Ted Bundy's Murderous Mysteries

by Kevin Sullivan

  I informed him at that time our great concern for knowing was because on Monday morning at 9:00 o’clock Mr. Bundy had to appear in our District Court for arraignment for an evading a police officer charge, and at that time we would possibly like to bring up some more court orders requesting his pubic hairs and head hairs from him so that we can send them back to the FBI Lab and compare them with Melissa Smith’s; but we did not want to do this and tip our hand if they were going to arrest him, we would rather wait till the arrest went and then we would make the order and get them; that if not, we were going to request this and of course this would tip our hand that we had something big going again, as we would have to reveal some of the information in order to get this court order.

  There is no further information at this time.

  Jerry Thompson, Detective

  On 2-2-76, Lt. Ron Ballantine and this detective, Jerry Thompson, went down to the Salt Lake County garage complex on 8th South and again went through suspect Bundy’s Volkswagen car. The car was re-vacuumed again with an evidence vacuum. The seat covers were taken off of both front and rear seats. All items were packaged in evidence bags and were sent to the FBI Laboratory to be compared with the rest of the evidence we had obtained. The evidence was sent back on 2-3-76. Along with this group was sent a known hair sample of Carol DaRonch, given to this detective by Sgt. Paul Forbes of the Murray Police Department.

  Again on 2-11-76 this officer went over to the City-County Board of Health and picked up an envelope containing two blood samples of Mr. Ted Bundy. They were taken from the chemist, Lynn Davis, on recommendation of Dave Yocom of the County Attorney’s Office. One vial of blood was taken from the envelope by this detective, from the bottom of the envelope, it was cut. The vial was removed, it was then signed by this detective and taped back over and returned back to the County Board of Health, locked in their refrigerator. The vial was initialed by this officer and given to Lt. Baldridge from Aspen, Colorado, to take back and have analyzed through the Colorado State Bureau in regards to a case out of Grand Junction, Colorado.

  On 2-18-76, another package was sent off to the FBI Laboratory by this detective containing three items: (1) a vacuumed sample from a pair of brown type slacks; (2) the pants themselves that belonged to Debra Kent from Bountiful. They were given to Lt. Ron Ballantine, Bountiful Police Department, by Debra Kent’s father, and then turned over to this officer in an attempt to find any pubic hairs of hers in this pair of pants and have them compared with the hairs out of Mr. Bundy’s Volkswagen.

  Also, on 2-18-76 a court order from Judge Stuart Hansen Jr., was presented to this officer by Dave Yocom of the County Attorney’s Office which in turn was given to Capt. Hayward. The order requests that Capt. Hayward and Sheriff Larson, Chief Dean Anderson, Lt. Ron Ballantine of Bountiful Police Department, and Chief Cal Gillen of Murray Police Department, Sgt. Paul Forbes of the Murray Police Department, turn over any documents, papers, or anything that pertains to the Carol DaRonch case to Dave Yocom of the County Attorney’s Office, or to have anyone under their orders working for them, etc., having any of this to turn it over. This order was brought about by defense attorney John O’Connell. This officer then went back through his case file and in my opinion the only item I could find that I have not given Mr. Yocom was a copy of the phone numbers which had been subpoenaed earlier on Mr. Bundy, which a copy is now made and given to Dave Yocom. The other two departments involved in the subpoena stated that they have also researched their files and Lt. Ballantine came up with a few reports, brought them down and gave them to Dave Yocom, and Sgt. Forbes from Murray stated that he believed that all his information was already in Dave Yocom’s hands. After going over my file again as of 2-18-76, I do not see any other items in there pertaining to the Carol DaRonch case that Mr. Yocom does not have or has not received the information from this officer.

  The report below contains a very revealing interview with a friend of Ted Bundy’s who lived not at the rooming house at 565 First Avenue in Salt Lake City, Utah, but next door to the rooming house at 563 First Avenue. This report has been sitting in my very large case file—consisting of many thousands of pages—for many years, and I can’t account for how or why I missed it, but I did. Therefore, I am happy to present to you the very revealing interview that Detective Jerry Thompson conducted with James Harvey Dunn.

