May 27, 2026

50 Shades of Evil: Washington - Ted Bundy

50 Shades of Evil: Washington - Ted Bundy

Part 1 of a 4 part series Jim Chapman brings you into the shadows of one of America’s most notorious serial killers: Ted Bundy. Behind the handsome face, law-school smile, and easy charm lurked a predator who terrorized the United States from...

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon
Season 9
Part 1 of a 4 part series
Jim Chapman brings you into the shadows of one of America’s most notorious serial killers: Ted Bundy. Behind the handsome face, law-school smile, and easy charm lurked a predator who terrorized the United States from 1974-1978.

From his first known murders in Washington state to his cross-country killing spree, daring prison escapes, and final rampage in Florida, Bundy left behind a trail of at least thirty confirmed victims— young women who never stood a chance against his calculated manipulation. Jim examines how a seemingly ordinary man used his intelligence, good looks, and fake casts and crutches to lure victims into his Volkswagen Beetle, and how he repeatedly slipped through the fingers of law enforcement.

You’ll hear about the shocking courtroom moments, the media circus that turned him into a celebrity monster, and the psychological profile that still fascinates criminologists today. From his troubled childhood to his final days on death row, this is the complete, unflinching story of Ted Bundy—the charming killer whose crimes changed the way America hunts monsters.

Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and SA. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

Chapters
05:17 The Birth of Evil
10:38 The Family Lie
12:31 First Signs of Evil
17:59 Karen Sparks
19:56 Linda Healy
25:51 Donna Manson
39:19 Susan Rancourt
46:53 Roberta Parks
53:54 Brenda Ball

Join Bloody Angola on Patreon for Commercial Free Early Releases and more here: www.patreon.com/bloodyangolapodcast

For Louisiana Local Advertising inquiries or to book appearances please email BloodyAngola@gmail.com

WEBVTT

1
00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:14.919
Welcome back. I am your host, Jim Chapman, and today

2
00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:18.559
I am bringing you another episode from the Fippy Shades

3
00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:22.039
of Evil series. This week we're going to the state

4
00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:25.120
of Washington, and real quick, when I say the name

5
00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:28.280
Ted Bundy, what is the first thing that pops in

6
00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:31.640
your head? If you, like most everyone, the answer is

7
00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:37.200
serial killer. And that's how infamous Ted Bundy was. Today

8
00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:40.399
I'm going to bring you into the shadows. I'm not

9
00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:44.719
just going to recount names and dates, but stare directly

10
00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:50.039
into the face of pure, unrelenting evil. Because Ted Bundy

11
00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:53.719
wasn't some shadowy monster hiding in the woods. He was

12
00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:58.240
the clean cut, charismatic lost to it with a winning smile,

13
00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:01.960
the guy who could charm his into a security house

14
00:01:02.119 --> 00:01:05.560
or a crowded park in broad daylight. He just looked

15
00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:08.920
like the boy next door and he sounded like the

16
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.879
kind of man your parents would trust. And that, Folks,

17
00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:17.519
is exactly what made him so terrifying. So over this

18
00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:21.400
four part series, I'm gonna walk you through the entire

19
00:01:21.879 --> 00:01:25.879
dark path of his life, from the fractured secrets of

20
00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:30.920
his early childhood in Vermont through these seemingly normal teenage

21
00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:35.560
years that hit a growing storm of rage and violent fantasy,

22
00:01:35.799 --> 00:01:40.640
all the way to the calculated, sedistic killing spree that

23
00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:45.640
left more than thirty women dead, an entire generation of

24
00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:50.680
college students living in fear. We'll revisit every documented murder

25
00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:55.439
in haunting detail. The brutal bludgeoning and sexual assault of

26
00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:59.719
Karen Sparks in her own basement, the savage abduction in

27
00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:05.359
dec capitation of Linda Ann Healy, donnah Manson, Susan Rancourt,

28
00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:10.840
Roberta Parks, Brenda Ball, George An Hawkins, the double murder

29
00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:16.439
at Lake Samamish, where Janisott and Denise Nassalind were taken

30
00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:20.879
in front of more than dozens of witnesses, and the

31
00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:27.280
heartbreaking losses that followed Nancy Wilcox, Melissa Smith, Laura Amy,

32
00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:31.120
and so many more. We will relive the courage of

33
00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:35.759
Carol Durranch, the only woman who ever fought her way

34
00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:40.639
out of his car alive. The shocking school play abduction

35
00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:45.319
of Debbie Kent, the Colorado murders of Karen Campbell, Julie

36
00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:50.840
Cunningham and Denise Oliverson the unthinkable killing of twelve year

37
00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:55.479
old Lynette Culver In fifteen year old Susan Curtis, snatched

38
00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:59.840
from a youth conference. And then we'll follow Bundy's first arrest,

39
00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:04.560
his two jaw dropping escapes from custody in the final

40
00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:09.439
Florida rampage that shocked the nation, the frenzied Kai Omega

41
00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:13.599
sorority house attack where he bludgeoned Margaret Bowman and Lisa

42
00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:17.280
Leviy to death and left the others fighting for their lives,

43
00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:23.439
and the heartbreaking final murder of twelve year old Kimberly Leitch.

