The Crime Web: Ted Bundy

On November 24, 1947 Theodore Robert Cowell was born illegitimately to Eleanor Louise Cowell. His biological father was Lloyd Marshall but was not part of the boy's life. To avoid any scandal and to hide the truth for Ted, Louise moved in with her parents and Ted was brought up as their son, he knew his biological mother as his older sister Louise.

In 1951 Louise moved to another relatives place with Ted and a year later she met and married an army cook called John Bundy. Ted took Bundy's name though at the time he still did not know that Louise was his real mother.

Bundy concedes that his early life was quite normal. He did well at school and he graduated in 1965 from a high school in Tacoma and begins at University of Washington, during his time he gains a degree in psychology, a weapon he uses during his murderous campaign.

In 1969 Ted learned about his parentage for the first time, he was now aware that his older sister was his real mother, and his mother and father were really his grandparents.

Between 1969 and 1972 Ted sent applications for law schools and became actively involved in politics for the first time. Ted carried out volunteer work at a crisis clinic in Washington alongside true crime writer (to be) Ann Rule, before beginning a position with King County Law and Justice Planning Office in Washington State tracking habitual criminals.

15 year old Katherine Divine chooses to hitch-hike to Oregon on November 25, 1973 after deciding to run away from life in Seattle. However she never arrives. Katherine is last seen waving to her friends as she climbed into a old truck.

The body of Katherine Devine is found by a couple walking in McKenny Park, Washington on December 6, 1973. The corpse is severely decomposed from being exposed to the elements for two weeks. Though medical examiners cannot be sure, they claim she had been sexually assaulted before being strangled.

Student Joni Lenz aged 18 is still in bed on January 4, 1974 when a friend goes to see if she is still asleep, when the friend gets close enough she finds Joni surrounded by a pool of blood, Joni had been beaten around the head . Her roommates removed the covers from Joni's body only to find an even more horrific injuries. A bed rod had been torn away from the bedhead and savagely rammed into her vagina. She is taken to hospital where she remains for several months in a coma. Joni is left with brain damage by the brutal attack.

On the night of January 31 1974, 21 year old Lynda Healy is abducted from her room at Washington State, her friends realise she is missing when her alarm continues to ring. They called the police. Upon investigation, the police pulled back her bedcovers and found a heavily blood stained pillowcase and blood-soaked sheets. Her nightgown was found stuffed in her closet, the neck line caked with dried blood. The clothes she'd worn the day before were missing. No trace of the attacker or her body could be found at the time.

On February 8, 1974 20 year old Carol Valenzuela disappeared in Vancouver. Her body is found later in October with the remains of another female who was never identified.

On March 12, 1974 another college student disappears. Nineteen year old Donna Mason left her dorm room around 7 pm to walk to a jazz concert on campus. Donna wasn't reported missing for 6 days because of her habit of taking off on whims She was never seen alive again.

Eighteen year old Susan Rancourt disappears as she walks across Central Washington State College lawns. That evening of April 17, 1974 Susan had made plans to join a friend to see a German film but she never arrives. She is last seen leaving a meeting with one of her advisors about a job at 9 pm that evening. It was the one and only time that Susan had gone outside at night alone and it cost her her life.

On May 6, 1974 Bundy abducts another victim. This time 20 year old Roberta Parks decides to walk to another dorm hall to have coffee with friends. She never arrives. Along her travels she had met with Bundy using his handicapped ruse to get her to help him put some items into his car.

Though Bundy aspires to be a lawyer, he leaves university to take a position at the Emergency Services Department in Olympia in May 1974.

Twenty-two year old Brenda Ball disappears from the Flame Tavern in Burien on June 1, 1974. She had told friends she was going there to find a ride to Sun Lakes, she asked one of the musicians at the Tavern around closing time but he was unable to help her. She is last seen talking to a man in the parking lot with a sling. It would later turn out to be Ted Bundy using his normal abduction technique. It took her friends 19 days to realise she had not made it to Sun City and called police to report their friend missing.

