Ted Bundy

Theodore Robert Bundy (born Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American
serial killer who kidnapped, raped, and murdered numerous young women and girls during t he
1970s and possibly earlier. Aft er more t han a decade of denials, he confessed t o 30 homicides,
commit t ed in seven st at es bet ween 1974 and 1978. His t rue vict im t ot al is unknown, and could
be much higher.[6]
 Ted Bundy

Bundy in July 1978

Born Theodore Robert Cowell

November 24, 1946
Burlington, Vermont, U.S.

Died January 24, 1989 (aged 42)

Florida State Prison, Bradford County, Florida,
U.S.

Cause of death Execution by electrocution[1]

Resting place Body cremated in Gainesville, Florida; ashes

scattered at an undisclosed location at
Cascade Range, Washington.

Other names Chris Hagen

Kenneth Misner

Officer Roseland

Richard Burton

Rolf Miller[2]

Alma mater University of Puget Sound

University of Washington

Temple University
 University of Utah

Spouse(s) Carole Ann Boone

(m. 1980; div. 1986)

Children 1

Parent(s) Jack Worthington (alleged biological

father)[3][4][5]

Eleanor Louise Cowell (mother)

Johnny Culpepper Bundy (adoptive father)

Conviction(s) Aggravated kidnapping

Attempted murder
Burglary
Murder

Criminal penalty Death

Escaped June 7, 1977 – June 13, 1977

December 30, 1977 – February 15, 1978

Details

Victims 30 confessed, 20 confirmed

Span of crimes February 1, 1974 – February 9, 1978

Country United States

State(s) California • Colorado • Florida • Idaho •

Oregon • Utah • Washington

Date apprehended August 16, 1975

Bundy was regarded as handsome and charismat ic, t rait s t hat he exploit ed t o win t he t rust of
vict ims and societ y. He would t ypically approach his vict ims in public places, feigning injury or
disabilit y, or impersonat ing an aut horit y figure, before knocking t hem unconscious and t aking
t hem t o secondary locat ions t o rape and st rangle t hem. He somet imes revisit ed his vict ims,
grooming and performing sexual act s wit h t he decomposing corpses unt il put refact ion and
dest ruct ion by wild animals made any furt her int eract ions impossible. He decapit at ed at least 12
vict ims and kept some of t he severed heads as mement os in his apart ment . On a few occasions,
he broke int o dwellings at night and bludgeoned his vict ims as t hey slept .

In 1975, Bundy was arrest ed and jailed in Ut ah for aggravat ed kidnapping and at t empt ed criminal
assault . He t hen became a suspect in a progressively longer list of unsolved homicides in several
st at es. Facing murder charges in Colorado, he engineered t wo dramat ic escapes and commit t ed
furt her assault s in Florida, including t hree murders, before his ult imat e recapt ure in 1978. For t he
Florida homicides, he received t hree deat h sent ences in t wo t rials. He was execut ed at Florida
St at e Prison in Raiford on January 24, 1989.

Biographer Ann Rule described him as "a sadist ic sociopat h who t ook pleasure from anot her
human's pain and t he cont rol he had over his vict ims, t o t he point of deat h, and even aft er."[7] He
once described himself as "t he most cold-heart ed son of a bit ch you'll ever meet ".[8][9] At t orney
Polly Nelson, a member of his last defense t eam, agreed. "Ted," she wrot e, "was t he very
definit ion of heart less evil".[10]

Early life

Childhood

Ted Bundy was born Theodore Robert Cowell on November 24, 1946, t o Eleanor Louise Cowell
(1924–2012; known as Louise) at t he Elizabet h Lund Home for Unwed Mot hers[11] in Burlingt on,
Vermont . His fat her's ident it y has never been confirmed. By some account s, his birt h cert ificat e
assigns pat ernit y t o a salesman and Air Force vet eran named Lloyd Marshall,[12] t hough according
t o ot hers t he fat her is list ed as unknown.[13] Louise claimed she had been seduced by a war
vet eran named Jack Wort hingt on,[4] who abandoned her soon aft er she became pregnant wit h
Ted.[5] Some family members expressed suspicions t hat Bundy might have been fat hered by
Louise's own fat her, Samuel Cowell,[14] but no mat erial evidence has ever been cit ed t o support
t his.[15]

For t he first t hree years of his life, Bundy lived in t he Philadelphia home of his mat ernal
grandparent s, Samuel (1898–1983) and Eleanor Cowell (1895–1971), who raised him as t heir son
t o avoid t he social st igma t hat accompanied birt h out side of wedlock. Family, friends, and even
young Ted were t old t hat his grandparent s were his parent s and t hat his mot her was his older
sist er. He event ually discovered t he t rut h, alt hough his recollect ions of t he circumst ances
varied. He t old a girlfriend t hat a cousin showed him a copy of his birt h cert ificat e aft er calling
him a "bast ard",[16] but he t old biographers St ephen Michaud and Hugh Ayneswort h t hat he found
t he cert ificat e himself.[13] Biographer and t rue crime writ er Ann Rule, who knew Bundy personally,
believed t hat he did not find out unt il 1969, when he locat ed his original birt h record in
Vermont .[17] Bundy expressed a lifelong resent ment t oward his mot her for never t alking t o him
about his real fat her, and for leaving him t o discover his t rue parent age for himself.[18]

In some int erviews, Bundy spoke warmly of his grandparent s[19] and t old Rule t hat he "ident ified
wit h", "respect ed", and "clung t o" his grandfat her.[20] In 1987, however, he and ot her family
members t old at t orneys t hat Samuel Cowell was a t yrannical bully and a bigot who hat ed blacks,
It alians, Cat holics, and Jews, beat his wife and t he family dog, and swung neighborhood cat s by
t heir t ails. He once t hrew Louise's younger sist er Julia down a flight of st airs for oversleeping.[21]
He somet imes spoke aloud t o unseen presences,[22] and at least once flew int o a violent rage
when t he quest ion of Bundy's pat ernit y was raised.[21] Bundy described his grandmot her as a
t imid and obedient woman who periodically underwent elect roconvulsive t herapy for
depression[22] and feared t o leave t heir house t oward t he end of her life.[23] Bundy occasionally
exhibit ed dist urbing behavior at an early age. Julia recalled awakening from a nap t o find herself
surrounded by knives from t he kit chen, and t hree-year-old Ted st anding by t he bed smiling.[24]
These descript ions of Bundy's grandparent s have been quest ioned in more recent
invest igat ions.[25]

Bundy as a senior in high school, 1965

In 1950, Louise changed her surname from Cowell t o Nelson,[12] and at t he urging of mult iple
family members, left Philadelphia wit h Ted t o live wit h cousins Alan and Jane Scot t in Tacoma,
Washingt on.[26] In 1951, Louise met Johnny Culpepper Bundy (1921–2007), a hospit al cook, at an
adult singles night at Tacoma's First Met hodist Church.[27] They married lat er t hat year and
Johnny Bundy formally adopt ed Ted.[27] Johnny and Louise conceived four children of t heir own,
and t hough Johnny t ried t o include his adopt ed son in camping t rips and ot her family act ivit ies,
Ted remained dist ant . He lat er complained t o his girlfriend t hat Johnny wasn't his real fat her,
"wasn't very bright ", and "didn't make much money".[28]

Bundy varied his recollect ions of Tacoma in lat er years. To Michaud and Ayneswort h, he
described roaming his neighborhood, picking t hrough t rash barrels in search of pict ures of naked
women.[29] He t old Polly Nelson t hat he perused det ect ive magazines, crime novels, and t rue
crime document aries for st ories t hat involved sexual violence, part icularly when t he st ories were
illust rat ed wit h pict ures of dead or maimed bodies.[30] In a let t er t o Rule, however, he assert ed
t hat he "never, ever read fact -det ect ive magazines, and shuddered at t he t hought " t hat anyone
would.[31] He t old Michaud t hat he would consume large quant it ies of alcohol and "canvass t he
communit y" lat e at night in search of undraped windows where he could observe women
undressing, or "what ever [else] could be seen."[32]

Account s of his social life also varied. Bundy t old Michaud and Ayneswort h t hat he "chose t o be
alone" as an adolescent because he was unable t o underst and int erpersonal relat ionships.[33] He
claimed t hat he had no nat ural sense of how t o develop friendships. "I didn't know what made
people want t o be friends," he said. "I didn't know what underlay social int eract ions."[34]
Classmat es from Woodrow Wilson High School t old Rule, however, t hat Bundy was "well known
and well liked" t here, "a medium-sized fish in a large pond."[35]

Bundy's only significant at hlet ic avocat ion was downhill skiing, which he pursued ent husiast ically,
using st olen equipment and forged lift t icket s.[13] During high school, he was arrest ed at least
t wice on suspicion of burglary and aut o t heft . When he reached age 18, t he det ails of t he
incident s were expunged from his record, as is cust omary in Washingt on and many ot her
st at es.[36]

University years

Aft er graduat ing from high school in 1965, Bundy at t ended t he Universit y of Puget Sound (UPS)
for one year before t ransferring t o t he Universit y of Washingt on (UW) t o st udy Chinese.[37] In
1967, he became romant ically involved wit h a UW classmat e who is ident ified by several
pseudonyms in Bundy biographies, most commonly St ephanie Brooks.[38] In early 1968, he
dropped out of college and worked at a series of minimum-wage jobs. He also volunt eered at t he
Seat t le office of Nelson Rockefeller's president ial campaign[39] and became Art hur Flet cher's
driver and bodyguard during Flet cher's campaign for Lieut enant Governor of Washingt on St at e.[40]
In August , Bundy at t ended t he 1968 Republican Nat ional Convent ion in Miami as a Rockefeller
delegat e.[41] Short ly t hereaft er, Brooks ended t heir relat ionship and ret urned t o her family home
in California, frust rat ed by what she described as Bundy's immat urit y and lack of ambit ion.
Psychiat rist Dorot hy Ot now Lewis would lat er pinpoint t his crisis as "probably t he pivot al t ime in
his development ".[42] Devast at ed by Brooks's reject ion, Bundy t raveled t o Colorado and t hen
fart her east , visit ing relat ives in Arkansas and Philadelphia and enrolling for one semest er at
Temple Universit y.[43] It was at t his t ime in early 1969, Rule believed, t hat Bundy visit ed t he
office of birt h records in Burlingt on and confirmed his t rue parent age.[43][44]

Bundy was back in Washingt on by t he fall of 1969, when he met Elizabet h Kloepfer (ident ified in
Bundy lit erat ure as Meg Anders, Bet h Archer, or Liz Kendall), a divorcée from Ogden, Ut ah, who
worked as a secret ary at t he Universit y of Washingt on School of Medicine.[45] Their st ormy
relat ionship would cont inue well past his init ial incarcerat ion in Ut ah in 1976.[46]

In mid-1970, Bundy, now focused and goal-orient ed, re-enrolled at UW, t his t ime as a psychology
major. He became an honor st udent and was well regarded by his professors.[47] In 1971, he t ook
a job at Seat t le's Suicide Hot line Crisis Cent er. There, he met and worked alongside Ann Rule, a
former Seat t le police officer and aspiring crime writ er who would lat er writ e one of t he definit ive
Bundy biographies, The Stranger Beside Me. Rule saw not hing dist urbing in Bundy's personalit y at
t he t ime; she described him as "kind, solicit ous, and empat het ic".[48]