  On 2-11-76 this detective, Jerry Thompson; Lt. Ballantine, Bountiful Police Department; and Lt. Bill Baldridge, Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, Aspen, Colorado, made contact with a JAMES HARVEY DUNN living at 553 First Avenue # 8, telephone 363-1328. He is a mathematics major at the University of Utah. Mr. Dunn was confronted at his door by the above officers and asked if we might come in and talk to him. He refused to let us in his apartment, stating that it was messy, nor that he would talk to us. When I identified him, and told him who I was, he stated he wondered why I had not been there sooner. I told him that I understood that he was a close friend of Mr. Ted Bundy, and he stated that was correct.

  He stated that he has known Mr. Bundy from approximately September or October of 1974, when Mr. Bundy moved in the apartment house next door to him. He stated that he is a good friend of Ted, in fact last Sunday, which would be 2-8-76, Mr. Bundy was over at his apartment and had supper with him and his wife.

  He stated that he had nothing to hide and that he would try to answer our questions. He did state that Mr. John O’Connell, the defense attorney, had also talked to him numerous times. I asked him if John was going to have him as a witness, and he stated, “I don’t know, he hasn’t said anything to me about it. I don’t know what I could testify to, other than that Ted was a very close friend of mine and that from what I know of him, I don’t feel he is the man capable of doing the things that the press indicate that he is possibly involved in.”

  Also he stated that the state must not have too good of a case, he started out with a $100,000.00 bail and it has since been dropped to $15,000.00 and that would be an indication to him that they had an over-zealous prosecutor and overcharged him. He feels that it may be possible that the girl made a bad identification and wished us luck, stating, “May the best man win.”

  He was asked if he could tell me if Mr. Bundy had been out of town at any time during the fall of 1974 and also during the winter of 1975. He stated he did not know that. He did know during that time that he was gone a lot, but he states he did not know if he was out of town or not. He was asked specifically if he knows if Ted had ever been in Colorado, and he stated, “I can’t answer that, I don’t really know.” He was asked if in his opinion there was anything unusual or odd about Mr. Bundy. He stated, “Yes, he’s an oral – anal fetish.”

  In regards to his apartment, he stated the individual is immaculately clean, that he keeps everything spotless, and he thought that was very unusual for an individual. He was asked what Mr. Bundy had told him after his first arrest. He stated that he had told him that he had been picked up for burglary tools, but he stated Mr. Bundy had never told him at that time, he learned later from his attorney, about the pantyhose and the handcuffs, etc. He was asked what his opinion of that was. He stated, “That’s the only thing that troubles me and that does make me wonder, and is very suspicious to me why anyone would have pantyhose with the eyes and so forth cut out of them and a pair of handcuffs.” He stated, however, “I still don’t feel that he’s involved in what they say he was, he may be involved in some other illegal actions, I can’t say.”

  He was then asked to describe Mr. Bundy’s dress, the way he dressed. He stated that Mr. Bundy dressed rather casually, like he was, in a pair of Levis and things like that, and that he did wear sport coats and dress pants when he went out occasionally, but he was a very casual dresser. He was asked anything about his shoes. He stated he wore a lot of loafers most of the time, and pointed down to what I was wearing, which was a pair of patent leather loafers. He stated, “He wears a lot like yours, but of course they weren’t patent leath
er.”

  I then stated to him, “Mr. O’Connell’s been talking to you, hasn’t he?” He stated, “Yes, he has.” (Author’s note: this is classic Jerry Thompson - a really nice guy, but a no-nonsense cop who saw through the BS and always countered it with a proper response. To make his point that he’s not letting it go, Detective Thompson continues asking questions about the shoes.) I said, “Have you ever seen Ted wearing a pair of patent leather shoes?” He said, “I’ve never seen him wear a pair and to my knowledge, I don’t know if he ever owned a pair. He did wear loafers like that but they weren’t patent leather.”