On June 11, 1974 eighteen year old Georgann Hawkins disappears from behind her sorority house, Kappa Alpha Theta in Seattle. Georgann had been to a party and left to say good night to her boyfriend and borrow some text books for a Spanish exam she was going home to cram for the next day. A friend of Georgann's calls out to her from a window and the two students chatted for a few minutes. She said goodnight and walked 30 feet away before the other student stuck his head back out of the window, but she was out of site. Two other male friends of Georgann remembers seeing her cover the last 20 feet before disappearing around the corner. She only had 40 feet to go in the brightly lit alley. Georgeann's roommate knew something was wrong when she didn't arrive 2 hours later, and she called Georgeann's boyfriend and learned she had left his place at 1 am. She woke the housemother, and together they waited for the girl. They called the police in the morning, and because of the other disappearances in the area, the Seattle police took action immediately. A dorm mother had heard some screams but thought it was students mucking around. outside and did not look to see what was going on. Had the dorm mother looked she may have seen Bundy using his handicap ruse on Georgann. Ted had asked Georgann for help carrying his briefcase to his car because of his fake cast, and she obliged. He knocked her out, stuffed her into the car and sped away. She came to before he killed her, and in her confused rambling, said she had thought he'd been sent to help her with her Spanish exam. He knocked her out again, then pulled over and strangled her.

Ted was becoming an expert at killing, so far he had gotten away with it without any reprisals. He was getting cocky that next he did two abductions and murders in one day.

Janice Ott was the first one abducted by Bundy on July 14, 1974. That fateful afternoon Janice was missing her husband who had stayed on at practice in Riverside. So she left a note for her room mate saying she was going to go for a bike ride around the park at Lake Sammamish. Later witnesses told police that they had seen a girl matching Janice's description talking to a friendly looking man who had a broken arm. It was the last time she was seen alive. Ted abducted her in front of everyone at the park with raising any suspicion. It was too easy for him, he went back and abducted another victim.

Nineteen year old Denise Naslund was having a picnic with friends on the lake that day. While the others fell asleep in the lovely sun, Denise wandered off to the bathrooms. But on the way she bumped in to Ted Bundy and she also disappeared while in a public place.

Again Ted is restless in his position with Emergency Services and does not stay there long. By 30 August 1974 he is a student again, this time he attends University of Utah College of Law.

Bones are found scattered between 2 to four miles from Lake Sammamish State Park on September 6, 1974. According to Bundy they are from Georgeann Hawkins, Janice Ott and Denise Naslund.

On October 18, 1974 another young woman fell victim to Ted Bundy's charm. Midvale police chief's daughter seventeen year old Melissa Smith disappeared on her way to pick up some clothes from home when she decided to stay overnight at a girlfriend's who needed consoling .Nine days later on October 27, the bludgeoned and strangled remains of Melissa were found in Summit Park. She had been raped and sodomised before her murder. Her skull had been fractured by an instrument similar to a crowbar.

Laura Aime, at aged 17 was a bit unsettled, age 17 isn't easy for most of us, but Laura had grown restless. On October 31, the night of her abduction she had left a Halloween party and went for a wander to a nearby park. She was never seen alive again. Her body was found in the Wasatch Mountains on a river bank on November 27, 1974 Her naked body had been beaten beyond recognition. Like Melissa Smith, she had been sexually assaulted.

On November 8 1974 pretty 17 year old Debby Kent disappears when she offers to pick up her brother while her parents stayed behind at her school's drama night. Later, another parent told police he'd arrived late at the play and saw a light coloured VW bug racing away from the school. A quick search by police discovers a small handcuff key in the parking lot. The key fits the cuffs Carol DaRonch brings to police the same evening.

A break finally comes in the Bundy case. A victim, 19 year old Carol DaRonch survives an abduction attempt the same evening that Debby disappeared. At a Waldens Books she was approached by a friendly and handsome young man. He asked if she'd parked near Sears, and she said yes. He asked for her license number and she gave it to him. He then told her that someone had tried to break into her car, and she needed to come take a look. She trustingly followed him quietly out of the building, but felt a sudden apprehension as they headed out into the rainy night.

She asked him for some ID after realising that she had been a little too trusting and responded by laughing, making her feel stupid for bothering. They got to her car, and nothing was missing. He then told her she needed to come to the station to see if she knew the suspect. Something wasn't right and then she smelled the faint aroma of alcohol on the man's breath. Alarm bells sounded and she grew more aware of the situation she was in as they walked to his VW. breath. She reluctantly got into the car after he gave her another convincing lie. When he told her to put on her seatbelt, she said no, and was ready to jump, but he'd already driven off and was going very fast. She realized he was heading away from the police station.