Aft er graduat ing from UW in 1972,[49] Bundy joined Governor Daniel J. Evans's re-elect ion
campaign.[50] Posing as a college st udent , he shadowed Evans's opponent , former governor
Albert Rosellini, and recorded his st ump speeches for analysis by Evans's t eam.[51][52] Evans
appoint ed Bundy t o t he Seat t le Crime Prevent ion Advisory Commit t ee.[53] Aft er Evans was re-
elect ed, Bundy was hired as an assist ant t o Ross Davis, Chairman of t he Washingt on St at e
Republican Part y. Davis t hought well of Bundy and described him as "smart , aggressive ... and a
believer in t he syst em".[54] In early 1973, despit e mediocre LSAT scores, Bundy was accept ed
int o t he law schools of UPS and t he Universit y of Ut ah on t he st rengt h of let t ers of
recommendat ion from Evans, Davis, and several UW psychology professors.[55][56]

During a t rip t o California on Republican Part y business in t he summer of 1973, Bundy rekindled
his relat ionship wit h Brooks. She marveled at his t ransformat ion int o a serious, dedicat ed
professional, seemingly on t he cusp of a significant legal and polit ical career. He cont inued t o
dat e Kloepfer as well; neit her woman was aware of t he ot her's exist ence. In t he fall of 1973,
Bundy mat riculat ed at UPS Law School,[57] and cont inued court ing Brooks, who flew t o Seat t le
several t imes t o st ay wit h him. They discussed marriage; at one point he int roduced her t o Davis
as his fiancée.[28]
In January 1974, however, he abrupt ly broke off all cont act . Her phone calls and let t ers went
unret urned. Finally reaching him by phone a mont h lat er, Brooks demanded t o know why Bundy
had unilat erally ended t heir relat ionship wit hout explanat ion. In a flat , calm voice, he replied,
"St ephanie, I have no idea what you mean", and hung up. She never heard from him again.[58] He
lat er explained, "I just want ed t o prove t o myself t hat I could have married her";[59] but Brooks
concluded in ret rospect t hat he had deliberat ely planned t he ent ire court ship and reject ion in
advance, as vengeance for t he breakup she init iat ed in 1968.[58]

By t hen, Bundy had begun skipping classes at law school. By April, he had st opped at t ending
ent irely,[60] as young women began t o disappear in t he Pacific Nort hwest .[61]

First two series of murders

Washington, Oregon

There is no consensus on when or where Bundy began killing women. He t old different st ories t o
different people and refused t o divulge t he specifics of his earliest crimes, even as he
confessed in graphic det ail t o dozens of lat er murders in t he days preceding his execut ion.[62] He
t old Nelson t hat he at t empt ed his first kidnapping in 1969 in Ocean Cit y, New Jersey, but did not
kill anyone unt il somet ime in 1971 in Seat t le.[63] He t old psychologist Art Norman t hat he killed
t wo women in At lant ic Cit y in 1969 while visit ing family in Philadelphia.[64][65]

He hint ed but refused t o elaborat e t o homicide det ect ive Robert D. Keppel t hat he commit t ed a
murder in Seat t le in 1972,[66] and anot her murder in 1973 t hat involved a hit chhiker near
Tumwat er.[67] Rule and Keppel bot h believed t hat he might have st art ed killing as a
t eenager.[68][69] Circumst ant ial evidence suggest ed t hat he may have abduct ed and killed eight -
year-old Ann Marie Burr of Tacoma when he was 14 years old in 1961, an allegat ion t hat he
repeat edly denied.[66] His earliest document ed homicides were commit t ed in 1974 when he was
27 years old. By t hen, by his own admission, he had mast ered t he necessary skills—in t he era
before DNA profiling—t o leave minimal incriminat ing forensic evidence at crime scenes.[70]

Short ly aft er midnight on January 4, 1974 (around t he t ime t hat he t erminat ed his relat ionship
wit h Brooks), Bundy ent ered t he basement apart ment of 18-year-old Karen Sparks[71] (ident ified
as Joni Lenz,[72][73] Mary Adams,[74] and Terri Caldwell[75] by various sources), a dancer and
st udent at UW. Aft er bludgeoning Sparks senseless wit h a met al rod from her bed frame, he
sexually assault ed her wit h eit her t he same rod[59][76] or a met al speculum,[73] causing ext ensive
int ernal injuries. She remained unconscious for 10 days,[75] but survived wit h permanent physical
and ment al disabilit ies.[77] In t he early morning hours of February 1, Bundy broke int o t he
basement room of Lynda Ann Healy, a UW undergraduat e who broadcast morning radio weat her
report s for skiers. He beat her unconscious, dressed her in blue jeans, a whit e blouse, and boot s,
and carried her away.[78]

During t he first half of 1974, female college st udent s disappeared at t he rat e of about one per
mont h. On March 12, Donna Gail Manson, a 19-year-old st udent at The Evergreen St at e College
in Olympia, 60 miles (95 km) sout hwest of Seat t le, left her dormit ory t o at t end a jazz concert on
campus but never arrived. On April 17, Susan Elaine Rancourt disappeared while on her way t o her
dorm room aft er an evening advisors' meet ing at Cent ral Washingt on St at e College in Ellensburg,
110 miles (175 km) sout heast of Seat t le.[79][80] Two female Cent ral Washingt on st udent s lat er
came forward t o report encount ers—one on t he night of Rancourt 's disappearance, t he ot her
t hree night s earlier—wit h a man wearing an arm sling, asking for help carrying a load of books t o
his brown or t an Volkswagen Beet le.[81][82] On May 6, Robert a Kat hleen Parks left her dormit ory
at Oregon St at e Universit y in Corvallis,[83] 260 miles (420 km) sout h of Seat t le, t o have coffee
wit h friends at t he Memorial Union, but never arrived.[84]

Det ect ives from t he King Count y and Seat t le police depart ment s grew increasingly concerned.
There was no significant physical evidence, and t he missing women had lit t le in common, apart
from being young, at t ract ive, whit e college st udent s wit h long hair part ed in t he middle.[85] On
June 1, Brenda Carol Ball, 22, disappeared aft er leaving t he Flame Tavern in Burien, near Seat t le–
Tacoma Int ernat ional Airport . She was last seen in t he parking lot , t alking t o a brown-haired man
wit h his arm in a sling.[86]

In t he early hours of June 11, UW st udent Georgann Hawkins vanished while walking down a
bright ly lit alley bet ween her boyfriend's dormit ory residence and her sororit y house.[87] The next
morning, t hree Seat t le homicide det ect ives and a criminalist combed t he ent ire alleyway on t heir
hands and knees, finding not hing.[88] Bundy lat er t old Keppel t hat he lured Hawkins t o his car and
knocked her unconscious wit h a crowbar. Aft er handcuffing her, he drove her t o Issaquah, a suburb
20 miles (30 km) east of Seat t le, where he st rangled her and spent t he ent ire night wit h her
body.[89][90] He t old Keppel t hat he ret urned t o t he UW alley t he morning aft er and, in t he very
midst of a major crime scene invest igat ion, locat ed and gat hered Hawkins's earrings and one of
her shoes, where he had left t hem in t he adjoining parking lot , and depart ed, unobserved. "It was a
feat so brazen," wrot e Keppel, "t hat it ast onishes police even t oday."[91] He said he revisit ed
Hawkins's corpse on t hree occasions.[92]

Aft er Hawkins's disappearance was publicized, wit nesses came forward t o report seeing a man
t hat night in an alley behind a nearby dormit ory. He was on crut ches wit h a leg cast and was
st ruggling t o carry a briefcase.[93] One woman recalled t hat t he man asked her t o help him carry
t he case t o his car, a light brown Volkswagen Beet le.[94]

During t his period, Bundy was working in Olympia as t he Assist ant Direct or of t he Seat t le Crime
Prevent ion Advisory Commission (where he wrot e a pamphlet for women on rape prevent ion).[95]
Lat er, he worked at t he Depart ment of Emergency Services (DES), a st at e government agency
involved in t he search for t he missing women. At DES he met and dat ed Carole Ann Boone, a
t wice-divorced mot her of t wo who, six years lat er, would play an import ant role in t he final phase
of his life.[96]

Bundy's 1968 Volkswagen Beetle, in which he committed many of his crimes. Vehicle on display at the now-defunct
National Museum of Crime and Punishment.[97][98]

Report s of t he six missing women and Sparks's brut al beat ing appeared prominent ly in
newspapers and on t elevision t hroughout Washingt on and Oregon.[99] Fear spread among t he
populat ion; hit chhiking by young women dropped sharply.[100] Pressure mount ed on law
enforcement agencies,[101] but t he scarcit y of physical evidence severely hampered t hem.
Police could not provide report ers wit h t he lit t le informat ion t hat was available for fear of
compromising t he invest igat ion.[102] Furt her similarit ies bet ween t he vict ims were not ed: The
disappearances all t ook place at night , usually near ongoing const ruct ion work, wit hin a week of
midt erm or final exams; all of t he vict ims were wearing slacks or blue jeans; and at most crime
scenes, t here were sight ings of a man wearing a cast or a sling and driving a brown or t an
Volkswagen Beet le.[103]
The Pacific Nort hwest murders culminat ed on July 14, wit h t he broad daylight abduct ions of t wo
women from a crowded beach at Lake Sammamish St at e Park in Issaquah.[104] Five female
wit nesses described an at t ract ive young man wearing a whit e t ennis out fit wit h his left arm in a
sling, speaking wit h a light accent , perhaps Canadian or Brit ish. Int roducing himself as "Ted", he
asked t heir help in unloading a sailboat from his t an or bronze-colored Volkswagen Beet le. Four
refused; one accompanied him as far as his car, saw t hat t here was no sailboat , and fled. Three
addit ional wit nesses saw him approach Janice Anne Ot t , 23, a probat ion caseworker at t he King
Count y Juvenile Court , wit h t he sailboat st ory and wat ched her leave t he beach in his
company.[105] About four hours lat er, Denise Marie Naslund, a 19-year-old woman who was
st udying t o become a comput er programmer, left a picnic t o go t o t he rest room and never
ret urned.[106] Bundy t old bot h St ephen Michaud and William Hagmaier t hat Ot t was st ill alive
when he ret urned wit h Naslund—and t hat he forced one t o wat ch as he murdered t he
ot her[107][108][109]—but he lat er denied it in an int erview wit h Lewis on t he eve of his
execut ion.[110]

King Count y police, finally armed wit h a det ailed descript ion of t heir suspect and his car, post ed
fliers t hroughout t he Seat t le area. A composit e sket ch was print ed in regional newspapers and
broadcast on local t elevision st at ions. Elizabet h Kloepfer, Ann Rule, a DES employee, and a UW
psychology professor all recognized t he profile, t he sket ch, and t he car, and report ed Bundy as a
possible suspect ;[111] but det ect ives—who were receiving up t o 200 t ips per day[112]—t hought it
unlikely t hat a clean-cut law st udent wit h no adult criminal record could be t he perpet rat or.[113]

On Sept ember 6, t wo grouse hunt ers st umbled across t he skelet al remains of Ot t and Naslund
near a service road in Issaquah, 2 miles (3 km) east of Lake Sammamish St at e Park.[104][114] An
ext ra femur and several vert ebrae found at t he sit e were lat er ident ified by Bundy as t hose of
Georgann Hawkins.[115] Six mont hs lat er, forest ry st udent s from Green River Communit y College
discovered t he skulls and mandibles of Healy, Rancourt , Parks, and Ball on Taylor Mount ain,
where Bundy frequent ly hiked, just east of Issaquah.[116] Manson's remains were never recovered.

