Ted Bundy's Murderous Mysteries

by Kevin Sullivan

  Patchen: (Laugh)

  Bundy: And uh, you know, they were always trying to get it together you know, they’re trying to get it together. They kind of kept to themselves, as you know. They didn’t let me into their little circle (indiscernible) uh, but I made a passing. I was developing a relationship with them, uh, then there was no one that I had to, you know, that I saw regular that you could call a friend or anything.

  7. Denied being on streets at night.

  Patchen: Did you ever, you know, like in the middle of the night, just couldn’t sleep and just wander around, walk around wherever you know uh, we had of course policeman around there checking people.

  Bundy: Yeah.

  Patchen: All the time, it’s a regular routine, weren’t you ever checked out or anything if you walked around? You know, get out in the early hours.

  Bundy: I didn’t walk around at night, that, I’m … again, I made it a point as much as possible to stay off the streets late at night, if I was out at night I rode my bicycle for the very fact that uh, people don’t stop.

  8. Admits signing lease on January 7, and statement reference license plate number 13D11300* on January 13, 1978.

  *That tag number was on the white FSU media van that Bundy was driving when he murdered Kimberly Leach in Lake City, Florida. It was also written down by witness Danny Parmenter when he came upon Bundy talking with his younger sister Leslie, as she was waiting for Danny to pick her up from a K-Mart parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida.

  Bodiford: That tag that was in the floorboard of that Toyota that our deputy stopped you in the other night and you ran from him, do you know which one I’m talking about? That was in the floorboard that he asked you about?

  Bundy: Yeah.

  Bodiford: Do you remember where you came by that?

  Bundy: No, I really don’t.

  Bodiford: Do you remember how soon after you got to Tallahassee it was?

  Bundy: I don’t imagine it was until sometime after I was in Tallahassee. You know, I can’t say exactly when. You sparked my memory because I had forgotten completely about any tag that was on there that (This statement not fully thought out by the detective) origin of the tag that was on the floorboard.

  Bodiford: Your rental agreement, under the name Chris Hagen, was dated the 7th.

  Bundy: Um hum.

  Bodiford: Did you get that tag off of a vehicle?

  Bundy: I may well have, I probably did.

  Bodiford: It was reported stolen on the 13th.

  Bundy: Thirteenth of?

  Bodiford: January.

  Bundy: Thirteenth of January. Well, it doesn’t ring a bell exactly.

  Bodiford: Okay. I was just wondering. I mean it’s only six days after you rented the room.

  Bundy: Um.

  Bodiford: I wondered if you know, if somebody else ripped it off before you got to it and then you got…

  Patchen: It was you know, was it taken off?

  Bodiford: Want some more coffee, Ted?

  Bundy: Um, sure.

  Patchen: It was listed as being taken off a van, do you, does that spark any memories, a white van?

  Bodiford: Orange.

  Patchen: Was it an orange van?

  Bodiford: Orange, orange, brilliant orange, you can’t miss it.

  The FSU media van was white only. Bodiford must have been momentarily confused and thinking about the stolen orange VW Bundy was driving at the time of his arrest in Pensacola, Florida.

  Bodiford: Brilliant orange and white van, does that spur any memories?

  Bundy: I remember one truck that I took a tag off of.

  Bodiford: Was it a pickup?

  Bundy: I – yeah, a pickup truck.

  Patchen: Was it a normal type?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Summary Report on the Chi Omega Murders

  What follows is a summary report on the Chi Omega murders:

  LEON COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

  Criminal Investigations Bureau

  DATE: Sunday, 15 January 1978

  TIME: 0300 hours

  LOCATION:

  Chi Omega Sorority House (F.S.U.)