Suddenly he stopped the car and attempted to handcuffed her, but in the struggle, connected both cuffs to the same wrist. As they struggled, he pulled out a small gun and threatened her with it. She fell out of the door into the sodden earth, and got up as he came at her with a crowbar. He threw her up against the car, and in a sheer adrenaline rush brought on by utter terror, Carol DaRonch broke free from her attacker and ran wildly to the road. An older couple came upon her just in time and took the terrified girl to the police station. She was the victim to get away from the killer soon to be identified as Ted Bundy.

On January 12 1975 Caryn Campbell was on a ski trip in Aspen Colorado with her fiancé and his kids. After a minor squabble with her partner she storms off back to their room to grab a magazine. When she did not return immediately her fiancee did not worry but after a reasonable length of time he went to their room to see if she was there, she had never made it to the hotel room and was never seen alive again.

On February 18th, 1975 as the weather slowly began to warm, the naked and battered body of Caryn Campbell was found in a snow bank off Owl Creek Rd, close to the hotel where she had been holidaying with her fiancee and children.. The snow around her was bloodstained and it was more than likely that she had been raped before being murdered.

On March 1, 1975 a skull is found in a thick wooded area on Taylor Mountain. The skull is part of the remains of 22 year old Brenda Ball who had been abducted on May 31, 1974. The police begin a search of the area and soon more gruesome discoveries are made.

Parts of the bodies of Lynda Healy, Susan Rancourt and Roberta Parks are found on March 3, 1975 on Taylor Mountain. The skull of Lynda Healy is found, she had suffered a brutal beating. Susan Rancourt's decapitated skull was severely fractured. Other bones recovered are later said to be those of Donna Mason

The discovery of some of his victims did not slow down Bundy in his killing spree. On March 15, 1975 twenty-six year old Julie Cunningham disappeared while on her way to a nearby tavern in Vail Colorado. Her body was never found.

On April 6, 1975 Denise Oliverson age 25 decided to go for a bike ride to visit her parents in Grand Junction after having an argument with her husband. When she didn't return that evening he assumed she had decided to stay the night at her parents and so he thought he would let her cool off. Little did he know but she never made it to her parents house. Along the way she had met up with Ted Bundy. Her body remains undiscovered.

Nine days later on April 15, eighteen year old Melanie Cooley disappeared after walking off from school. Road worker discovered her body on April 23, 1975. She had been bludgeoned to death with a crowbar like many of the others. Her hands had been tied behind her back and a pillowcase was tied tightly around her neck.

July 1, 1975 Ted claimed his next victim. Shelly Robertson, aged 24 was known to hitch-hike on a whim, and friends assumed she had gone travelling again when they hadn't seen her for a few days. She was last seen alive with a man in a beat-up pick-up truck.

Later on August 18, 1975, Bundy is arrested in Salt Lake City for evading a police officer. When the officer searches the car, they find handcuffs, a ski mask, and pantyhose.

After being caught by police in Utah with implements for break and enters, Bundy is charged with the attempted kidnap of Carol DaRonch after she identifies him as her attacker. On March 1, 1976, after a trial in which Bundy represents himself he is convicted of the kidnapping charge of Carol DaRonch in Utah.

On October 20, 1976, Bundy is charged with murder of Caryn Campbell. While awaiting his trial for the murder of Caryn Campbell, Bundy escapes from Pitkin County Courthouse lock-up in Aspen on June 6, 1977. On June 16 a very dishevelled Ted Bundy is recaptured.

Again jail cells are unable to hold the killer and on December 31, 1977 Bundy escapes from jail in Glenwood Springs, Colorado and travels through Denver, Chicago and Michigan.

By January 7, 1978 Ted arrives in Tallahassee, Florida and rents a room in rooming house. He tells the landlady he is a student. This gives him the freedom to roam the nearby campuses. His urge to kill surfaces again, this time he decides to murder en mass.

The Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University was pretty quiet the evening of January 15, 1978. But little did the girls know a killer was stalking them. Twenty-one year old Karen Chandler had gone to bed around midnight. Lisa Levy aged 20 had to bed around 11pm after a long day of work, she had her room to herself as her roommate had gone home for the weekend. Twenty year old Kathy Kleiner went to bed around the same time as Karen Chandler. Margaret Bowman went to bed around 2.30 after talking to a girlfriend about a blind date she had had that evening. Cheryl Thomas returned home around 1:30 am. She turned on the TV, made something to eat and fed her new kitten. Her friend Debbie who lived in the next room arrived home and shouted teasingly through the wall for her to turn down the TV.