Idaho, Utah, Colorado

Rooming house in Salt Lake City where Bundy lived from Sept. 1974 to Oct. 1975, showing the fire escape used to
sneak into his room and windows to the utility room where he concealed photo souvenirs of his murders[117]

In August 1974, Bundy received a second accept ance from t he Universit y of Ut ah Law School
and moved t o Salt Lake Cit y, leaving Kloepfer in Seat t le. While he called Kloepfer oft en, he
dat ed "at least a dozen" ot her women.[118] As he st udied t he first -year law curriculum a second
t ime, "he was devast at ed t o find out t hat t he ot her st udent s had somet hing, some int ellect ual
capacit y, t hat he did not . He found t he classes complet ely incomprehensible. 'It was a great
disappoint ment t o me,' he said."[119]

A new st ring of homicides began t he following mont h, including t wo t hat would remain
undiscovered unt il Bundy confessed t o t hem short ly before his execut ion. On Sept ember 2, he
raped and st rangled a st ill-unident ified hit chhiker in Idaho, t hen eit her disposed of t he remains
immediat ely in a nearby river[120] or ret urned t he next day t o phot ograph and dismember
t he corpse.[121][122] On Oct ober 2, he seized 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox in Holladay, a suburb of
Salt Lake Cit y.[123][124] Her remains were buried near Capit ol Reef Nat ional Park, some 200 miles
(320 km) sout h of Holladay, but were never found.[125]

On Oct ober 18, Melissa Anne Smit h—t he 17-year-old daught er of t he police chief of Midvale,
anot her Salt Lake Cit y suburb—disappeared aft er leaving a pizza parlor. Her nude body was found
in a nearby mount ainous area nine days lat er. Post mort em examinat ion indicat ed t hat she may
have remained alive for up t o seven days following her disappearance.[126][127] On Oct ober 31,
Laura Ann Aime, also 17, disappeared 25 miles (40 km) sout h in Lehi aft er leaving a café just aft er
midnight .[128] Her naked body was found by hikers 9 miles (14 km) t o t he nort heast in American
Fork Canyon on Thanksgiving Day.[129] Bot h women had been beat en, raped, sodomized, and
st rangled wit h nylon st ockings.[130][131] Years lat er, Bundy described his post mort em rit uals wit h
t he corpses of Smit h and Aime, including hair shampooing and applicat ion of makeup.[132][133]
In t he lat e aft ernoon of November 8, Bundy approached 18-year-old t elephone operat or Carol
DaRonch at Fashion Place Mall in Murray,[134] less t han a mile from t he Midvale rest aurant where
Melissa Smit h was last seen. He ident ified himself as "Officer Roseland" of t he Murray Police
Depart ment and t old DaRonch t hat someone had at t empt ed t o break int o her car. He asked her
t o accompany him t o t he st at ion t o file a complaint . When DaRonch point ed out t o Bundy t hat he
was driving on a road t hat did not lead t o t he police st at ion, he immediat ely pulled ont o t he
shoulder and at t empt ed t o handcuff her. During t heir st ruggle, he inadvert ent ly fast ened bot h
handcuffs t o t he same wrist , and DaRonch was able t o open t he car door and escape.[135] Lat er
t hat evening, Debra Jean Kent , a 17-year-old st udent at Viewmont High School in Bount iful, 20
miles (30 km) nort h of Murray, disappeared aft er leaving a t heat er product ion at t he school t o
pick up her brot her.[136] The school's drama t eacher and a st udent t old police t hat "a st ranger"
had asked each of t hem t o come out t o t he parking lot t o ident ify a car. Anot her st udent lat er
saw t he same man pacing in t he rear of t he audit orium, and t he drama t eacher spot t ed him again
short ly before t he end of t he play.[137] Out side t he audit orium, invest igat ors found a key t hat
unlocked t he handcuffs removed from Carol DaRonch's wrist .[138]

In November, Elizabet h Kloepfer called King Count y police a second t ime aft er reading t hat
young women were disappearing in t owns surrounding Salt Lake Cit y. Det ect ive Randy
Hergesheimer of t he Major Crimes division int erviewed her in det ail. By t hen, Bundy had risen
considerably on t he King Count y hierarchy of suspicion, but t he Lake Sammamish wit ness
considered most reliable by det ect ives failed t o ident ify him from a phot o lineup.[139] In
December, Kloepfer called t he Salt Lake Count y Sheriff's Office and repeat ed her suspicions.
Bundy's name was added t o t heir list of suspect s, but at t hat t ime no credible forensic evidence
linked him t o t he Ut ah crimes.[140] In January 1975, Bundy ret urned t o Seat t le aft er his final
exams and spent a week wit h Kloepfer, who did not t ell him t hat she had report ed him t o police
on t hree occasions. She made plans t o visit him in Salt Lake Cit y in August .[141]
Caryn Campbell: Bundy's 14th documented murder victim and the subject of his first homicide indictment

In 1975, Bundy shift ed much of his criminal act ivit y east ward, from his base in Ut ah t o Colorado.
On January 12, a 23-year-old regist ered nurse named Caryn Eileen Campbell disappeared while
walking down a well-lit hallway bet ween t he elevat or and her room at t he Wildwood Inn (now t he
Wildwood Lodge) in Snowmass Village, 400 miles (640 km) sout heast of Salt Lake Cit y.[142] Her
nude body was found a mont h lat er next t o a dirt road just out side t he resort . She had been
killed by blows t o her head from a blunt inst rument t hat left dist inct ive linear grooved
depressions on her skull; her body also bore deep cut s from a sharp weapon.[143] On March 15,
100 miles (160 km) nort heast of Snowmass, Vail ski inst ruct or Julie Cunningham, 26, disappeared
while walking from her apart ment t o a dinner dat e wit h a friend. Bundy lat er t old Colorado
invest igat ors t hat he approached Cunningham on crut ches and asked her t o help carry his ski
boot s t o his car, where he clubbed and handcuffed her, t hen assault ed and st rangled her at a
secondary sit e near Rifle, 90 miles (140 km) west of Vail.[144][145] Weeks lat er, he made t he six-
hour drive from Salt Lake Cit y t o revisit her remains.[145][146]

Denise Lynn Oliverson, 25, disappeared near t he Ut ah–Colorado border in Grand Junct ion on April
6 while riding her bicycle t o her parent s' house; her bike and sandals were found under a viaduct
near a railroad bridge.[147] On May 6, Bundy lured 12-year-old Lynet t e Dawn Culver from Alameda
Junior High School in Pocat ello, Idaho, 160 miles (255 km) nort h of Salt Lake Cit y. He drowned
and t hen sexually assault ed her in his hot el room,[148] before disposing of her body in a river
(possibly t he Snake) nort h of Pocat ello.[149][150]
Caryn Campbell disappeared while walking down this brightly lit hallway to her hotel room.

In mid-May, t hree of Bundy's Washingt on St at e DES coworkers, including Carole Ann Boone,
visit ed him in Salt Lake Cit y and st ayed for a week in his apart ment . Bundy subsequent ly spent a
week in Seat t le wit h Kloepfer in early June and t hey discussed get t ing married t he following
Christ mas. Again, Kloepfer made no ment ion of her mult iple discussions wit h t he King Count y
Police and Salt Lake Count y Sheriff's Office. Bundy disclosed neit her his ongoing relat ionship
wit h Boone nor a concurrent romance wit h a Ut ah law st udent known in various account s as Kim
Andrews[151] or Sharon Auer.[152]

On June 28, Susan Curt is vanished from t he campus of Brigham Young Universit y in Provo, 45
miles (70 km) sout h of Salt Lake Cit y. Curt is's murder became Bundy's last confession, t ape-
recorded moment s before he ent ered t he execut ion chamber.[153] The bodies of Wilcox, Kent ,
Cunningham, Oliverson, Culver, and Curt is were never recovered.

In August or Sept ember 1975, Bundy was bapt ized int o The Church of Jesus Christ of Lat t er-day
Saint s, alt hough he was not an act ive part icipant in services and ignored most church
rest rict ions.[154][155][156] He would lat er be excommunicat ed by t he LDS Church following his
1976 kidnapping convict ion.[154] When asked his religious preference aft er his arrest , Bundy
answered "Met hodist ", t he religion of his childhood.[157]

In Washingt on st at e, invest igat ors were st ill st ruggling t o analyze t he Pacific Nort hwest murder
spree t hat had ended as abrupt ly as it had begun. In an effort t o make sense of an overwhelming
mass of dat a, t hey resort ed t o t he t hen-innovat ive st rat egy of compiling a dat abase. They used
t he King Count y payroll comput er, a "huge, primit ive machine" by cont emporary st andards, but t he
only one available for t heir use. Aft er input t ing t he many list s t hey had compiled—classmat es
and acquaint ances of each vict im, Volkswagen owners named "Ted", known sex offenders, and
so on—t hey queried t he comput er for coincidences. Out of t housands of names, 26 t urned up on
four list s; one was Ted Bundy. Det ect ives also manually compiled a list of t heir 100 "best "
suspect s, and Bundy was on t hat list as well. He was "lit erally at t he t op of t he pile" of suspect s
when word came from Ut ah of his arrest .[158]

Arrest and first trial

Items found in Bundy's Volkswagen, Utah, 1975

On August 16, 1975, Bundy was arrest ed by Ut ah Highway Pat rol officer Bob Hayward in Granger
(anot her Salt Lake Cit y suburb).[159] Hayward observed Bundy cruising a resident ial area in t he
pre-dawn hours, and fleeing at high speed aft er seeing t he pat rol car.[160] Hayward not iced t hat
t he Volkswagen's front passenger seat had been removed and placed on t he rear seat s, and
searched t he car. He found a ski mask, a second mask fashioned from pant yhose, a crowbar,
handcuffs, t rash bags, a coil of rope, an ice pick, and ot her it ems init ially assumed t o be burglary
t ools. Bundy explained t hat t he ski mask was for skiing, he had found t he handcuffs in a
dumpst er, and t he rest were common household it ems.[161] However, Det ect ive Jerry Thompson
remembered a similar suspect and car descript ion from t he November 1974 DaRonch kidnapping,
and Bundy's name from Kloepfer's December 1974 phone call. In a search of Bundy's apart ment ,
police found a guide t o Colorado ski resort s wit h a checkmark by t he Wildwood Inn[162] and a
brochure t hat advert ised t he Viewmont High School play in Bount iful, where Debra Kent had
disappeared.[163] The police did not have sufficient evidence t o det ain Bundy, and he was
released on his own recognizance. Bundy lat er said t hat searchers missed a hidden collect ion of
Polaroid phot ographs of his vict ims, which he dest royed aft er he was released.[164]

Salt Lake Cit y police placed Bundy on 24-hour surveillance, and Thompson flew t o Seat t le wit h
t wo ot her det ect ives t o int erview Kloepfer. She t old t hem t hat in t he year prior t o Bundy's move
t o Ut ah, she had discovered object s t hat she "couldn't underst and" in her house and in Bundy's
apart ment . These it ems included crut ches, a bag of plast er of Paris t hat he admit t ed st ealing
from a medical supply house, and a meat cleaver t hat was never used for cooking. Addit ional
object s included surgical gloves, an Orient al knife in a wooden case t hat he kept in his glove
compart ment , and a sack full of women's clot hing.[165] Bundy was perpet ually in debt , and
Kloepfer suspect ed t hat he had st olen almost everyt hing of significant value t hat he possessed.
When she confront ed him over a new TV and st ereo, he warned her, "If you t ell anyone, I'll break
your fucking neck."[166] She said Bundy became "very upset " whenever she considered cut t ing her
hair, which was long and part ed in t he middle. She would somet imes awaken in t he middle of t he
night t o find him under t he bed covers wit h a flashlight , examining her body. He kept a lug wrench,
t aped halfway up t he handle, in t he t runk of her car—anot her Volkswagen Beet le, which he oft en
borrowed—"for prot ect ion". The det ect ives confirmed t hat Bundy had not been wit h Kloepfer on
any of t he night s during which t he Pacific Nort hwest vict ims had vanished, nor on t he day Ot t
and Naslund were abduct ed.[167] Short ly t hereaft er, Kloepfer was int erviewed by Seat t le
homicide det ect ive Kat hy McChesney, and learned of t he exist ence of St ephanie Brooks and her
brief engagement t o Bundy around Christ mas 1973.[168]