  This individual also stated that he recalled Mr. Bundy when he moved down in the light-colored Volkswagen and that he did recall the tear that was in the back seat of it, when he came down to Utah, which he assumed was caused by the sun going through the back window. He was asked if he knew why Ted sold his car or what the circumstances were, and he stated, “No, I just assumed that he sold it because he made the statement that he needed money for his attorney and that that was one way that he could get money for his attorney by selling his car and that he was going to move to a closer place to school. And that he could walk to school.”

  He was asked if he knew where Mr. Bundy was staying at this time, and he hesitated, he then stated, “Yes I do, however, I don’t think that I should tell you at this time without conversing with Mr. O’Connell or him.” It appears that the individual has definitely been heavily prompted by either Mr. Bundy or his attorney as to what information to give us. He did not refuse to answer anything other than the whereabouts of Mr. Bundy. But it is the opinion of this officer that the individual could possibly be holding back some information that could be pertinent to us, however, it is hard to say.

  On Wednesday, 3-3-76, at approximately 3:00 p.m., James Harvey Dunn, living at 553 First Avenue # 8, was waiting in my office for me. He stated that he wanted to talk to me. Mr. Dunn was one of the individuals who testified on behalf of Mr. Bundy, who lived in the apartment building next to him and was his closest friend. In fact, Mr. Bundy was best man at Dunn’s wedding. Mr. Dunn was very antagonistic when I first interviewed him on 2-11-76, and he was also the same way in court. His first comment to me this date was, “I want to apologize,” or “I’m sorry, I was a little hard on you the first time that I talked to you. I hope you can understand my point of view. I have known Ted since about September of 1974 and he has been my closest and my best friend, I thought. It was very hard for me to believe that he could possibly be responsible for the things that he’s convicted of. Now that he is convicted, I don’t know which way to go and which way to think. I would like to ask you personally do you truly believe without a shadow of a doubt that Ted was guilty.” He stated, “I did not mean it that way. I’m sorry.” I told him there was no doubt in my mind that Ted was definitely guilty of this case.

  He asked me, he started to think now of the missing girls around the same time that this happened, etc.; he wanted to know if I thought Ted was involved with them. I told him I could not answer his question. He asked me if I was still investigating Ted, and I told him yes, he was still under investigation. He stated, “You know, it’s hard to believe. The guy was over to my apartment almost continually, would have dinner, was with me and my wife lots of times, and he just never appeared to be anything like this. However, I will have to admit and say that I thought he was unusual to the effect that as a law student Ted never studied. I don’t recall him ever cracking a book. He was home during the day a lot. He was out at night a lot.”

  He stated that he went away on a couple of vacations during 1975 to Seattle. And that he went over and took care of Ted’s plants that he had in his apartment and took care of things for him, but there were several times during the early part of 1975, which he states, “I cannot remember exactly, but Ted would leave for two or three days at a time and would never say anything to me.” He stated, “I thought it was unusual because I would usually take care of his plants, pick up his mail, etc., but he would not tell me on these particular days. When he’d come back I’d ask him why he didn’t let me know he was going and I would have watered his plants and taken care of things. I can’t remember his comment. It was something like, ‘Well, I didn’t know I was going, or something.’” Dunn stated he did not know where Ted went, Ted never did tell him and he doesn’t know if he really ever asked Ted where he had been.

  He was curious to know what had gone on in the trial, as he wasn’t able to be there. I informed him I wasn’t in the trial either. He wanted to know if he could read the transcript of the trial. I told him the county clerk’s office would have it, and when it was transcribed it was a public record, to my knowledge, and that if he went down there he could possibly read it. He stated he did not know which way to turn now, that if there was anything that he could help the police with he would be more than willing to do so. He asked if I would come out and talk to him and his wife some night when I had time, as they wanted to talk to me. There may be something that he could do that would help this officer. And maybe I could help him more in his mind as he is thoroughly confused now, that he is not too sure that he really knew Ted. He stated, “I thought I knew him very well. We never went out on parties or anything like that, but I was in his apartment or he was in mine and I truly thought he was a fine young man. But some of the things I think of now were a little bit strange.” I informed him that I would be more than happy to talk to him at a later date, that I would make an appointment with him to talk to him and his wife.