Debbie woke up at around 4 in the morning to a strange hammering sound. She slept on a mattress on the floor so she had felt the whole house vibrate from the thumps. She shook her roommate awake and they listened in fear until there was silence. Scared they sat still in shock. Then Cheryl began moaning and whimpering from the next room, not sure if she was only dreaming or in trouble, Debbie called Cheryl's room. The girls had a signal to always answer the phone regardless - just to make sure they were all always safe. When Cheryl didn't pick up the phone Debbie called the police. As they were speaking the police, they heard a great thunderous crash from Cheryl's apartment, as if someone was running and crashing through the kitchen. Debbie and her roommate were shocked to see a dozen police cars at their house within 4 minutes of their call.

As Debbie and her roommate headed down the hallway to the dorm-mother's room Karen staggered out into the hall from her room. Blood was streaming down her face, she had been savagely beaten. After seeing Karen the housemother decided to begin checking the other rooms. Kathy was sitting on her bed, her head was in her hands and the blood ran down her arms from the wounds she had suffered. Her jaw was broken in 3 places.

Lisa Levy apparently hadn't awakened to the attacks in the other two rooms. Hopefully she had also slept through her own attack. When medics arrived she did not have a pulse and they began CPR in an attempt to revive her. She was announce dead on arrival at the hospital. Her right nipple had been almost bitten off, her left collarbone was broken, and she had been strangled. A Clairol hairspray bottle had been jammed into her vagina. There was a double bite mark on her left buttock, which would help identify Ted Bundy.

Twenty-one year old Margaret Bowman was found lying on her stomach across her bed. She had been beaten across the head with a crowbar which shattered her skull instantly. A stocking had been pulled tightly around her throat. She did not survive the attack.

Cheryl was the last of the women attacked by Bundy.She was found lying diagonally across her bed, barely conscious, whimpering and writhing in pain. Her face was turning purple with bruises, it was swollen and she had several serious head wounds. She suffered the worst injuries on that night. Her skull was fractured in 5 places, causing permanent hearing loss in her left ear. Her left shoulder was dislocated, her jaw was broken, and her 8th cranial nerve was so damaged that she would never have normal equilibrium. She wasn't released from the hospital for a month. If the girls hadn't shouted about calling the police, one can only guess what an uninterrupted Ted Bundy would have finished doing to Cheryl Thomas.

Bundy's last victim is also the youngest one he killed. Twelve year old Kimberly Leach disappeared on February 9, 1978. Kimberley had left class to go and find her wallet she had left somewhere. She is seen by a friend talking to a man, it is the last time she is seen alive.

Though Ted Bundy is being sought all over America for the Chi Omega murders, it was a traffic police officer who finally arrests him in Pensacola, Florida on February 15, 1978.

On April 7, 1978 after 8 weeks of intense searching, the decomposed remains of Kimberley Leach are found in a pigsty. She had been raped before being murdered.

Though Bundy attempts many different lines of defense during his trial he is sentenced to death plus 196 years for the murders of the students at Chi Omega House on July 13, 1979.

Bundy is also sentenced to death by electrocution for the murder of 12 year old Kimberley Leach on Feb. 9, 1980. In the courtroom, the suave Bundy marries Serial Killer groupie Carol Boone in a brief ceremony.

Some believe this is a ploy to stay his execution. But it is too little too late and on January 25 1989 Ted Bundy takes his final seat in the arms of Old Sparky at Starke Prison Florida.

Nine year Anne Marie Burr disappeared in August 1961 in Tacoma. She lived only 10 blocks from 15 yr old Ted Bundy, the local paperboy, and she followed him around like a puppy. One morning she was nowhere to be found, and a window facing the front street was wide open. The child was in her nightgown when she vanished. Despite a huge effort on the Tacoma police's part, the little girl was never found. The street in front of her home was being torn up for repaving and her body could have easily been buried in one of the deep ditches, only to be covered with dirt and asphalt the next day. Though Bundy refused to discuss this case it is now assumed that he was responsible for her murder.

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Original Written: April 14, 1997