Bundy's 1975 Utah mugshots

In Sept ember, Bundy sold his Volkswagen Beet le t o a Midvale t eenager.[169] Ut ah police
impounded it , and FBI t echnicians dismant led and searched it . They found hairs mat ching
samples obt ained from Caryn Campbell's body.[170] Lat er, t hey also ident ified hair st rands
"microscopically indist inguishable" from t hose of Melissa Smit h and Carol DaRonch.[171] FBI lab
specialist Robert Neill concluded t hat t he presence of hair st rands in one car mat ching t hree
different vict ims who had never met one anot her would be "a coincidence of mind-boggling
rarit y".[172]

On Oct ober 2, det ect ives put Bundy int o a lineup. DaRonch immediat ely ident ified him as "Officer
Roseland", and wit nesses from Bount iful recognized him as t he st ranger at t he high school
audit orium.[173] There was insufficient evidence t o link him t o Debra Kent (whose body was never
found[174]), but t here was more t han enough evidence t o charge him wit h aggravat ed kidnapping
and at t empt ed criminal assault in t he DaRonch case. He was freed on $15,000 bail, paid by his
parent s,[175] and spent most of t he t ime bet ween indict ment and t rial in Seat t le, living in
Kloepfer's house. Seat t le police had insufficient evidence t o charge him in t he Pacific Nort hwest
murders, but kept him under close surveillance. "When Ted and I st epped out on t he porch t o go
somewhere," Kloepfer wrot e, "so many unmarked police cars st art ed up t hat it sounded like t he
beginning of t he Indy 500."[176]

In November, t he t hree principal Bundy invest igat ors—Jerry Thompson from Ut ah, Robert Keppel
from Washingt on, and Michael Fisher from Colorado—met in Aspen, Colorado, and exchanged
informat ion wit h 30 det ect ives and prosecut ors from five st at es.[177] While officials left t he
meet ing (lat er known as t he Aspen Summit ) convinced t hat Bundy was t he murderer t hey sought ,
t hey agreed t hat more hard evidence would be needed before he could be charged wit h any of
t he murders.[178]

In February 1976, Bundy st ood t rial for t he DaRonch kidnapping. On t he advice of his at t orney,
John O'Connell, Bundy waived his right t o a jury due t o t he negat ive publicit y surrounding t he
case. Aft er a four-day bench t rial and a weekend of deliberat ion, Judge St ewart Hanson Jr. found
him guilt y of kidnapping and assault .[179][151][180] In June he was sent enced t o one-t o-15 years in
t he Ut ah St at e Prison.[175] In Oct ober, he was found hiding in bushes in t he prison yard carrying an
"escape kit "—road maps, airline schedules, and a social securit y card—and spent several weeks in
solit ary confinement .[181] Lat er t hat mont h, Colorado aut horit ies charged him wit h Caryn
Campbell's murder. Aft er a period of resist ance, he waived ext radit ion proceedings and was
t ransferred t o Aspen in January 1977.[182][183]

Escapes
Pitkin County Courthouse, where Bundy jumped from the second window from the left, second story to escape[184]

On June 7, 1977, Bundy was t ransport ed 40 miles (64 km) from t he Garfield Count y jail in
Glenwood Springs t o Pit kin Count y Court house in Aspen for a preliminary hearing. He had elect ed
t o serve as his own at t orney, and as such, was excused by t he judge from wearing handcuffs or
leg shackles.[185] During a recess, he asked t o visit t he court house's law library t o research his
case. While shielded from his guards' view behind a bookcase, he opened a window and jumped t o
t he ground from t he second st ory, injuring his right ankle as he landed. Aft er shedding an out er
layer of clot hing, he walked t hrough Aspen as roadblocks were being set up on it s out skirt s, t hen
hiked sout hward ont o Aspen Mount ain. Near it s summit he broke int o a hunt ing cabin and st ole
food, clot hing, and a rifle.[186] The following day he left t he cabin and cont inued sout h t oward t he
t own of Crest ed But t e, but became lost in t he forest . For t wo days he wandered aimlessly on
t he mount ain, missing t wo t rails t hat led downward t o his int ended dest inat ion. On June 10, he
broke int o a camping t railer on Maroon Lake, 10 miles (16 km) sout h of Aspen, t aking food and a
ski parka; but inst ead of cont inuing sout hward, he walked back nort h t oward Aspen, eluding
roadblocks and search part ies along t he way.[187] Three days lat er, he st ole a car at t he edge of
Aspen Golf Course. Cold, sleep-deprived, and in const ant pain from his sprained ankle, he drove
back int o Aspen, where t wo police officers not iced his car weaving in and out of it s lane and
pulled him over. He had been a fugit ive for six days.[188] In t he car were maps of t he mount ain
area around Aspen t hat prosecut ors were using t o demonst rat e t he locat ion of Caryn Campbell's
body (as his own at t orney, Bundy had right s of discovery), indicat ing t hat his escape was not a
spont aneous act , but had been planned.[189]
1977 photograph—taken shortly after first escape and recapture[190] —from Bundy's FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
poster

Back in jail in Glenwood Springs, Bundy ignored t he advice of friends and legal advisors t o st ay
put . The case against him, already weak at best , was det eriorat ing st eadily as pret rial mot ions
consist ent ly resolved in his favor and significant bit s of evidence were ruled inadmissible.[191] "A
more rat ional defendant might have realized t hat he st ood a good chance of acquit t al, and t hat
beat ing t he murder charge in Colorado would probably have dissuaded ot her prosecut ors ... wit h
as lit t le as a year and a half t o serve on t he DaRonch convict ion, had Ted persevered, he could
have been a free man."[192] Inst ead, Bundy assembled a new escape plan. He acquired a det ailed
floor plan of t he jail and a hacksaw blade from ot her inmat es, and accumulat ed $500 in cash,
smuggled in over a six-mont h period, he lat er said, by visit ors—Carole Ann Boone in part icular.[193]
During t he evenings, while ot her prisoners were showering, he sawed a hole about one square
foot (0.093 m2) bet ween t he st eel reinforcing bars in his cell's ceiling and, having lost 35 pounds
(16 kg), was able t o wriggle t hrough it int o t he crawl space above.[194] In t he weeks t hat
followed, he made a series of pract ice runs, exploring t he space. Mult iple report s from an
informant of movement wit hin t he ceiling during t he night were not invest igat ed.[195]

By lat e 1977, Bundy's impending t rial had become a cause célèbre in t he small t own of Aspen,
and Bundy filed a mot ion for a change of venue t o Denver.[196] On December 23, t he Aspen t rial
judge grant ed t he request —but t o Colorado Springs, where juries had hist orically been host ile t o
murder suspect s.[197] On t he night of December 30, wit h most of t he jail st aff on Christ mas
break and nonviolent prisoners on furlough wit h t heir families,[198] Bundy piled books and files in
his bed, covered t hem wit h a blanket t o simulat e his sleeping body, and climbed int o t he crawl
space. He broke t hrough t he ceiling int o t he apart ment of t he chief jailer—who was out for t he
evening wit h his wife [199]—changed int o st reet clot hes from t he jailer's closet , and walked out
t he front door t o freedom.[200]
Aft er st ealing a car, Bundy drove east ward out of Glenwood Springs, but t he car soon broke
down in t he mount ains on Int erst at e 70. A passing mot orist gave him a ride int o Vail, 60 miles
(97 km) t o t he east . From t here he caught a bus t o Denver, where he boarded a morning flight t o
Chicago. In Glenwood Springs, t he jail's skelet on crew did not discover t he escape unt il noon on
December 31, more t han 17 hours lat er. By t hen, Bundy was already in Chicago.[201]

Florida

Bundy in Tallahassee during his triple murder indictment, July 1978

From Chicago, Bundy t raveled by t rain t o Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was present in a local
t avern on January 2.[202] Five days lat er, he st ole a car and drove sout h t o At lant a, where he
boarded a bus and arrived in Tallahassee, Florida, on t he morning of January 8. He st ayed for one
night at t he Holiday Inn Hot el before he rent ed a room under t he alias Chris Hagen at a boarding
house near t he Florida St at e Universit y (FSU) campus.[203] Bundy lat er said t hat he init ially
resolved t o find legit imat e employment and refrain from furt her criminal act ivit y, knowing he
could probably remain free and undet ect ed in Florida indefinit ely as long as he did not at t ract t he
at t ent ion of police;[204] but his lone job applicat ion, at a const ruct ion sit e, had t o be abandoned
when he was asked t o produce ident ificat ion.[205] He revert ed t o his old habit s of shoplift ing and
st ealing money and credit cards from women's wallet s left in shopping cart s at local grocery
st ores.[206]
In t he early hours of January 15, 1978—one week aft er his arrival in Tallahassee—Bundy ent ered
FSU's Chi Omega sororit y house t hrough a rear door wit h a fault y locking mechanism.[207]
Beginning at about 2:45 a.m. he bludgeoned Margaret Bowman, 21, wit h a piece of oak firewood
as she slept , t hen garrot ed her wit h a nylon st ocking.[208] He t hen ent ered t he bedroom of 20-
year-old Lisa Levy and beat her unconscious, st rangled her, t ore one of her nipples, bit deeply
int o her left but t ock, and sexually assault ed her wit h a hair mist bot t le.[209] In an adjoining
bedroom he at t acked Kat hy Kleiner, breaking her jaw and deeply lacerat ing her shoulder; and
Karen Chandler, who suffered a concussion, broken jaw, loss of t eet h, and a crushed finger.[210]
Chandler and Kleiner survived t he at t ack; Kleiner at t ribut ed t heir survival t o aut omobile
headlight s illuminat ing t he int erior of t heir room and fright ening away t he at t acker.[211] Bundy
escaped t he sororit y house but not before being seen by sororit y sist er Nit a Neary, who came
t hrough t he back door and saw Bundy as he was exit ing t he sororit y house.[212] Tallahassee
det ect ives det ermined t hat t he four at t acks t ook place in a t ot al of less t han 15 minut es, wit hin
earshot of more t han 30 wit nesses who heard not hing.[207] Aft er leaving t he sororit y house,
Bundy broke int o a basement apart ment eight blocks away and at t acked FSU st udent Cheryl
Thomas, dislocat ing her shoulder and fract uring her jaw and skull in five places. She was left wit h
permanent deafness, and equilibrium damage t hat ended her dance career.[213] On Thomas's bed,
police found a semen st ain and a pant yhose "mask" cont aining t wo hairs "similar t o Bundy's in
class and charact erist ic".[214][215]

Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman, two of Bundy's victims

On February 8, Bundy drove 150 miles (240 km) east t o Jacksonville, in a st olen FSU van. In a
parking lot he approached 14-year-old Leslie Parment er, t he daught er of Jacksonville Police
Depart ment 's Chief of Detectives, ident ifying himself as "Richard Burt on, Fire Depart ment ", but
ret reat ed when Parment er's older brot her arrived and challenged him.[216] That aft ernoon, he
backt racked 60 miles (97 km) west ward t o Lake Cit y. At Lake Cit y Junior High School t he
following morning, 12-year-old Kimberly Dianne Leach was summoned t o her homeroom by a
t eacher t o ret rieve a forgot t en purse; she never ret urned t o class. Seven weeks lat er, aft er an
int ensive search, her part ially mummified remains were found in a pig farrowing shed near
Suwannee River St at e Park, 35 miles (56 km) nort hwest of Lake Cit y.[217][218] She appeared t o
have been raped, t hen killed by neck lacerat ions wit h a knife.[219][220]