44
00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:26.879
I'm going to walk you through his dramatic trials with

45
00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:32.120
him representing himself in open court like some twisted legal celebrity,

46
00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:35.439
and you're gonna hear the moment the death sentences were

47
00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:40.280
handed down, and finally we'll step inside death row with Bundy.

48
00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:45.360
The confessions, the manipulation, the total absence of remorse, right

49
00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:49.159
up to that cold January morning in nineteen eighty nine

50
00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:53.039
when the electric chair ended the life of America's most

51
00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:58.599
notorious and evil predators. Throughout every minute of this series,

52
00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:02.639
we're gonna keep one truth front and center. Ted Bundy

53
00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:10.159
wasn't driven by uncontrollable sicknesses. He was driven by evil, cold, calculated,

54
00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:15.039
and completely without conscience. He chose every victim, he planned

55
00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:20.040
every detail, and he enjoyed every second of their suffering.

56
00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:23.480
In this series, you're gonna hear details of those final

57
00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:26.959
moments that have rarely been shared out loud. You'll learn

58
00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:32.240
exactly how his charm was a weapon sharper than any knife,

59
00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:36.439
and you'll feel the terror he spread from coast to coast,

60
00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:40.399
a terror that still echoes in the lives of the

61
00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:44.439
families and survivors, many of whom are still with us today.

62
00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:48.959
Because evil doesn't always wear a mask. Sometimes it wears

63
00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:51.439
a smile, and it knocks on your door at night.

64
00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:55.040
So lock those doors, turn up the lights if you

65
00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:58.800
need to settle in, and let's get into it. I'm

66
00:04:58.839 --> 00:05:02.560
your host, Jim Chapman, and this is fifty Shades of

67
00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:19.279
Evil Washington, Ted Bundy, and as always, we're going to

68
00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:24.199
start at the very beginning with a baby born in Burlington, Vermont.

69
00:05:24.439 --> 00:05:28.439
This was on November twenty fourth of nineteen forty six. Now,

70
00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:34.879
his birth certificate said Theodore Robert Cowell. No father was listed.

71
00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:40.160
His mother eleanor Louise cow Everyone called her Louise. She

72
00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.839
was twenty two. She was unmarried and living at the time,

73
00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:48.879
with an illegitimate child was considered a shameful secret that

74
00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:53.959
could destroy a family's reputation. So the Cow family they

75
00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:58.959
made a choice, a cold, calculated and really unbelievable lie

76
00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:03.720
that would shape everything that would come after. According to

77
00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:09.079
a lot of psychiatrists, Louisa's parents, Samuel and Eleanor Cale,

78
00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:13.439
they step in and they simply declared themselves the baby's

79
00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:16.759
real parents. Tem was told his mother was actually his

80
00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:21.399
older sister. The grandparents became mom and dad. The truth

81
00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:25.439
was buried so deep that even the boy himself would

82
00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:28.680
not learn it for many years. The household he grew

83
00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:32.560
up in was struck deeply religious and ruled with an

84
00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:37.040
iron fist by his grandfather, Sam Cow. Now Sam was

85
00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:41.680
a big, intimidating man. A church deacon, he preached fire

86
00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:45.720
in Brimstone on Sundays, and he ruled that home like

87
00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:48.360
a tyrant the rest of the week. Some say he

88
00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:51.439
had a violent temper. He would fly into rages at

89
00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:55.240
the slightest provocation, and it was known that he would

90
00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:59.519
be cruel even to the family pets. Neighbors later described

91
00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:02.600
the Cow house as a place where fear and control

92
00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:05.839
were the only constants. Now, it's important to mention that

93
00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.240
much later in life. As a matter of fact, right

94
00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:12.480
before Ted Bundy met his demise, he would say he

95
00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:16.240
had the perfect upbringing. Now, at this time in Ted's life,

96
00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:20.560
Louise still pretended to be Ted's sister, lived under the

97
00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:23.800
same roof, working as a secretary, and she was trying

98
00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:27.279
to keep that secret intact. She was young. She was

99
00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:32.480
emotionally fragile and completely under her father's thumb. Ted would

100
00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:36.000
grow up watching his real mother treated like a subordinate

101
00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:38.959
in her own home. He later would admit in prison

102
00:07:39.079 --> 00:07:43.800
interviews that he felt a deep resentment toward that entire

103
00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.399
family dynamic, though of course he never took responsibility for

104
00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:52.279
how that resentment would twist inside of him. Now, on

105
00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:55.639
the surface, little Ted Kle looked like any other boy.

106
00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:58.879
He was intelligent, he was polite to strangers, he did

107
00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:02.680
well in school, and when he was just four years old,

108
00:08:02.759 --> 00:08:06.560
that family moved to Tacoma, Washington. Now, at this time,

109
00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:12.360
no one knew that underneath that ordinary boy exterior, something

110
00:08:12.839 --> 00:08:17.600
was already fracturing. Psychologists who later studied Bundy's childhood they

111
00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:21.639
would point to a massive identity crisis created by the

112
00:08:21.720 --> 00:08:25.519
family lie Ted discovered the truth around the age of

113
00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:30.639
twelve or maybe thirteen, when he stumbled across his birth certificate.