  661 West Jefferson Street

  Tallahassee, Florida

  VICTIMS: Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy

  SUMMARY

  At 0300 hours, Sunday, 15 January 1978, Nita Neary (member of Chi Omega Sorority) returned from a date, and entered the sorority through a rear door off the patio. As she entered the house, she walked through the living room and to the front steps leading to the bedrooms on the second floor. As she approached the lobby (location of the main steps), she heard someone running down the steps. The subject then went directly to the front door and exited. The subject was described by Ms. Neary as a white male, early twenties, brown short, straight hair, 5’8” to 5’9”, 160 – 170 pounds. The subject was further described as wearing a black or dark snow cap, black or dark waist-length coat, and light pants. He was carrying a 2 ½ – 3 foot stick or club in his right hand. The subject apparently never saw Ms. Neary.

  Ms. Neary, at this time, thought the subject was probably a prowler, so she immediately went upstairs to see if anyone was awake, and possibly saw the intruder also. She walked to the top of the stairs and found another sorority sister awake. While the two were discussing the subject that Ms. Neary saw, a bedroom door opened a short distance away and another sorority sister, Karen Chandler, staggered into the hall. Ms. Chandler was bleeding severely from wounds about the head. Discovered at the same time was Kathy Kleiner (Chandler’s roommate). Kleiner was bleeding from the head also. In addition to head wounds, her teeth had been knocked out. A quick check was made of the other rooms on the floor by other sorority sisters, and the body of Lisa Levy was found in the room next to Chandler and Kleiner. By this time the first law enforcement officers arrived. All of the sorority sisters were moved downstairs to the living room, and the officers discovered the body of Margaret Bowman, directly across from Levy’s room.

  SUMMARY OF INJURIES

  (1) MARGARET BOWMAN

  a. Death by strangulation.

  b. Severe blows to the head.

  c. No evidence of sexual assault.

  (2) LISA LEVY

  a. Death by strangulation.

  b. Bite marks on body.

  c. Evidence of sexual assault.

  (3) KAREN CHANDLER

  a.Severe blows about the head area.

  b.Bruises about the neck and shoulders.

  (4) KATHY KLEINER

  a. Severe blows about the head area.

  b. Teeth knocked out (top and bottom).

  There was no evidence of sexual assault on Chandler, Kleiner, or Bowman. Only Levy was sexually assaulted.

  Approximately 1 ½ hours later (0430 hours) two females living at 431 Dunwoody Street were awakened by noises coming from the other side of their duplex. This location is almost four blocks away (west) from the Chi Omega House. The two females became alarmed and called the next door apartment. As the phone rang, the noises subsided, however, no one answered the call. They then called law enforcement. When officers arrived on the scene, Cheryl Thomas was found in her room with severe wounds about the head. Thomas was unconscious and bleeding severely. Entrance and exit to the apartment had been made through a kitchen window. There was no evidence of sexual assault.

  Between 15 January and 11 February 1978, investigators from the Leon County Sheriff’s department, Tallahassee Police Department, Florida State University Department of Public Safety, State Attorney’s Office, and Florida Department of Criminal Law Enforcement interviewed approximately 3,500 individuals. A central command post was set up for all agencies, with approximately forty investigators assigned.

  On 9 February, surveillance units were set up in various locations surrounding the Florida State University campus for
the purpose of checking prowlers and suspicious persons. On 11 February, at 0147 hours, a deputy stopped a subject for a routine check near campus. The subject was locking the door of a green Toyota. While the Deputy was attempting to check identification, the subject ran and got away. A license plate (13D-11300, Florida) was found in the front floor-board of the Toyota. A check of the license plate revealed that it was stolen on 13th January (2 days before the homicides and assaults) from a location approximately 150 yards from the assault on Dunwoody Street. Further investigation revealed that the license plate was seen on a 1976 white Dodge van (stolen from Florida State University on 6 February) by a white male who attempted to “pick up” a young female as she was leaving school in Jacksonville on 8 February.

