Serial killer Ted Bundy, who died in Florida’s electric chair in 1989, concealed his terrifying trail of terror for years while moving constantly about the country.
That he was arrested, jailed on a charge of murder and then escaped – twice – to continue his rampage only adds to hishorrifying legacyof at least 30 murders of women between 1973 and 1978.
The smart, handsome killer was then just beginning his spree across at least seven states, from Washington to Florida.
AP
Former FBI Director William S. Sessions, in a 1992 investigative review of Bundy’s methods and his confessions, called him “perhaps society’s most infamous and notorious serial killer.” Regarding the exact number of Bundy’s victims, Sessions added, “We may never know the total extent of his devastation.”
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“Although Bundy had sex with most of his victims, it is doubtful that he committed only rapes,” the report says. “He was more interested sexually in semiconscious or unconscious victims.”
The description mirrors Stapley’s account of repeated choking that left her in and out of consciousness. She awakened to find Bundy standing some distance away from her, at which point she was able to flee.
Bundy’s Meticulous Pattern
The report also states: “His planning included preselection of a body disposal site, discreet research regarding his victim, preparation of necessary paraphernalia, and complete planning of the assault to include flight, evidence disposal, and alibi. Only then would he approach the victim and put his plan into action.”
Bundy’s methods generally followed a pattern: “He would feign an injury and indicate he needed assistance or he would portray an authority figure such as a police officer. He thus persuaded the victim to voluntarily accompany him to his Volkswagen where he had secreted a crowbar near the rear of the vehicle.”
Because he was voyeuristic, Bundy liked to see what he was doing and often killed beneath a bright moon or in front of his car’s headlights, the report says. And he said he made return visits to nearly all his crime scenes.
His earliest identified victim was murdered Jan. 31, 1974, in Washington. Bundy claimed 11 victims overall in that state, one in California, two each in Oregon and Idaho, three each in Colorado and Florida, and eight in Utah.
After Bundy’s rampage came to light, crime writerAnn Rulefamously wrote about the man with whom she worked at a Seattle crisis clinic in her book,The Stranger Beside Me. Rule died in 2015.
Bundy reportedly buried about 10 of his victims, and said he severed the heads of about a dozen.
Two Escapes from Custody
Before those grisly numbers piled up, a thwarted abduction in 1974 had led to Bundy’s arrest, and he was found guilty in Utah of aggravated kidnapping and attempted homicide. But when he was transferred to Colorado to face a murder charge there, he escaped from a courthouse library while acting as his own attorney.
He was recaptured, then escaped again six months later, fleeing to Florida where his final murders occurred.
Less than a month later, on Feb. 9, 12-year-old Kimberly Leach disappeared from the grounds of her junior high in Lake City, Florida. Before her remains were found eight weeks later, police in Pensacola spotted Bundy driving a stolen orange Volkswagen.
That time, he didn’t escape. The murders of Bowman, Levy and Leach resulted in convictions and three sentences of death.
He was executed Jan. 24, 1989 at age 42.
source: people.com