114
00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:35.200
The betrayal hit hard. The people he trusted most had

115
00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:38.720
built an entire world on this lie. Now, instead of

116
00:08:38.759 --> 00:08:44.039
confronting them, he internalized them. He would compartmentalize this information,

117
00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:47.919
and he had an ability to compartmentalize that was off

118
00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:51.840
the charts even at this early age. And it was

119
00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:55.720
at this point that Ted began to build his own

120
00:08:56.200 --> 00:09:00.000
secret life. He would start to withdraw, he would become

121
00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.039
I'm obsessed with maintaining appearances, and he developed an intense

122
00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:09.480
fascination with how people perceived him, always needing to look perfect,

123
00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:13.440
always needing to be in control, and in the quiet

124
00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:18.600
moments when no one was watching, darker fantasies would start

125
00:09:18.679 --> 00:09:23.480
to take root. Fantasies of power, fantasies of dominance, of

126
00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:28.759
making others feel as powerless as he secretly felt inside

127
00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:31.000
of his own home. So I want you to picture

128
00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:35.080
of this, a young, barely teenage boy. He's sitting alone

129
00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:38.000
in his room and to come to Washington. He's staring

130
00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:42.480
at that birth certificate and he's realizing that entire identity

131
00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:46.559
was fake. His mother wasn't even his mother. That moment

132
00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:49.799
didn't create a monster over night, but it planted the

133
00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:53.960
first seed of the cold detachment that would one day

134
00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:57.720
allow Theodore Robert Cowell, who would later change his name

135
00:09:57.799 --> 00:10:01.840
to Ted Bundy, look at young women in the eyes,

136
00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:06.519
smile that famous smile, and then bludgeon them to death

137
00:10:06.919 --> 00:10:12.159
without an ounce of remorse. Because when your entire childhood

138
00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:15.960
is built on a lie, the truth, between truth and illusion,

139
00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:20.279
well that becomes really easy to cross. Now, that broken

140
00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:24.000
foundation stayed hidden for years, but as Ted moved into

141
00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:28.000
his teenage years, the early cracks in that foundation begin

142
00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:41.120
to widen into something far more dangerous. So we're going

143
00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:44.320
to go to Tacoma in the early nineteen sixties. Now

144
00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:49.600
this was a working class neighborhood, modest homes, neatly trimmed lawns,

145
00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:53.799
in the constant sound of rain on the rooftops, because

146
00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:57.559
in Tacoma, Washington, it rains a lot. The Kyle family

147
00:10:57.639 --> 00:11:02.039
now called themselves the Bundies after Louise finally married a

148
00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:05.440
hospital cook and his name was Johnny Bundy. They had

149
00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:09.799
settled into what looked like the perfect American suburban life. Ted,

150
00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:13.480
who was now a teenager was enrolled at Woodrow Wilson

151
00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.919
High School, and on the surface, he was the kid

152
00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:20.399
every parent would hope their daughter would bring home. He

153
00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:24.639
was tall, he was athletic. He was described as strikingly

154
00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:28.440
handsome by really everyone. He had kind of a boyish grin,

155
00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:32.759
clear blue eyes, and he could disarm people in seconds.

156
00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:37.600
Teachers would also describe him as exceptionally bright, a straight

157
00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:41.399
a student. When he bothered to apply himself, he would

158
00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:46.399
join the school's debate team, dive headfirst into Republican politics,

159
00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:51.320
and even work on local campaigns. As he would continue

160
00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:55.720
to age, he would shake hands and flash that charm

161
00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:59.000
like a seasoned politician. He also took up skiing, and

162
00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:01.639
he loved his ski and he became a pretty skilled

163
00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:05.799
downhill racer. He would spend weekends on the slopes of

164
00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:10.399
the Cascade Mountain and he looked every bet, the clean cut,

165
00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:14.759
all American boy. But behind that closed door in his bedroom,

166
00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:19.360
in the shadows of the neighborhood streets after dark, another

167
00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:34.440
Ted Bundy was taking shape. He started off like most

168
00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:39.080
serial killers do, by peeping in windows on the girls

169
00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:41.919
in his neighborhood. Late at night. He would slip out

170
00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:45.519
of the house. He would move silently through the backyard.

171
00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:48.720
He would press his face against the windows and he

172
00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:53.399
would just watch young women undress. He also kept a

173
00:12:53.399 --> 00:12:58.159
collection of stolen pornography magazines hidden under his bed, and

174
00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:03.320
not the playboy version type. I'm talking darker porn showing

175
00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:08.279
scenes of simulated rape, etc. And the peeping in particular.

176
00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:13.799
This was not an innocent teenage curiosity for Bundy. They

177
00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:18.279
were rehearsals, practice runs, if you will, for the kind

178
00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:21.039
of power that he craved. And he later admitted in

179
00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:25.759
prison that he would fanicize for hours about breaking into homes,

180
00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:30.399
about having total domination over someone who had no idea

181
00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:36.039
that he was even there. And then he started stealing. Now,

182
00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:41.240
that started off small shoplifting, lifting cash from his parents' wallets,

183
00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:45.399
but it quickly escalated. Ted started stealing cars, and not

184
00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:50.320
joy riding for fun, but methodically. He would hot wire vehicles.