On February 12, wit h insufficient cash t o pay his overdue rent and a growing suspicion t hat police
were closing in on him,[221] Bundy st ole a car and fled Tallahassee, driving west ward across t he
Florida Panhandle. Three days lat er, at around 1:00 a.m., he was st opped by Pensacola police
officer David Lee near t he Alabama st at e line aft er a "want s and warrant s" check showed his
Volkswagen Beet le was st olen.[222] When t old he was under arrest , Bundy kicked Lee's legs out
from under him and t ook off running. Lee fired t wo warning shot s, t hen gave chase and t ackled
him. The t wo st ruggled over Lee's gun before t he officer finally subdued and arrest ed Bundy.[223]
In t he st olen vehicle were t hree set s of IDs belonging t o female FSU st udent s, 21 st olen credit
cards and a st olen t elevision set .[224] Also found were a pair of dark-rimmed non-prescript ion
glasses and a pair of plaid slacks, lat er ident ified as t he disguise worn by "Richard Burt on, Fire
Depart ment " in Jacksonville.[225] As Lee t ransport ed his suspect t o jail, unaware t hat he had just
arrest ed one of t he FBI's Ten Most Want ed Fugit ives, he heard Bundy say, "I wish you had killed
me."[226]

Florida trials, marriage

Departing a preliminary hearing, Miami, 1979

Following a change of venue t o Miami, Bundy st ood t rial for t he Chi Omega homicides and
assault s in June 1979.[227] The t rial was covered by 250 report ers from five cont inent s and was
t he first t o be t elevised nat ionally in t he Unit ed St at es.[228] Despit e t he presence of five court -
appoint ed at t orneys, Bundy again handled much of his own defense. From t he beginning, he
"sabot aged t he ent ire defense effort out of spit e, dist rust , and grandiose delusion", Nelson lat er
wrot e. "Ted [was] facing murder charges, wit h a possible deat h sent ence, and all t hat mat t ered
t o him apparent ly was t hat he be in charge."[229]

According t o Mike Minerva, a Tallahassee public defender and member of t he defense t eam, a
pre-t rial plea bargain was negot iat ed in which Bundy would plead guilt y t o killing Levy, Bowman
and Leach in exchange for a firm 75-year prison sent ence. Prosecut ors were amenable t o a deal,
by one account , because "prospect s of losing at t rial were very good."[230] Bundy, on t he ot her
hand, saw t he plea deal not only as a means of avoiding t he deat h penalt y, but also as a "t act ical
move": he could ent er his plea, t hen wait a few years for evidence t o disint egrat e or become lost
and for wit nesses t o die, move on, or ret ract t heir t est imony. Once t he case against him had
det eriorat ed beyond repair, he could file a post -convict ion mot ion t o set aside t he plea and
secure an acquit t al.[231][232] At t he last minut e, however, Bundy refused t he deal. "It made him
realize he was going t o have t o st and up in front of t he whole world and say he was guilt y",
Minerva said. "He just couldn't do it ."[233]

Odontologist Richard Souviron explaining bite mark evidence at the Chi Omega trial

At t rial, crucial t est imony came from Chi Omega sororit y members Connie Hast ings, who placed
Bundy in t he vicinit y of t he Chi Omega House t hat evening,[234] and Nit a Neary, who saw him
leaving t he sororit y house clut ching t he oak murder weapon.[235][236] Incriminat ing physical
evidence included impressions of t he bit e wounds Bundy had inflict ed on Lisa Levy's left
but t ock, which forensic odont ologist s Richard Souviron and Lowell Levine mat ched t o cast ings
of Bundy's t eet h.[237][238] The jury deliberat ed for less t han seven hours before convict ing him on
July 24, 1979, of t he Bowman and Levy murders, t hree count s of at t empt ed first -degree murder
(for t he assault s on Kleiner, Chandler and Thomas) and t wo count s of burglary. Trial judge Edward
Cowart imposed deat h sent ences for t he murder convict ions.[239][240]

Six mont hs lat er, a second t rial t ook place in Orlando, for t he abduct ion and murder of Kimberly
Leach.[241] Bundy was found guilt y once again, aft er less t han eight hours' deliberat ion, due
principally t o t he t est imony of an eyewit ness who saw him leading Leach from t he schoolyard t o
his st olen van.[242] Import ant mat erial evidence included clot hing fibers wit h an unusual
manufact uring error, found in t he van and on Leach's body, which mat ched fibers from t he jacket
Bundy was wearing when he was arrest ed.[243]

During t he penalt y phase of t he t rial, Bundy t ook advant age of an obscure Florida law providing
t hat a marriage declarat ion in court , in t he presence of a judge, const it ut ed a legal marriage. As
he was quest ioning former Washingt on St at e DES coworker Carole Ann Boone—who had moved
t o Florida t o be near Bundy, had t est ified on his behalf during bot h t rials, and was again t est ifying
on his behalf as a charact er wit ness—he asked her t o marry him. She accept ed, and Bundy
declared t o t he court t hat t hey were legally married.[244][245]

On February 10, 1980, Bundy was sent enced for a t hird t ime t o deat h by elect rocut ion.[246] As
t he sent ence was announced, he report edly st ood and shout ed, "Tell t he jury t hey were
wrong!"[247] This t hird deat h sent ence would be t he one ult imat ely carried out nearly nine years
lat er.[248]

In Oct ober 1981, Boone gave birt h t o a daught er and named Bundy as t he fat her.[249][15][250] While
conjugal visit s were not allowed at Raiford Prison, inmat es were known t o pool t heir money in
order t o bribe guards t o allow t hem int imat e t ime alone wit h t heir female visit ors.[15][251]

Death row, confessions and execution

Short ly aft er t he conclusion of t he Leach t rial and t he beginning of t he long appeals process
t hat followed, Bundy init iat ed a series of int erviews wit h St ephen Michaud and Hugh Ayneswort h.
Speaking most ly in t hird person t o avoid "t he st igma of confession", he began for t he first t ime
t o divulge det ails of his crimes and t hought processes.[252]
He recount ed his career as a t hief, confirming Kloepfer's long-t ime suspicion t hat he had
shoplift ed virt ually everyt hing of subst ance t hat he owned.[253] "The big payoff for me," he said,
"was act ually possessing what ever it was I had st olen. I really enjoyed having somet hing ... t hat I
had want ed and gone out and t aken." Possession proved t o be an import ant mot ive for rape and
murder as well.[254] Sexual assault , he said, fulfilled his need t o "t ot ally possess" his vict ims.[255]
At first , he killed his vict ims "as a mat t er of expediency ... t o eliminat e t he possibilit y of [being]
caught "; but lat er, murder became part of t he "advent ure". "The ultimate possession was, in fact ,
t he t aking of t he life", he said. "And t hen ... t he physical possession of t he remains."[256]

Bundy also confided in Special Agent William Hagmaier of t he FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit .
Hagmaier was st ruck by t he "deep, almost myst ical sat isfact ion" t hat Bundy t ook in murder. "He
said t hat aft er a while, murder is not just a crime of lust or violence", Hagmaier relat ed. "It
becomes possession. They are part of you ... [t he vict im] becomes a part of you, and you [t wo]
are forever one ... and t he grounds where you kill t hem or leave t hem become sacred t o you, and
you will always be drawn back t o t hem." Bundy t old Hagmaier t hat he considered himself t o be an
"amat eur", an "impulsive" killer in his early years, before moving int o what he t ermed his "prime" or
"predat or" phase at about t he t ime of Lynda Healy's murder in 1974. This implied t hat he began
killing well before 1974—alt hough he never explicit ly admit t ed having done so.[257]

Mug shot taken the day after sentencing for the murder of Kimberly Leach

In July 1984, Raiford guards found t wo hacksaw blades hidden in Bundy's cell. A st eel bar in one
of t he cell's windows had been sawed complet ely t hrough at t he t op and bot t om and glued back
int o place wit h a homemade soap-based adhesive.[258][259] Several mont hs lat er, guards found an
unaut horized mirror, and Bundy was again moved t o a different cell.[260]

Short ly t hereaft er, he was charged wit h a disciplinary infract ion for unaut horized correspondence
wit h anot her high-profile criminal, John Hinckley Jr.[261] In Oct ober 1984, Bundy cont act ed Robert
Keppel and offered t o share his self-proclaimed expert ise in serial killer psychology[260] in t he
ongoing hunt in Washingt on for t he "Green River Killer", lat er ident ified as Gary Ridgway.[262]
Keppel and Green River Task Force det ect ive Dave Reichert int erviewed Bundy, but Ridgway
remained at large for a furt her 17 years.[263] Keppel published a det ailed document at ion of t he
Green River int erviews,[264] and lat er collaborat ed wit h Michaud on anot her examinat ion of t he
int erview mat erial.[265][266]

In early 1986, an execut ion dat e (March 4) was set on t he Chi Omega convict ions; t he Supreme
Court issued a brief st ay, but t he execut ion was quickly rescheduled.[267] In April, short ly aft er
t he new dat e (July 2) was announced, Bundy finally confessed t o Hagmaier and Nelson what t hey
believed was t he full range of his depredat ions, including det ails of what he did t o some of his
vict ims aft er t heir deat hs. He t old t hem t hat he revisit ed Taylor Mount ain, Issaquah, and ot her
secondary crime scenes, oft en several t imes, t o lie wit h his vict ims and perform sexual act s wit h
t heir decomposing bodies unt il put refact ion forced him t o st op. In some cases, he drove for
several hours each way and remained t he ent ire night .[146] In Ut ah, he applied makeup t o Melissa
Smit h's lifeless face, and he repeat edly washed Laura Aime's hair. "If you've got t ime," he t old
Hagmaier, "t hey can be anyt hing you want t hem t o be."[133] He decapit at ed approximat ely 12 of
his vict ims wit h a hacksaw,[39][268] and kept at least one group of severed heads—probably t he
four lat er found on Taylor Mount ain (Rancourt , Parks, Ball and Healy)—in his apart ment for a
period of t ime before disposing of t hem.[269]

Less t han 15 hours before t he scheduled July 2 execut ion, t he Elevent h Circuit Court of Appeals
st ayed it indefinit ely and remanded t he Chi Omega case for review on mult iple t echnicalit ies—
including Bundy's ment al compet ency t o st and t rial, and an erroneous inst ruct ion by t he t rial
judge during t he penalt y phase requiring t he jury t o break a 6–6 t ie bet ween life imprisonment
and t he deat h penalt y[270]—which, ult imat ely, were never resolved.[271] A new dat e (November 18,
1986) was t hen set t o carry out t he Leach sent ence; t he Elevent h Circuit Court issued a st ay on
November 17.[271] In mid-1988, t he Elevent h Circuit ruled against Bundy, and in December t he
Supreme Court denied a mot ion t o review t he ruling. Wit hin hours of t hat final denial, a firm
execut ion dat e of January 24, 1989, was announced.[272] Bundy's journey t hrough t he appeals
court s had been unusually rapid for a capit al murder case: "Cont rary t o popular belief, t he court s
moved Bundy as fast as t hey could ... Even t he prosecut ors acknowledged t hat Bundy's lawyers
never employed delaying t act ics. Though people everywhere seet hed at t he apparent delay in
execut ing t he archdemon, Ted Bundy was act ually on t he fast t rack."[273]

Wit h all appeal avenues exhaust ed and no furt her mot ivat ion t o deny his crimes, Bundy agreed t o
speak frankly wit h invest igat ors. He confessed t o Keppel t hat he had commit t ed all eight of t he
Washingt on and Oregon homicides for which he was t he prime suspect . He described t hree
addit ional previously unknown vict ims in Washingt on and t wo in Oregon whom he declined t o
ident ify (if indeed he ever knew t heir ident it ies).[274] He said he left a fift h corpse—Donna
Manson's—on Taylor Mount ain,[275] but incinerat ed her head in Kloepfer's fireplace. ("Of all t he
t hings I did t o [Kloepfer]," he t old Keppel, "t his is probably t he one she is least likely t o forgive
me for. Poor Liz.")[276] "He described t he Issaquah crime scene [where t he bones of Ot t , Naslund,
and Hawkins were found], and it was almost like he was just t here", Keppel said. "Like he was
seeing everyt hing. He was infat uat ed wit h t he idea because he spent so much t ime t here. He is
just t ot ally consumed wit h murder all t he t ime."[277] Nelson's impressions were similar: "It was t he
absolut e misogyny of his crimes t hat st unned me," she wrot e, "his manifest rage against women.
He had no compassion at all ... he was t ot ally engrossed in t he det ails. His murders were his life's
accomplishment s."[164]