  On 15 February, an officer with the Pensacola Police Department stopped a 1972 orange VW after a license check revealed the car to be stolen. The individual driving the VW identified himself to the officer as Kenneth Raymond Misner. Approximately 30 minutes after the arrest, the Leon County Sheriff’s Department was notified that the VW had been recovered, and the driver arrested. The subject, at the time of his arrest, had several stolen credit cards belonging to students at Florida State University. These credit cards were stolen from various locations in Tallahassee on 3 – 4 February, however, the majority of the cards were stolen from a lounge located next door to the Chi Omega Sorority House.

  It was later learned that the subject arrested was not Kenneth Raymond Misner, but was someone using Misner’s identification.

  The Leon County Sheriff’s Department and the Tallahassee Police Department sent investigators to Pensacola to interview the subject. After approximately twenty-four hours, the subject identified himself as Theodore Robert Bundy. A further check revealed that Bundy was listed on the FB I’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list, and it was further learned that Bundy had escaped from Aspen, Colorado on 31 December 1977. (Author’s note: Bundy actually escaped from the jail in Glenwood Springs on this date, He escaped from Aspen (his first escape) on June 7, 1977 and was recaptured on June 13, 1977. Bundy had already been convicted in Utah for the kidnapping of Carol DaRonch, and was on trial in Colorado for the murder of Caryn Campbell who had disappeared from the Wildwood Inn in Snowmass, Colorado on January 12, 1975.

  Through the use of a photograph lineup (and before his photograph appeared in the news media) the young girl in Jacksonville identified Bundy as the one trying to pick her up on 8 February. The Deputy in Leon County also identified Bundy as the subject that ran from him near the FSU campus on 11 February.

  By tracing the stolen credit cards, the whereabouts of Bundy between 21 January and 15 February are well documented. In addition, Bundy made credit card charges in Jacksonville on the same date that he attempted to pick up the young girl (Name), and in Lake City, the same date, (9 February) that a young girl (Name) was reported missing.

  Shortly after his arrest, Bundy agreed to talk with investigators, and a total of approximately forty hours of interviews were conducted before Bundy decided to quit talking.

  Bundy was incarcerated in Colorado from August 1976 to December 1977. To escape, he lost approximately sixty pounds (Author’s note: this number is absurdly incorrect. He didn’t lose 60 pounds. He wouldn’t have been able to walk had this been true. No other source, including Det. Mike Fisher, has stated something so ridiculous. This is just a mistake in the record that needed addressing.) to enable him to crawl through a small electrical opening in the ceiling of his cell. Once on the outside, he stole a car and was going to drive to Vail, Colorado, however, the engine blew up and the car was abandoned on the side of the highway. He then caught a bus to Denver, Colorado, and from there a TWA flight to Chicago, Illinois. He spent one to two days in Chicago and then went to Ann Arbor, Michigan. While at this location, he visited the University of Michigan Library to look up information about colleges in the South. He initially picked Gainesville, however, he wanted to be closer to the coast, so he chose Tallahassee and FSU.

  On 2 January, Bundy was sitting in a lounge in Ann Arbor, and was watching the Rose Bowl game. He stayed in Ann Arbor for two days, and then stole a car and drove to Atlanta, Georgia. In Atlanta, he left the keys in the car and abandoned it in a black residential neighborhood. He then caught a Trailways Bus to Tallahassee – arriving in the early morning of 7 January.

  Shortly after his arrival in Tallahassee, Bundy walked around the FSU campus, and located an apartment approximately two blocks from the university. At this location he leased a room using the name of Chris M. Hagen, 2445 Washington Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan. (The name and address proved to be false, however the lounge he frequented in Ann Arbor was on Washington Street.)

  Currently, Bundy has been charged with approximately forty felony charges including, burglary, auto theft, and forgery, however, evidence available has not been able to tie him to the Chi Omega case, and the investigation is still open.

  Any agency wishing to obtain additional information on Bundy should forward the request in writing to … (Author’s note: the report ends here.)

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Reports, Revelations, and Suspected Bundy Murders

  Seattle police sent Bundy’s Utah attorney, John O’Connell, a letter concerning the whereabouts of his client, Ted Bundy, during the rash of homicides the state had suffered for most of 1974.