185
00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:53.120
He would drive them for days, and then he'd just

186
00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:57.000
abandoned them in distant neighborhoods, just to see if he

187
00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:00.399
could get away with it. He forged documents, He would

188
00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:04.000
create fake ideas and driver's licenses so that he could

189
00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:08.039
move through the world without anyone really questioning who he was,

190
00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:11.840
and even if they did, he would give them fake information.

191
00:14:12.279 --> 00:14:16.279
He was building a secret identity, one that existed completely

192
00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:21.120
outside the rules that everyone else had to follow. By

193
00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:24.840
a senior year, that mask was starting to slip in

194
00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:28.320
ways that only a few people would notice. He had

195
00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:32.440
a cruel streak that would reveal itself in small, quick,

196
00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:37.200
vicious moments. He would torment smaller kids at school, and

197
00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:41.480
he would become somewhat of a bully. He once deliberately

198
00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:45.279
ran over a classmate's dog with his car, and he

199
00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:50.120
showed no emotion, absolutely none. When he under confronted him,

200
00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:53.200
he just laughed it off. He called it an accident,

201
00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:56.480
but the coldness in his eyes that would tell a

202
00:14:56.600 --> 00:15:01.840
completely different story. And then came Ted's firs serious relationship,

203
00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:04.480
the one that would ignite the rage that had been

204
00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:08.960
growing in him since childhood. And her name was Stephanie Brooks.

205
00:15:09.399 --> 00:15:13.519
She was from a wealthy San Francisco family. She was beautiful,

206
00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:19.720
very sophisticated in everything Ted desperately wanted to be. He

207
00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:24.200
pursued her with everything he had, the charm, the intelligence,

208
00:15:24.519 --> 00:15:27.919
the political ambition, and for a while it worked. They

209
00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:32.360
dated seriously through his senior year and into the first

210
00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:37.799
year at the University of pugeant Sound. Ted was completely infatuated.

211
00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:41.320
He saw this girl as the ultimate prize, in proof

212
00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:44.799
that he had finally become the person that he would

213
00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:47.919
pretend to be. But Stephanie, she kind of saw those

214
00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:54.440
cracks in Ted's exterior. She noticed possessiveness, the jealousy, the

215
00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:58.480
way he tried to control every aspect of their time together.

216
00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:01.440
And when she broke up with him, it shattered the

217
00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:06.279
illusion Ted had built. The rejection crushed him in that moment,

218
00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:08.840
the boy who had been lied to about his own birth.

219
00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:13.320
He felt the ultimate betrayal all over again, and he

220
00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:17.639
went into a dramatic spiral. He even dropped out of

221
00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:21.840
college temporarily. He would travel alone across the country and

222
00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.799
he would sink deeper into this secret world of violent

223
00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:30.720
sexual fantasies. He started reading true crime books and detective

224
00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:35.320
magazines that detailed brutal attacks on women. He would continue

225
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:38.759
to practice breaking into homes. He stole more cars, he

226
00:16:38.919 --> 00:16:43.480
forged more documents, and the rage that rejection planted inside

227
00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:48.279
him did not fade. It grew. It turned into a cold,

228
00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:53.960
calculating hatred for the very women that he desired. He

229
00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:57.879
began to see women not as people, but as objects

230
00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:02.679
to be taken, used, discarded when they no longer served

231
00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:06.559
his need for power. Now think about this for a second.

232
00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:09.640
I want you to kind of picture this. A handsome, intelligent,

233
00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:13.359
eighteen year old just standing on a dark to come

234
00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:16.279
a street. Maybe it's two o'clock in the morning, and

235
00:17:16.359 --> 00:17:20.799
he's staring up at a lit bedroom window, and his

236
00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:26.720
heart's pounding fast, not because he's scared, but with excitement.

237
00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:31.880
Every voyeuristic night was a dress rehearsal for this guy.

238
00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:36.480
Bundy was learning how to blend in and he was

239
00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:39.599
learning how to hunt. By the time he re enrolled

240
00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:43.799
in college, this time at the University of Washington in Seattle,

241
00:17:44.039 --> 00:17:48.119
that monster was no longer a fantasy. It was ready

242
00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:51.680
to step out into the shadows and become part of Ted.

243
00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:02.359
So I'm going to take you to the early morning

244
00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:06.519
hours of January fourth, nineteen seventy four. It was a

245
00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:11.240
very cold night in Seattle's University district. It was the

246
00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:15.799
kind of Pacific Northwest winter night where the rain just

247
00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:20.200
never quite stops, it just turns into a freezing rain

248
00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:26.319
in its bone chilling Karen sparks. She was just eighteen

249
00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:30.119
years old. She was bright, she was ambitious. A freshman

250
00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.880
at the University of Washington, and she was studying to

251
00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:36.160
become a teacher. And she was the kind of young

252
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:39.880
woman who lit up every single room that she walked into.

253
00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:44.759
Friends would describe her as warm, funny, just full of life,

254
00:18:44.920 --> 00:18:48.480
the girl who always had a kind word for everyone.