Bundy confessed t o det ect ives from Idaho, Ut ah, and Colorado t hat he had commit t ed numerous
addit ional homicides, including several t hat were unknown t o t he police. He explained t hat when
he was in Ut ah he could bring his vict ims back t o his apart ment , "where he could reenact
scenarios depict ed on t he covers of det ect ive magazines."[39] A new ult erior st rat egy quickly
became apparent : he wit hheld many det ails, hoping t o parlay t he incomplet e informat ion int o yet
anot her st ay of execut ion. "There are ot her buried remains in Colorado", he admit t ed, but refused
t o elaborat e.[278] The new st rat egy—immediat ely dubbed "Ted's bones-for-t ime scheme"—
served only t o deepen t he resolve of aut horit ies t o see Bundy execut ed on schedule, and
yielded lit t le new det ailed informat ion.[279] In cases where he did give det ails, not hing was
found.[280] Colorado det ect ive Mat t Lindvall int erpret ed t his as a conflict bet ween his desire t o
post pone his execut ion by divulging informat ion and his need t o remain in "t ot al possession—t he
only person who knew his vict ims' t rue rest ing places."[281]

When it became clear t hat no furt her st ays would be fort hcoming from t he court s, Bundy
support ers began lobbying for t he only remaining opt ion, execut ive clemency. Diana Weiner, a
young Florida at t orney and Bundy's last purport ed love int erest ,[282] asked t he families of several
Colorado and Ut ah vict ims t o pet it ion Florida Governor Bob Mart inez for a post ponement t o give
Bundy t ime t o reveal more informat ion.[283] All refused.[284] "The families already believed t hat
t he vict ims were dead and t hat Ted had killed t hem", wrot e Nelson. "They didn't need his
confession."[285] Mart inez made it clear t hat he would not agree t o furt her delays in any case.
"We are not going t o have t he syst em manipulat ed", he t old report ers. "For him t o be negot iat ing
for his life over t he bodies of vict ims is despicable."[286]

Boone had championed Bundy's innocence t hroughout all of his t rials and felt "deeply bet rayed"
by his admission t hat he was, in fact , guilt y. She moved back t o Washingt on wit h her daught er and
refused t o accept his phone call on t he morning of his execut ion. "She was hurt by his
relat ionship wit h Diana [Weiner]," Nelson wrot e, "and devast at ed by his sudden wholesale
confessions in his last days."[287]

Hagmaier was present during Bundy's final int erviews wit h invest igat ors. On t he eve of his
execut ion, he t alked of suicide. "He did not want t o give t he st at e t he sat isfact ion of wat ching
him die", Hagmaier said.[233]

Bundy was execut ed in t he Raiford elect ric chair at 7:16 a.m. EST on January 24, 1989. Hundreds
of revelers sang, danced and set off fireworks in a past ure across from t he prison as t he
execut ion was carried out ,[288][289] t hen cheered as t he whit e hearse cont aining Bundy's corpse
depart ed t he prison.[290] He was cremat ed in Gainesville,[291] and his ashes scat t ered at an
undisclosed locat ion in t he Cascade Range of Washingt on St at e, in accordance wit h his
will.[292][293]

Modus operandi and victim profiles

Bundy was an unusually organized and calculat ing criminal who used his ext ensive knowledge of
law enforcement met hodologies t o elude ident ificat ion and capt ure for years.[294] His crime
scenes were dist ribut ed over large geographic areas; his vict im count had risen t o at least 20
before it became clear t hat numerous invest igat ors in widely disparat e jurisdict ions were hunt ing
t he same man.[295] His assault met hods of choice were blunt t rauma and st rangulat ion, t wo
relat ively silent t echniques t hat could be accomplished wit h common household it ems.[296] He
deliberat ely avoided firearms due t o t he noise t hey made and t he ballist ic evidence t hey left
behind.[297] He was a "met iculous researcher" who explored his surroundings in minut e det ail,
looking for safe sit es t o seize and dispose of vict ims.[298] He was unusually skilled at minimizing
physical evidence.[70] His fingerprint s were never found at a crime scene, nor any ot her
incont rovert ible evidence of his guilt , a fact he repeat ed oft en during t he years in which he
at t empt ed t o maint ain his innocence.[299]
Bundy in a Miami courtroom in 1979

Ot her significant obst acles for law enforcement were Bundy's generic, essent ially anonymous
physical feat ures,[300] and a curious chameleon-like abilit y t o change his appearance almost at
will.[301] Early on, police complained of t he fut ilit y of showing his phot ograph t o wit nesses; he
looked different in virt ually every phot o ever t aken of him.[302] In person, "his expression would so
change his whole appearance t hat t here were moment s t hat you weren't even sure you were
looking at t he same person", said St ewart Hanson Jr., t he judge in t he DaRonch t rial. "He [was]
really a changeling."[303] Bundy was well aware of t his unusual qualit y and he exploit ed it , using
subt le modificat ions of facial hair or hairst yle t o significant ly alt er his appearance as
necessary.[304] He concealed his one dist inct ive ident ifying mark, a dark mole on his neck, wit h
t urt leneck shirt s and sweat ers.[305] Even his Volkswagen Beet le proved difficult t o pin down; it s
color was variously described by wit nesses as met allic or non-met allic, t an or bronze, light brown
or dark brown.[306]

Bundy's modus operandi evolved in organizat ion and sophist icat ion over t ime, as is t ypical of
serial killers, according t o FBI expert s.[39] Early on, it consist ed of forcible lat e-night ent ry
followed by a violent at t ack wit h a blunt weapon on a sleeping vict im.[307] As his met hodology
evolved Bundy became progressively more organized in his choice of vict ims and crime scenes.
He would employ various ruses designed t o lure his vict im t o t he vicinit y of his vehicle where he
had pre-posit ioned a weapon, usually a crowbar. In many cases he wore a plast er cast on one leg
or a sling on one arm, and somet imes hobbled on crut ches, t hen request ed assist ance in carrying
somet hing t o his vehicle. Bundy was regarded as handsome and charismat ic, t rait s he exploit ed
t o win t he confidence of his vict ims and t he people around him in his daily life.[105][308][309] "Ted
lured females", Michaud wrot e, "t he way a lifeless silk flower can dupe a honey bee."[310] In
sit uat ions where his looks and charm were not useful, he invoked aut horit y by ident ifying himself
as a police officer or firefight er. Once Bundy had t hem near or inside his vehicle, he would
overpower and bludgeon t hem, and t hen rest rain t hem wit h handcuffs. He would t hen t ransport
t hem t o a pre-select ed secondary sit e, oft en a considerable dist ance away, and st rangle t hem
by ligat ure during t he act of rape.[311][39][109] Toward t he end of his spree, in Florida, perhaps
under t he st ress of being a fugit ive, he regressed t o indiscriminat e at t acks on sleeping
vict ims.[311]

At secondary sit es he would remove and lat er burn t he vict im's clot hing,[312] or in at least one
case (Cunningham's) deposit t hem in a Goodwill Indust ries collect ion bin.[313] Bundy explained
t hat t he clot hing removal was rit ualist ic, but also a pract ical mat t er, as it minimized t he chance
of leaving t race evidence at t he crime scene t hat could implicat e him.[312] (A manufact uring error
in fibers from his own clot hing, ironically, provided a crucial incriminat ing link t o Kimberly
Leach.)[314] He oft en revisit ed his secondary crime scenes t o engage in act s of necrophilia,[315]
and t o groom or dress up t he cadavers.[316] Some vict ims were found wearing art icles of clot hing
t hey had never worn, or nail polish t hat family members had never seen.[317] He t ook Polaroid
phot os of many of his vict ims. "When you work hard t o do somet hing right ," he t old Hagmaier, "you
don't want t o forget it ."[133] Consumpt ion of large quant it ies of alcohol was an "essent ial
component ", he t old bot h Keppel and Michaud; he needed t o be "ext remely drunk" while on t he
prowl[318][319] in order t o "significant ly diminish" his inhibit ions and t o "sedat e" t he "dominant
personalit y" t hat he feared might prevent his inner "ent it y" from act ing on his impulses.[320]

All of Bundy's known vict ims were whit e females, most of middle-class backgrounds. Almost all
were bet ween t he ages of 15 and 25 and most were college st udent s. He apparent ly never
approached anyone he might have met before.[294] (In t heir last conversat ion before his
execut ion, Bundy t old Kloepfer he had purposely st ayed away from her "when he felt t he power
of his sickness building in him.")[321] Rule not ed t hat most of t he ident ified vict ims had long
st raight hair, part ed in t he middle—like St ephanie Brooks, t he woman who reject ed him, and t o
whom he lat er became engaged and t hen reject ed in ret urn. Rule speculat ed t hat Bundy's
animosit y t oward his first girlfriend t riggered his prot ract ed rampage and caused him t o t arget
vict ims who resembled her.[322] Bundy dismissed t his hypot hesis: "[T]hey ... just fit t he general
crit eria of being young and at t ract ive", he t old Hugh Ayneswort h. "Too many people have bought
t his crap t hat all t he girls were similar ... [but ] almost everyt hing was dissimilar ... physically, t hey
were almost all different ."[323] He did concede t hat yout h and beaut y were "absolut ely
indispensable crit eria" in his choice of vict ims.[324]

Aft er Bundy's execut ion, Ann Rule was surprised and t roubled t o hear from numerous "sensit ive,
int elligent , kind young women", who wrot e or called t o say t hey were deeply depressed because
Bundy was dead. Many had corresponded wit h him, "each believing t hat she was his only one".
Several said t hey suffered nervous breakdowns when he died. "Even in deat h, Ted damaged
women," Rule wrot e. "To get well, t hey must realize t hat t hey were conned by t he mast er
conman. They are grieving for a shadow man t hat never exist ed."[325]

Pathology

Bundy mugshot after conviction for Chi Omega murders, August 1979

Bundy underwent mult iple psychiat ric examinat ions; t he expert s' conclusions varied. Dorot hy
Ot now Lewis, a professor of psychiat ry at t he New York Universit y School of Medicine and an
aut horit y on violent behavior, init ially made a diagnosis of bipolar disorder,[326] but lat er changed
her impression more t han once.[7][327] She also suggest ed t he possibilit y of a mult iple personalit y
disorder, based on behaviors described in int erviews and court t est imony: a great -aunt wit nessed
an episode during which Bundy "seemed t o t urn int o anot her, unrecognizable person ... [she]
suddenly, inexplicably found herself afraid of her favorit e nephew as t hey wait ed t oget her at a
dusk-darkened t rain st at ion. He had t urned int o a st ranger."[22] Lewis recount ed a prison official in
Tallahassee describing a similar t ransformat ion: "He said, 'He became weird on me.' He did a
met amorphosis, a body and facial change, and he felt t here was almost an odor emit t ing from
him. He said, 'Almost a complet e change of personalit y ... t hat was t he day I was afraid of
him.' "[328]