  October 17, 1975

  Mr. John O’Connell

  12 Exchange Place

  Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

  Re: Ted Bundy

  Here are the dates, times, and locations where female homicide victims were last seen. Please have Ted Bundy determine his whereabouts on the dates concerned. We have not been able to eliminate Ted through his employment records, school attendance records, or close friends.

  01-04-74 02:00 a.m.University District, Seattle, WA.

  01-31-74 11:00 p.m. University District, Seattle, WA.

  03-12-74 07:00 p.m. Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA.

  04-17-74 09:30 p.m. Central Wash. St. College, Ellensburg, WA.

  05-06-74 11:00 p.m. Oregon St. Univ., Corvallis, Oregon

  06-01-74 02:00 a.m. Flame Tavern, Seattle, WA.

  06-11-74 01:00 a.m. University District, Seattle, WA.

  07-14-74 12:30-4:30 p.m. Lake Sammamish St. Park, Issaquah, WA.

  08-02-74 11:00 a.m. Vancouver, WA.

  If you wish additional information in this matter please contact Detective Robert D. Keppel, Homicide Task Force.

  Thank you for your cooperation in this case.

  LAWRENCE G. WALDT, SHERIFF-DIRECTOR

  J. Nick Mackie, Captain

  Criminal Investigation Division

  Multiple strange vanishings and homicides of women and girls occurred in the states where Bundy was known to have operated or had traveled to or through and, as such, could not be ruled out as a possible suspect during those investigative years. Because of the advancement of DNA testing, some individuals (like Melanie Cooley) have been ruled out as Bundy victims. Some of these murder cases have presented evidence, however, that match Bundy’s modus operandi, at least in part, while others do not. What makes these particular missing and/or murdered female reports important and interesting enough to mention here, is that they were all a part of the Bundy investigation at one time or another.

  When writing The Bundy Murders, I gathered case files from all the states where Bundy was known to have murdered women. What I found during this time of research, was that the detectives who were hunting this elusive killer of women were also communicating with law enforcement officials in surrounding jurisdictions and receiving information about their missing and murdered women and young girls. Of course, we may never know if Bundy is responsible for any of these crimes, but it’s clear he can’t be completely ruled out from a number of them. One thing is certain: no matter how many murders Ted Bundy committed during the time of his murder
sprees, he was not alone in such activities, as each state had killers operating during the same time as Bundy.

  I will first present materials that were sent between detectives and other officials pertaining to the California homicides, and then add information about the murder of Leslie Maria Perlov, and Washington Detective Bob Keppel’s response to their inquiries, before delving into the abductions and murders in Rawlins, Wyoming.

  DISTRICT ATTORNEY

  COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ

  August 7, 1974

  Mr. Robert D. Keppel, Detective

  Homicide – Robbery Division

  King County Police

  Court House

  Seattle, Washington

  Dear Bob,

  In reference to our telephone conversation this date, enclosed are copies of our case summaries concerning Rosa Linda Cantu Zuniga, Deborah Lee Shelton, and Terry Kay Pfitzer.

  I have also attached a copy of my letter to Carlstedt which is self-explanatory. Let me know if we can be of any assistance.

  Sincerely,

  R. F. VERBRUGGE

  INSPECTOR

  DISTRICT ATTORNEY COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ

  E. Carlstedt, Detective Sergeant

  Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office

  2555 Mendocino Avenue

  Santa Rosa, California 95401

  Dear Butch:

  In reference to our conversation and your subsequent letter on June 13, 1974, attached are case summaries on our two unsolved female murders, the victims being, Deborah Lee Shelton and Rosa Linda Cantu Zuniga. Also, the missing person’s information on Terry Kay Pfitzer.

  I have also enclosed copies of the following, Dianne Uhlig, summary of San Mateo County, 187 P.C. Case number 72-2632, by Sheriff’s Inspector Rudy Siemessen who may have additional similars.

  May I also suggest that you get in touch with the following investigators who all have similar unsolved cases: