Martinez for a postponement, but even the families of the yet to be recovered victims would rather see him dead. Polly Nelson wrote, “The families already believed that the victims were dead and that Bundy had killed them. They didn’t need his confession.
Carole Ann Boone later told Bundy’s attorney, that she felt, “deeply betrayed” by his admission of guilt. She took their daughter and moved back to Washington, “devastated by his sudden wholesale confessions in his last days.” On the day of his execution, Carole refused his calls.
On the eve of his execution, Bundy spoke of suicide, not wanting to give the state the satisfaction of watching him die. But in the end, he took his seat in that wooden chair, and paid the ultimate price for his crimes.
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