While expert s found Bundy's precise diagnosis elusive, t he majorit y of evidence point ed away
from bipolar disorder or ot her psychoses,[329] and t oward ant isocial personalit y disorder
(ASPD).[330] Bundy displayed many personalit y t rait s t ypically found in ASPD pat ient s (who are
oft en ident ified as "sociopat hs" or "psychopat hs"[331]), such as out ward charm and charisma wit h
lit t le t rue personalit y or genuine insight beneat h t he facade;[332] t he abilit y t o dist inguish right
from wrong, but wit h minimal effect on behavior;[333][334] and an absence of guilt or remorse.[332]
"Guilt doesn't solve anyt hing, really", Bundy said, in 1981. "It hurt s you ... I guess I am in t he
enviable posit ion of not having t o deal wit h guilt ."[335] There was also evidence of narcissism,
poor judgment , and manipulat ive behavior. "Sociopat hs", prosecut or George Dekle wrot e, "are
egot ist ical manipulat ors who t hink t hey can con anybody."[336] "Somet imes he manipulat es even
me", admit t ed one psychiat rist .[337] In t he end, Lewis agreed wit h t he majorit y: "I always t ell my
graduat e st udent s t hat if t hey can find me a real, t rue psychopat h, I'll buy t hem dinner", she t old
Nelson. "I never t hought t hey exist ed ... but I t hink Ted may have been one, a t rue psychopat h,
wit hout any remorse or empat hy at all."[338] Narcissist ic personalit y disorder (NPD) has been
proposed as an alt ernat ive diagnosis in at least one subsequent ret rospect ive analysis.[339]

On t he aft ernoon before he was execut ed, Bundy grant ed an int erview t o James Dobson, a
psychologist and founder of t he Christ ian evangelical organizat ion Focus on t he Family.[340] He
used t he opport unit y t o make new claims about violence in t he media and t he pornographic
"root s" of his crimes. "It happened in st ages, gradually", he said. "My experience wit h ...
pornography t hat deals on a violent level wit h sexualit y, is once you become addict ed t o it ... I
would keep looking for more pot ent , more explicit , more graphic kinds of mat erial. Unt il you reach
a point where t he pornography only goes so far ... where you begin t o wonder if maybe act ually
doing it would give t hat which is beyond just reading it or looking at it ."[341] Violence in t he media,
he said, "part icularly sexualized violence", sent boys "down t he road t o being Ted Bundys."[342]
The FBI, he suggest ed, should st ake out adult movie houses and follow pat rons as t hey leave.[10]
"You are going t o kill me," he said, "and t hat will prot ect societ y from me. But out t here are many,
many more people who are addict ed t o pornography, and you are doing not hing about t hat ."[342]

While Nelson was apparent ly convinced t hat Bundy's concern was genuine,[10] most
biographers,[343][344][345] researchers,[346] and ot her observers[347] have concluded t hat his sudden
condemnat ion of pornography was one last manipulat ive at t empt t o shift blame by cat ering t o
Dobson's agenda as a longt ime pornography crit ic.[348] He t old Dobson t hat "t rue crime"
det ect ive magazines had "corrupt ed" him and "fueled [his] fant asies ... t o t he point of becoming a
serial killer"; yet in a 1977 let t er t o Ann Rule, he wrot e, "Who in t he world reads t hese
publicat ions? ... I have never purchased such a magazine, and [on only] t wo or t hree occasions
have I ever picked one up."[349] He t old Michaud and Aynswort h in 1980, and Hagmaier t he night
before he spoke t o Dobson, t hat pornography played a negligible role in his development as a
serial killer.[350] "The problem wasn't pornography", wrot e Dekle. "The problem was Bundy."[351] "I
wish I could believe t hat his mot ives were alt ruist ic," wrot e Rule. "But all I can see in t hat Dobson
t ape is anot her Ted Bundy manipulat ion of our minds. The effect of t he t ape is t o place, once
again, t he onus of his crimes, not on himself, but on us."[344]

Hagmaier and Bundy during their final death row interview on the eve of Bundy's execution, January 23, 1989

Rule and Ayneswort h bot h not ed t hat for Bundy, t he fault always lay wit h someone or somet hing
else. While he event ually confessed t o 30 murders, he never accept ed responsibilit y for any of
t hem, even when offered t hat opport unit y prior t o t he Chi Omega t rial, which would have spared
him t he deat h penalt y.[352] He deflect ed blame ont o a wide variet y of scapegoat s, including his
abusive grandfat her, t he absence of his biological fat her, t he concealment of his t rue parent age,
alcohol, t he media, t he police (whom he accused of plant ing evidence), societ y in general,
violence on t elevision, and, ult imat ely, t rue crime periodicals and pornography.[353] He blamed
t elevision programming, which he wat ched most ly on set s t hat he had st olen, for "brainwashing"
him int o st ealing credit cards.[354] On at least one occasion, he even t ried t o blame his vict ims: "I
have known people who ... radiat e vulnerabilit y", he wrot e in a 1977 let t er t o Kloepfer. "Their facial
expressions say 'I am afraid of you.' These people invit e abuse ... By expect ing t o be hurt , do t hey
subt ly encourage it ?"[355]

A significant element of delusion permeat ed his t hinking:

Bundy was always surprised when anyone noticed that one of his
victims was missing, because he imagined America to be a place where
everyone is invisible except to themselves. And he was always
astounded when people testified that they had seen him in
 incriminating places, because Bundy did not believe people noticed
each other.[356]

"I don't know why everyone is out t o get me", he complained t o Lewis. "He really and t ruly did not
have any sense of t he enormit y of what he had done," she said.[350] "A long-t erm serial killer
erect s powerful barriers t o his guilt ," Keppel wrot e, "walls of denial t hat can somet imes never be
breached."[357] Nelson agreed. "Each t ime he was forced t o make an act ual confession," she
wrot e, "he had t o leap a st eep barrier he had built inside himself long ago."[358]

Victims

The night before his execut ion, Bundy confessed t o 30 homicides, but t he t rue t ot al remains
unknown. Published est imat es have run as high as 100 or more,[359] and Bundy occasionally made
crypt ic comment s t o encourage t hat speculat ion.[298] He t old Hugh Ayneswort h in 1980 t hat for
every murder "publicized", t here "could be one t hat was not ."[360] When FBI agent s proposed a
t ot al t ally of 36, Bundy responded, "Add one digit t o t hat , and you'll have it ."[361] Years lat er he
t old at t orney Polly Nelson t hat t he common est imat e of 35 was accurat e,[298] but Robert
Keppel wrot e t hat "[Ted] and I bot h knew [t he t ot al] was much higher."[69] "I don't t hink even he
knew ... how many he killed, or why he killed t hem", said Rev. Fred Lawrence, t he Met hodist
clergyman who administ ered Bundy's last rit es. "That was my impression, my st rong
impression."[362]

On t he evening before his execut ion, Bundy reviewed his vict im t ally wit h Bill Hagmaier on a
st at e-by-st at e basis for a t ot al of 30 homicides:[268]

in Washingt on, 11 (including Parks, abduct ed in Oregon but killed in Washingt on; and including 3
unident ified)

in Ut ah, 8 (3 unident ified)

in Colorado, 3

in Florida, 3

in Oregon, 2 (bot h unident ified)

in Idaho, 2 (1 unident ified)

in California, 1 (unident ified)

The following is a chronological summary of t he 20 ident ified vict ims and five ident ified survivors:
1974
Washingt on, Oregon
January 4: Karen Sparks (oft en ident ified as Joni Lenz in Bundy lit erat ure) (age 18): Bludgeoned
and sexually assault ed in her bed as she slept ;[77] survived[75][72]

February 1: Lynda Ann Healy (21): Bludgeoned while asleep and abduct ed;[78] skull and mandible
recovered at Taylor Mount ain sit e [116]

March 12: Donna Gail Manson (19): Abduct ed while walking t o a concert at The Evergreen
St at e College; body left (according t o Bundy) at Taylor Mount ain sit e, but never found[275]

April 17: Susan Elaine Rancourt (18): Disappeared aft er at t ending an evening advisors' meet ing
at Cent ral Washingt on St at e College;[81][82] skull and mandible recovered at Taylor Mount ain
sit e in 1975[116]

May 6: Robert a Kat hleen Parks (22): Vanished from Oregon St at e Universit y in Corvallis; skull
and mandible recovered at Taylor Mount ain sit e in 1975[116]

June 1: Brenda Carol Ball (22): Disappeared aft er leaving t he Flame Tavern in Burien;[84] skull
and mandible recovered at Taylor Mount ain sit e in 1975[116]

June 11: Georgann (oft en misspelled "Georgeann"[87]) Hawkins (18): Abduct ed from an alley
behind her sororit y house, UW;[88] skelet al remains ident ified by Bundy as t hose of Hawkins
recovered at Issaquah sit e [115][363]

July 14: Janice Ann Ot t (23): Abduct ed from Lake Sammamish St at e Park in broad daylight ;[105]
skelet al remains recovered at Issaquah sit e in 1975[114]

July 14: Denise Marie Naslund (19): Abduct ed four hours aft er Ot t from t he same park;[106]
skelet al remains recovered at Issaquah sit e in 1975[114]
Ut ah
October 2: Nancy Wilcox (16): Disappeared in Holladay, Ut ah;[123] body buried (according t o
Bundy) near Capit ol Reef Nat ional Park, 200 miles (320 km) sout h of Salt Lake Cit y, but never
found[125]

October 18: Melissa Anne Smit h (17): Vanished from Midvale, Ut ah; body found nine days lat er,
in nearby mount ainous area[126]

October 31: Laura Ann Aime (17): Disappeared from Lehi, Ut ah; body discovered by hikers in
American Fork Canyon[130]
 November 8: Carol DaRonch (18): At t empt ed abduct ion in Murray, Ut ah; escaped from Bundy's
car and survived[135]

November 8: Debra Jean Kent (17): Vanished aft er leaving a school play in Bount iful, Ut ah; body
left (according t o Bundy) near Fairview, Ut ah, 100 miles (160 km) sout h of Bount iful; minimal
skelet al remains (one pat ella) found, were posit ively ident ified by DNA as Kent 's in
2015[174][364]

1975
Ut ah, Colorado, Idaho
January 12: Caryn Eileen Campbell (23): Disappeared from a hot el hallway in Snowmass,
Colorado;[142] body discovered 36 days lat er, on a dirt road near t he hot el[143]

March 15: Julie Cunningham (26): Disappeared on t he way t o a t avern in Vail, Colorado;[144] body
buried (according t o Bundy) near Rifle, 90 miles (140 km) west of Vail, but never found[365]

April 6: Denise Lynn Oliverson (25): Abduct ed while cycling t o her parent s' house in Grand
Junct ion, Colorado;[147] body t hrown (according t o Bundy) int o t he Colorado River 5 miles
(8.0 km) west of Grand Junct ion,[366] but never found[367]

May 6: Lynet t e Dawn Culver (12): Abduct ed from Alameda Junior High School in Pocat ello,
Idaho;[148] body t hrown (according t o Bundy) int o what aut horit ies believe t o be t he Snake
River, but never found[149]

June 28: Susan Curt is (15): Disappeared during a yout h conference at Brigham Young
Universit y;[153] body buried (according t o Bundy) near Price, Ut ah, 75 miles (121 km) sout heast
of Provo, but never found[368]

1978
Florida
January 15: Margaret Elizabet h Bowman (21): Bludgeoned and t hen st rangled as she slept , Chi
Omega sororit y, FSU (no secondary crime scene)[369]

January 15: Lisa Levy (20): Bludgeoned, st rangled and sexually assault ed as she slept , Chi
Omega sororit y, FSU (no secondary crime scene)[369]

January 15: Karen Chandler (21): Bludgeoned as she slept , Chi Omega sororit y, FSU;
survived[369]

January 15: Kat hy Kleiner (21): Bludgeoned as she slept , Chi Omega sororit y, FSU; survived[369]
 January 15: Cheryl Thomas (21): Bludgeoned as she slept , eight blocks from Chi Omega;
survived[369]

February 9: Kimberly Dianne Leach (12): Abduct ed from her junior high school in Lake Cit y,
Florida;[10] mummified remains found near Suwannee River St at e Park, 43 miles (69 km) west of
Lake Cit y[217]

Other possible victims

Bundy remains a suspect in several unsolved homicides, and is likely responsible for ot hers t hat
may never be ident ified; in 1987 he confided t o Keppel t hat t here were "some murders" t hat he
would "never t alk about ", because t hey were commit t ed "t oo close t o home", "t oo close t o
family", or involved "vict ims who were very young".[370]

Ann Marie Burr, aged 8, vanished from her Tacoma home on August 31, 1961,[371] when Bundy
was 14. An unknown t ennis shoe imprint was found by t he overt urned bench used t o ent er t he
house. Due t o t he small size of t he shoe, police believed t he perpet rat or must be a t eenager
or yout h.[372] The Burr house was on Bundy's newspaper delivery rout e. The vict im's fat her was
cert ain t hat he saw Bundy in a dit ch at a const ruct ion sit e on t he nearby Universit y of Puget
Sound campus t he morning his daught er disappeared.[373] Ot her circumst ant ial evidence
implicat es him as well, but det ect ives familiar wit h t he case have never agreed on t he
likelihood of his involvement .[66][374] Bundy repeat edly denied culpabilit y and wrot e a let t er of
denial t o t he Burr family in 1986;[375] but Keppel has observed t hat Burr fit s all t hree of Bundy's
"no discussion" cat egories of "t oo close t o home", "t oo close t o family", and "very young".[370]
Forensic t est ing of mat erial evidence from t he Burr crime scene in 2011 yielded insufficient
int act DNA sequences for comparison wit h Bundy's.[376]

Flight at t endant s Lisa E. Wick and Lonnie Ree Trumbull, bot h 20, were bludgeoned wit h a piece
of lumber as t hey slept in t heir basement apart ment in Seat t le's Queen Anne Hill dist rict on
June 23, 1966[377] near t he Safeway st ore where Bundy worked at t he t ime, and where t he
women regularly shopped. Trumbull died. In ret rospect , Keppel not ed many similarit ies t o t he
Chi Omega crime scene.[378] Wick, who suffered permanent memory loss as a result of t he
at t ack, lat er cont act ed Ann Rule: "I know t hat it was Ted Bundy who did t hat t o us," she wrot e,
"but I can't t ell you how I know."[379] In t he absence of incriminat ing evidence, Bundy's
involvement remains speculat ive.[380]

Vacat ioning college friends Susan Margarit e Davis and Elizabet h Perry, bot h 19, were st abbed
t o deat h on May 30, 1969.[64] Their car was found t hat day abandoned beside t he Garden St at e
Parkway out side Somers Point , New Jersey, near At lant ic Cit y, 60 miles (97 km) sout heast of
Philadelphia; and t heir bodies—one nude, one fully clot hed—were found in nearby woods t hree
days lat er.[381] Bundy at t ended Temple Universit y from January t hrough May 1969 and
apparent ly did not move west unt il aft er Memorial Day weekend. While Bundy's account s of his
earliest crimes varied considerably bet ween int erviews, he t old forensic psychologist Art
Norman t hat his first murder vict ims were t wo women in t he Philadelphia area.[64] Biographer
Richard Larsen believed t hat Bundy commit t ed t he murders using his feigned-injury ruse, based
on an invest igat or's int erview wit h Julia, Bundy's aunt : Ted, she said, was wearing a leg cast due
t o an aut omobile accident on t he weekend of t he homicides, and t herefore could not have
t raveled from Philadelphia t o t he Jersey Shore; t here is no official record of any such
accident .[382] Bundy is considered a "st rong suspect ", but t he case remains open.[382]

Rit a Pat ricia Curran, a 24-year-old element ary school t eacher and part -t ime mot el maid, was
murdered in her basement apart ment on July 19, 1971, in Burlingt on, Vermont ; she had been
st rangled, bludgeoned and raped.[383] The locat ion of t he mot el where she worked (adjacent t o
Bundy's birt hplace, t he Elizabet h Lund Home for Unwed Mot hers) and similarit ies t o known
Bundy crime scenes led ret ired FBI agent John Basset t t o propose him as a suspect .[384]
Bundy t old Keppel t hat he murdered a young woman in 1971 in Burlingt on when he was t here t o
obt ain informat ion about his birt h,[385] but denied specific involvement in t he Curran case t o
Hagmaier on t he eve of his execut ion.[386] No evidence firmly places Bundy in Burlingt on on
t hat dat e, but municipal records not e t hat a person named "Bundy" was bit t en by a dog t hat
week,[387] and long st ret ches of Bundy's t ime—including t he summer of 1971—remain
unaccount ed for.[39] Curran's murder officially remains unsolved.[388]

Joyce LePage, 21, was last seen on July 22, 1971, on t he campus of Washingt on St at e
Universit y, where she was an undergraduat e. Nine mont hs lat er, her skelet al remains were found
wrapped in carpet ing and milit ary blanket s, bound wit h rope, in a deep ravine sout h of Pullman,
Washingt on. Mult iple suspect s—including Bundy—have "never been cleared", according t o
invest igat ors.[389] Whit man Count y aut horit ies have said t hat Bundy remains a suspect .[390]

Rit a Lorraine Jolly, 17, disappeared from West Linn, Oregon, on June 29, 1973;[391] Vicki Lynn
Hollar, 24, disappeared from Eugene, Oregon, on August 20, 1973.[392] Bundy confessed t o t wo
homicides in Oregon wit hout ident ifying t he vict ims. Oregon det ect ives suspect ed t hat t hey
were Jolly and Hollar, but were unable t o obt ain int erview t ime wit h Bundy t o confirm it . Bot h
women remain classified as missing.[393]

Kat herine Merry Devine, 14, was abduct ed on November 25, 1973, and her body was found t he
next mont h in t he Capit ol St at e Forest near Olympia, Washingt on.[394] Brenda Joy Baker, 14,
was seen hit chhiking near Puyallup, Washingt on, on May 27, 1974; her body was found in
Millersylvania St at e Park a mont h lat er.[390][395] Though Bundy was widely believed responsible
for bot h murders, he t old Keppel t hat he had no knowledge of eit her case.[396][397] DNA
 analysis led t o t he arrest and convict ion of William E. Cosden for Devine's murder in 2002.[394]
The Baker homicide remains unsolved.

Sandra Jean Weaver, 19, a Wisconsin nat ive who had been living in Tooele, Ut ah, was last seen
in Salt Lake Cit y on July 1, 1974; her nude body was discovered t he following day near Grand
Junct ion, Colorado.[398] Sources conflict on whet her Bundy ment ioned Weaver's name during
t he deat h row int erviews.[399] Her murder remains unsolved.[400]

Melanie Suzanne "Suzy" Cooley, 18, disappeared on April 15, 1975, aft er leaving Nederland High
School in Nederland, Colorado, 50 miles (80 km) nort hwest of Denver.[401] Her bludgeoned and
st rangled corpse was discovered by road maint enance workers t wo weeks lat er in Coal Creek
Canyon, 20 miles (32 km) away. Gasoline st at ion receipt s place Bundy in nearby Golden on t he
day Cooley disappeared.[402] Cooley is included in some compilat ions of Bundy vict ims, but
Jefferson Count y aut horit ies say t he evidence is inconclusive and cont inue t o t reat her
homicide as a cold case.[403]

Shelley Kay Robert son, 24, failed t o show up for work in Golden, Colorado, on July 1, 1975. Her
nude, decomposed body was found in August , 500 feet (150 m) inside a mine on Bert houd
Pass near Wint er Park Resort by t wo mining st udent s.[404] Gas st at ion receipt s place Bundy in
t he area at t he t ime, but t here is no direct evidence of his involvement ; t he case remains
open.[405]

Nancy Perry Baird, 23, disappeared from t he service st at ion where she worked in Layt on, Ut ah,
25 miles (40 km) nort h of Salt Lake Cit y, on July 4, 1975, and remains classified as a missing
person.[406][407] Bundy specifically denied involvement in t his case during t he deat h row
int erviews.[350]

Debbie Smit h, 17, was last seen in Salt Lake Cit y in early February 1976, short ly before t he
DaRonch t rial began; her body was found near t he Salt Lake Cit y Int ernat ional Airport on April
1, 1976.[408] Though list ed as a Bundy vict im by some sources, her murder remains officially
unsolved.[409]

Minut es before his execut ion, Hagmaier queried Bundy about unsolved homicides in New Jersey,
Illinois, Vermont (t he Curran case), Texas, and Miami, Florida. Bundy provided direct ions—lat er
proven inaccurat e—t o Susan Curt is's burial sit e in Ut ah, but denied involvement in any of t he open
cases.[386]

In 2011, Bundy's complet e DNA profile, obt ained from a vial of his blood found in an evidence
vault , was added t o t he FBI's DNA dat abase for fut ure reference in t hese and ot her unsolved
murder cases.[410]
 Artifacts

Bundy's 1968 Volkswagen Beet le was displayed in t he lobby of t he Nat ional Museum of Crime
and Punishment in Washingt on, D.C., unt il it s closure in 2015. It is present ly on exhibit at t he
Alcat raz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.[411]

A ski mask, rope, flashlight , handcuffs, gloves, and a nylon mask were all found inside Bundy's
1968 Volkswagen Beet le's glove compart ment .[412]

In media

Books
Rule, Ann (1980). The Stranger Beside Me. W.W. Nort on and Company Inc. ISBN 978-1-938402-
78-4

Kendall, Elizabet h (1981). The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy. Abrams & Chronicle
Books. ISBN 978-1419744853

Sullivan, Kevin M (2009). The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History. McFarland and
Company Inc. ISBN 978-0-786444-26-7

Michaud, St ephen G., and Hugh Ayneswort h (2000). Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer.
Aut horlink Press. ISBN 978-1928704-17-1

Nelson, Polly (2019). Defending the Devil: My Story as Ted Bundy's Last Lawyer. Echo Point
Books & Media. ISBN 978-1635617-91-7

Carlisle, Al (2017). Violent Mind: The 1976 Psychological Assessment of Ted Bundy. Genius
Book Publishing. ISBN 978-0998297-37-8

Michaud, St ephen G., and Hugh Ayneswort h (2012). The Only Living Witness: The True Story of
Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy. Aut horlink. ISBN 978-1928704119

Films
The Deliberate Stranger (1986), played by Mark Harmon

Ted Bundy (2002), played by Michael Reilly Burke

The Stranger Beside Me (2003), played by Billy Campbell

The Riverman (2004), played by Cary Elwes

Bundy: An American Icon (2008), played by Corin Nemec

 The Capture of the Green River Killer (2008), played by James Marst ers

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019), played by Zac Efron

Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021), played by Chad Michael Murray[413]

No Man of God (2021), played by Luke Kirby[414]

Music
The song "Ted, Just Admit it ..." by Jane's Addict ion[415]

The song "Lot t a True Crime" by Penelope Scot t references Ted Bundy[416]

Television
Ted Bundy: Devil In Disguise.[417]

Ted Bundy: An American Monster.[418]

Ted Bundy: What Happened.[419]

Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Net flix document ary series (2019)

Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer, Amazon Prime Video document ary series (2020)

See also

List of people execut ed in Florida

List of serial killers in t he Unit ed St at es

References

1. Nelson 1994, pp. 323, 327.

2. "1982 Bundy appeal brief" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110607184655/http://www.law.fsu.edu/libr

ary/flsupct/59128/59128ini.pdf) (PDF). law.fsu.edu. Supreme Court of Florida. December 15, 1982.
p. 11. Archived from the original (http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/flsupct/59128/59128ini.pdf) (PDF)
on June 7, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2010.

3. Sullivan 2019, p. 176.

4. Michaud & Aynesworth 1999, pp. 56, 330.

5. Barth 2020, p. 291.

. Foreman 1992, p. 43.

7. Rule 2009, p. xiv.