  The following report is written by Detective Jerry Thompson, and it details the circumstances of the escape of Ted Bundy from the Garfield County jail in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

  On 12-31-77, Saturday at about 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon, I was contacted by telephone in my office by Mike Fisher, from Aspen, Colorado, where he informed me that he had just received information from the Garfield County Jail, that Ted Bundy had escaped sometime during the night, 12-30-77 to Saturday, 12 noon, December the 31st of 1977, that Ted Bundy escaped from the Garfield County Jail, by putting a shirt, stuffing the sleeves with newspaper hanging out one sleeve to give the appearance that he was in his bed and apparently escaped through a ceiling light fixture, which he removed, which has been loose for the past two years, according to the sheriff, and has not been welded because they have been having trouble getting someone to come in and weld it.

  He stated that once through the ceiling, he could go across and down through the jailer’s apartment that lives right next door. Took several shirts, a cap and ball rifle and a cap and ball pistol and then apparently walked out the front door. They have no idea or any indication of what time he left during the night or during the day. Since that time, the Colorado authorities filled an unlawful flight to avoid prosecution with the FBI out of the Denver office.

  I have been in almost daily contact with the Salt Lake FBI office, Kirt Jensen, and on Tuesday, 1-3-78, this detective, along with Detective Dick Judd, Kirt Jensen from the FBI and Jay Farrington from the FBI, went to Tooele County, south of there, to a small community of Oefer (sic) where we made contact with all the people that were home in this community, checking and attempting to see if Ted Bundy had made it to this area, as the FBI had received information that he was familiar with the area and that he would possibly go to that area.

  Several small caverns or caves or old mines in the area were checked by this officer and we were unable to turn up anything in this area. Contact was made with Tooele County Sheriff Bill Pitt. The situation was explained to him and he stated he would patrol that area and get back to us if he had any additional information.

  The FBI came up with a name of a girl that had been visiting Ted in the jail over there by the name of Carole P. (Author’s note: Actually, it’s Carol Ann) Boon, who supposedly lives at 10405 3rd Avenue, NW, Seattle, Washington, phone is 783-6331. They claim that she was in the Glenwood Springs area, approximately five days, the second week of Dec
ember, visiting Bundy on a regular basis and departed for Seattle on the 16th of December.

  She has maintained continuous telephone contact with Bundy. Since that time this individual has been contacted by the Bureau and Bob Keppel of the King County Sheriff’s office. They state that they do not believe she has had contact with Ted since his escape, but that in their opinion they do believe that she is in love with the individual and that his ties would be fairly close to her.

  They have also made contact with his ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Koffer (Author’s note: incorrect spelling of last name is spelled Kloepfer), and many other associates in the Seattle area and have been unable to come up with anything pertinent at this time.

  A Scott Nelson, a former associate of Bundy’s, who was living in the Canada area, where Bundy has made a call to him, was attempted to be located in Canada. They checked up there and was informed that he was possibly in the Sun Valley, Idaho area.

  After a search was made of the Sun Valley, Idaho area, it was found that the individual had moved from there to the Salt Lake area and was living with his mother at 785 11th Avenue in Salt Lake.

  Kirt Jensen of the FBI made contact with Scott, he made contact with his mother, who refused to tell them where he was at first, but stated that when she got a hold of him, she would have him call.

  He later called the Bureau that night, was very reluctant to talk to them, however they did have an interview with him on the phone. I attempted to make contact with the individual several times at his home, but was unable to.

  I then obtained a subpoena for this individual from Dave Yocom, the county attorney’s office, requesting the interview to be held on Friday the 13th at 2:00 p.m.