255
00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:52.640
She loved dancing to her favorite records, and she dreamed

256
00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:56.319
of one day shaping young minds in a classroom of

257
00:18:56.359 --> 00:19:00.839
her own. Now she had long, dark flowing that would

258
00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:05.000
turn heads wherever she went in a really magnetic smile.

259
00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:10.319
She lived in a basement apartment on fourteenth Avenue Northeast,

260
00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:14.440
which was just blocks from the university campus, and it

261
00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:17.920
was your typical college setup, shared with a roommate who

262
00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.599
happened to be out of town that night. It was small,

263
00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:24.680
it was cozy, filled with posters of her favorite bands

264
00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:29.279
and textbooks stacked neatly on a desk. She went to

265
00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:32.759
bed early that night. She was tired from the holiday break.

266
00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:35.200
She was excited to kind of get back in a

267
00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:39.519
rhythm and start that first full semester. She had no

268
00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:46.079
idea that evil was already circling her home, watching and waiting.

269
00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:01.079
Ted Bundy had been stalking the university dis stret for weeks.

270
00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:04.480
He knew these streets like the back of his hand.

271
00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:07.960
He had driven them in stolen cars, scoped out basement

272
00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:12.640
windows of sorority houses, in student apartments. He rehearsed his

273
00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:16.519
moves in the dark, and on this particular night, he

274
00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:21.839
chose Karen's apartment because it was vulnerable. The window was unlocked,

275
00:20:22.119 --> 00:20:26.839
the roommate was gone, and Karen she was alone, asleep

276
00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:32.599
and completely defenseless. Sometime after midnight, Bundy slipped through the

277
00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:37.720
basement window like a ghost. No noise, no fourced entry

278
00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:40.559
that will wake up the neighbors, and he moved through

279
00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:44.119
the small apartment with the precision of someone who had

280
00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:48.559
practiced that moment in their mind over a thousand times.

281
00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:51.960
Karen never even moved as he stood by her bed,

282
00:20:52.119 --> 00:21:02.400
staring down at her whilst she was sleeping. In his

283
00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:06.160
hand a metal rod, a piece of the bed frame

284
00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:13.680
he had quietly dismantled right there in the room, essentially

285
00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:17.240
turning an innocent piece of furniture into a weapon of

286
00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:24.960
unimaginable cruelty. What happened next was pure unfiltered evil. Ted

287
00:21:25.160 --> 00:21:27.640
raised the metal rod and he brought it down on

288
00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:35.319
her skull with ferocious, repeated blows. The sound was dull,

289
00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:39.000
it was wet, It was just sickening thuds, and it

290
00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:43.839
filled that tiny room. Blood sprayed across the white sheets,

291
00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:48.839
the walls, in the floor. Karen's body jerked violently with

292
00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:53.480
each impact, but she never even had a chance to scream.

293
00:21:53.720 --> 00:21:58.799
She was unconscious almost instantly. Her skull fractured in multiple places,

294
00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:03.680
her brain was from the trauma. But Bundy, he wasn't finished.

295
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:08.480
The evil inside of him demanded more. He sexually assaulted

296
00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:13.240
her while she laid there, bleeding and broken, violating her

297
00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:16.240
in ways that can only be described as the work

298
00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:20.799
of a predator who saw another human being as nothing

299
00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:27.519
more than an object for sexual gratification. And then after

300
00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:32.519
it was all over, he simply left. Ted climbed back

301
00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:35.519
out of the same window he entered, walked calmly into

302
00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:40.759
the freezing Seattle night, and he disappeared. No panic, no remorse,

303
00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:45.640
no second thoughts, just the cold satisfaction of a man

304
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:49.480
who had finally crossed the line from fantasy to reality

305
00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:53.599
and discovered that he liked it. Karen was found the

306
00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:56.079
next morning by a friend who had come by to

307
00:22:56.200 --> 00:23:00.640
check on her, and the scene looked like a slow waterhouse.

308
00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:04.880
Blood soaked on the bed, pulled on the floor, streaked

309
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:09.440
on the walls, and horrifying patterns. She was barely alive

310
00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:14.680
in a coma. Her face was swollen beyond recognition. Her

311
00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:18.960
body was covered with bruises and defensive wounds that showed

312
00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:23.279
that she had tried, even in unconsciousness, to curl away

313
00:23:23.799 --> 00:23:27.200
from the attack. Doctors at the hospital fought for hours

314
00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:31.720
to save her. She miraculously survived, but the damage was

315
00:23:31.880 --> 00:23:37.359
catastrophic and it was permanent, severe brain injury, loss of hearing,

316
00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:42.559
permanent facial disfigurement, years of rehabilitation, just to walk and

317
00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:45.920
speak again. The dreams of teaching, of a normal life,

318
00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:49.400
of falling in love, of starting a family, all of

319
00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:53.480
it stolen in a single night of calculated evil. Now

320
00:23:53.480 --> 00:23:55.559
I want you for a second to really feel the

321
00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:59.799
weight of this moment. Cairen Sparks was not a random

322
00:23:59.799 --> 00:24:03.319
SAE statistic. She was a daughter, a friend, a young

323
00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:06.240
woman with a whole future stretched out in front of

324
00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:11.480
her like an open road. And Ted Bundy, this charming, intelligent,

325
00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:16.039
seemingly harmless now lost in it. Chose her for no

326
00:24:16.119 --> 00:24:20.759
other reason than because he could, because her apartment was convenient,

327
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:23.319
because she was beautiful, because he wanted to feel the

328
00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:28.200
power of destroying someone. This was not a crime of passion,

329
00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:32.599
This was not a momentary loss of control. This was

330
00:24:32.680 --> 00:24:36.559
the first documented strike of a predator who had spent

331
00:24:36.759 --> 00:24:40.880
years sharpening his skills in the shadows. And the tear

332
00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:46.160
it unleashed across Seattle's university district was immediate, and it

333
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:51.480
was profound. Young women started double checking their locks. Campus

334
00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:56.119
security calls would skyrocket. Parents would beg their daughters to

335
00:24:56.160 --> 00:25:00.279
come home. The university district wants a vibrant hub of

336
00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:04.400
youthful energy and late night study sessions. Well, it became

337
00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:09.640
a place of fear for women throughout that area. Bundy, meanwhile,

338
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:12.720
he went back to his normal life, as if nothing

339
00:25:12.759 --> 00:25:16.240
ever happened. He attended classes, he smiled at people on

340
00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:21.480
the street. He refined his technique because this attack, this brutal,

341
00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:27.839
sadistic near murder, had only wetted his appetite. It proved

342
00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:29.920
to him that he could do it, that he could

343
00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:33.279
get away with it, and the rush of that absolute

344
00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:37.559
power was worth any risk. He was like a dog

345
00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:41.680
who gets its first taste of blood. There would be

346
00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:45.480
no turning back at this point for Bundy, and less

347
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:48.680
than a month later he would strike again, but this

348
00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:52.480
time there would be no survivors. So I'm going to

349
00:25:52.599 --> 00:25:56.720
take you to February first of nineteen seventy four. This

350
00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:59.880
is just twenty eight days after the attack on care

351
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.039
and Sparks the university district in Seattle. They were still

352
00:26:04.119 --> 00:26:08.079
reeling from that attack. Young women were still sleeping with

353
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:12.359
the lights on. Doors were still double bolted. Campus walkways

354
00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:15.920
that once felt safe now Carrie kind of an invisible

355
00:26:16.359 --> 00:26:20.440
weight about them. But Linda and Healey, she refused to

356
00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:23.440
let fear rule her life. At twenty one years old,

357
00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:26.519
she was a junior at the University of Washington, and

358
00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:30.839
she was majoring in psychology, a field she chose because

359
00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:35.319
she genuinely wanted to help people understand the human mind

360
00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:39.359
in heal from trauma. She was the oldest of three children,

361
00:26:39.559 --> 00:26:42.359
the golden child of a close knit family from the

362
00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:46.759
Seattle suburbs. She was beautiful, long, straight brown hair that

363
00:26:46.920 --> 00:26:50.920
fell past her shoulders, bright hazel eyes, and laughed that

364
00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:54.440
friends said could light up even the greyest of days.

365
00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:59.559
Linda was the responsible one, the girl who worked part

366
00:26:59.559 --> 00:27:04.240
time at a local department store, volunteered with underprivileged kids,

367
00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:08.119
and dreamed of earning her master's degree in becoming a counselor.

368
00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:11.960
She had a steady boyfriend that she loved, a tight

369
00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:17.200
circle of girlfriend she confided in, and her future was bright. Now.

370
00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:20.640
She lived in a basement apartment at forty one forty

371
00:27:20.759 --> 00:27:26.039
three Twelfth Avenue Northeast, the same neighborhood where Karen Sparks

372
00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:30.200
had been attacked. This house was shared with several other students,

373
00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:33.480
but Linda's room was in the rear basement. It was

374
00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:37.319
accessible only by a small window and a private entrance,

375
00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:41.160
and it felt safe because it was kind of tucked away.

376
00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:44.160
On the night of February first, Linda had gone out

377
00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:48.200
with friends for quiet evening dinner, maybe a few drinks,

378
00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:51.359
the kind of normal college life that every twenty one

379
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:55.839
year old deserves. She returned home around midnight. She was tired,

380
00:27:55.960 --> 00:28:00.200
but she was content. She slept into her pajamas, she

381
00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:03.640
brushed her teeth, she turned off the lights, and she

382
00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:09.039
climbed into bed and the house was quiet. Her roommates

383
00:28:09.160 --> 00:28:14.240
they were already asleep upstairs. Everything was exactly as it

384
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:32.359
should be, except ted Bundy had already chosen her. Now

385
00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:35.359
he had been watching the house for days. He knew

386
00:28:35.400 --> 00:28:38.079
the layout, he knew the window in the back was

387
00:28:38.119 --> 00:28:41.720
easy to reach, he knew Linda's schedule, And on this

388
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:47.720
freezing February night, he returned, armed with the same metal

389
00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:52.640
ride he used on karen sparks, now cleaned and ready

390
00:28:53.160 --> 00:28:57.559
for its second use. Bundy moved like a shadow, no sound,

391
00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:03.680
no broken glass. He simply lifted that unlock window, slipped inside,

392
00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:06.839
and with the practice ease of a man who had

393
00:29:06.920 --> 00:29:11.079
rehearsed this exact moment in his mind for years, he

394
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:15.119
stood at the foot of Linda's bed, and she never

395
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:20.279
even had time to wake up. He struck first with

396
00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:25.640
unbelievable force, the metal ride, coming down again and again

397
00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:30.279
on the base of her skull. The blows were precise, brutal,

398
00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:34.839
and relentless. Blood would soak the pillow, the sheets, and

399
00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:41.799
the carpet. Linda's body convulsed once, then twice, then went limp.

400
00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:45.200
But Bundy didn't stop there. The evil inside of him

401
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:51.440
demanded total domination. He sexually assaulted her unconscious body with

402
00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:55.480
the same cold detachment he had shown careen, and then,

403
00:29:56.119 --> 00:29:59.759
in what would become a signature of his, he would

404
00:29:59.799 --> 00:30:04.279
care carefully wrap her body into her own bedsheets, lift

405
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:07.960
her over his shoulders like a sack of laundry, and

406
00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:13.279
carry her out that window that he had entered. He

407
00:30:13.319 --> 00:30:16.519
took her to a secluded spot in the woods outside

408
00:30:16.519 --> 00:30:19.839
of Seattle, a place he had checked out in advance,

409
00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:26.000
and right there, in the freezing darkness, he decapitated her

410
00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:30.440
with a hack saw he had bought specifically for that purpose.

411
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:34.160
He removed her head with the calm precision of a butcher.

412
00:30:34.599 --> 00:30:37.400
He stripped her out of her night clothes, and then

413
00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:40.720
he scattered some of her belongings along what's none as

414
00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:46.359
Taylor Mountain to mislead investigators. He then buried what remained

415
00:30:46.359 --> 00:30:50.160
of her in a shallow grave before leaving. But get this,

416
00:30:50.759 --> 00:30:55.240
he actually goes back to her apartment and cleans it.

417
00:30:55.880 --> 00:30:59.400
He wipes down the blood as best he could, He

418
00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:04.640
remade bed. He even hung her bloody nightgown neatly in

419
00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:08.279
the closet and placed a single pillow over the worst

420
00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:11.480
of the stains on the mattress, And when a roommate

421
00:31:11.559 --> 00:31:14.880
woke up, the next morning and noticed that Linda was missing.

422
00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:21.400
The room looked almost normal, just eerily empty. Linda's disappearance

423
00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:26.440
was reported immediately. Her family and friends were frantic. Search

424
00:31:26.519 --> 00:31:29.640
parties come to campus and the surrounding areas, but there

425
00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:34.640
was no body. It just seemed like she vanished into

426
00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:38.720
thin air. And it's important to remember, Linda Ann Heally

427
00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:43.160
wasn't killed in some impulsive rage. It was calculated. It

428
00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:48.119
was methodical. Bundy had learned from the Sparks attack. He

429
00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:53.480
had refined his technique. He had escalated. The decapitation wasn't

430
00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:57.079
just to hot evidence. It was an act of ultimate

431
00:31:57.359 --> 00:32:02.000
ownership in Ted's mind, a seeing her identity the same

432
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:06.359
way his own identity had been erased by lies, he

433
00:32:06.440 --> 00:32:10.359
took her life, her future, her dignity, and then went

434
00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:14.839
back to his own apartment, showered, changed clothes, and shut

435
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:18.839
up for class the next day. As if he hadn't

436
00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:23.440
just killed another human being in the most savage way imaginable,

437
00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:29.279
he was the very definition of psychotic. Now this murder

438
00:32:29.319 --> 00:32:32.920
marked the true beginning of Ted Bundy's killing Spury. Karen

439
00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:37.240
Sparks had survived, Linda Healy had not, and the monster

440
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:41.720
had discovered that the rush, that he felt, the absolute power,

441
00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:46.160
the complete control, was better than any fantasy he had

442
00:32:46.200 --> 00:32:50.640
ever had in his teenage years. He was no longer practicing.

443
00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:56.480
He was performing, and he was getting better with every performance.

444
00:32:56.880 --> 00:33:01.799
The university district went from uneasy to absolutely terrified. Young

445
00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:06.400
women started walking in groups, curfews were enforced at dorms.

446
00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:11.240
Parents would call their daughters every night. And as for Bundy, well,

447
00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:15.359
he was already scouting his next target. Less than six

448
00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:18.680
weeks later, on March twelfth of nineteen seventy four, he

449
00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:22.680
would strike again. This time, the victim was a nineteen

450
00:33:22.759 --> 00:33:27.279
year old college student named Donna Manson. Now the Evergreen

451
00:33:27.319 --> 00:33:31.480
State College in Olympia, Washington, It was known for its progressive,

452
00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:35.200
free spirited atmosphere. It was the place where students would

453
00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:38.960
march to the beat of their own drum. Experimental learning,

454
00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:45.079
political activism, and artistic expression all thrived at that school,

455
00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:49.839
and Donna Manson would fit right in. At nineteen years old,

456
00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:54.400
she was a sophomore studying environmental science in theater. She

457
00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:58.440
was described by everyone who knew her as vibrant, intelligent,

458
00:33:58.599 --> 00:34:03.039
and free spirited. Had long, dark brown hair that cascaded

459
00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:07.440
down her back, brown eyes, full of curiosity and a

460
00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:12.480
beautiful smile. She loved nature, music, philosophy in the environment.

461
00:34:12.920 --> 00:34:16.320
Friends said she had a quiet confidence in a kind heart.

462
00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:20.440
She was close with her family, especially her mother, and

463
00:34:20.679 --> 00:34:24.119
often wrote letters home. Now keep in mind this is

464
00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:28.599
nearly twenty years prior to email even being a thing.

465
00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:32.880
Donna had dreams of working in conservation or maybe even

466
00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:36.559
pursuing acting, anything that would let her make a positive

467
00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:41.679
impact on the world around her. Just a really kind human.

468
00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:45.320
So on the evening of March twelfth, nineteen seventy four,

469
00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:49.119
Donna left her dorm room at McClean Hall to attend

470
00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:52.480
a jazz concert on campus, and it was a typical

471
00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:56.079
Tuesday night for her. She enjoyed the art scene, and

472
00:34:56.119 --> 00:34:59.280
she would often go to these events alone. She may

473
00:34:59.320 --> 00:35:02.840
have even been a little overconfident in the safety of

474
00:35:02.920 --> 00:35:07.480
her college community. She wore a dark turtle neck sweater, jeans,

475
00:35:07.559 --> 00:35:10.440
and a light jacket, and she told a friend she'd

476
00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:14.760
be back later that evening. She never made it home.

477
00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:18.360
Ted Bundy had been expanding his hunting grounds after the

478
00:35:18.440 --> 00:35:22.280
success of his previous attacks in Seattle. He had started

479
00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:27.679
cruising college campuses farther south including Evergreen State College. Now,

480
00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:31.840
this was roughly sixty miles from Seattle, and he had

481
00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:35.960
perfected a new tactic, one that would become one of

482
00:35:35.960 --> 00:35:39.840
his signatures. He would wear his arm in a sling,

483
00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:45.079
or he would use crutches, making himself appear vulnerable and harmless.

484
00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:49.079
Then he would politely ask a young woman for help

485
00:35:49.159 --> 00:35:53.360
carrying something to his car, which was a Volkswagen Beetle

486
00:35:53.920 --> 00:35:58.079
tan and color, and it would become a mobile killing chamber.

487
00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:02.360
That night, Bundy approached Donna with his disarming smile in

488
00:36:02.480 --> 00:36:06.880
this fake injury, and he came off charming, articulate, and

489
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:10.880
non threatening, and Donna, being the helpful and trusting person

490
00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:15.320
that she was, she likely agreed to help him. Witnesses

491
00:36:15.400 --> 00:36:18.840
later would we call seeing a man matching Bundy's description

492
00:36:19.320 --> 00:36:22.239
speaking with a young woman near the concert area that

493
00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:27.320
it appeared entered his car voluntarily, but once inside that Volkswagen,

494
00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:34.760
his trap would shut. Bundy would drive her to a

495
00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:40.280
secluded wooded area outside Olympia. There, in the cold March night,

496
00:36:40.519 --> 00:36:43.800
he attacked her with the same brutality that he had

497
00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:48.119
shown Linda Healey. He would bludgeon her repeatedly with a

498
00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:52.079
heavy object, most likely a tire iron or crowbar that

499
00:36:52.119 --> 00:36:56.119
he kept in the car, and the blows were devastating.

500
00:36:56.440 --> 00:37:01.920
He then sexually assaulted her, lifeless or die, and when

501
00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:05.840
he was finished, he disposed of her remains in a remote,

502
00:37:06.199 --> 00:37:10.880
heavily forested area near Lake Samamish, the beginning of what

503
00:37:10.920 --> 00:37:14.639
will be called his dump site for multiple victims, a

504
00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:18.760
term that I was personally disgusted with when I read it,

505
00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:23.800
but nonetheless a description Bundy would relay in later interviews.

506
00:37:23.960 --> 00:37:28.440
Donna Manson's disappearance triggered an immediate and massive search. Her

507
00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:32.639
mother flew up from California. Hundreds of students and volunteers

508
00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:36.599
combed the campus in the surrounding woods. Flyers with her

509
00:37:36.639 --> 00:37:41.599
smiling face were posted everywhere. But weeks turned into months

510
00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:46.599
with no sign of her, no body, no clothing, no evidence,

511
00:37:47.159 --> 00:37:50.199
just an empty dorm room and a missing young woman

512
00:37:50.280 --> 00:37:54.320
who had simply vanished after going to a concert on

513
00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:58.079
her own campus. It wasn't until almost two years later,

514
00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:01.920
in nineteen seventy six, that some of Donna's remains were

515
00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:05.880
discovered on Taylor Mountain, the same spot Bundy had used

516
00:38:05.920 --> 00:38:10.760
for Lynda Healy. Her skull showed the unmistakable signs of

517
00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:16.000
blunt force trauma. Donna Manson was not some anonymous victim.

518
00:38:16.239 --> 00:38:19.320
She was a daughter who wrote loving letters home, a

519
00:38:19.360 --> 00:38:23.480
young woman with an artistic mind and a passion for

520
00:38:23.559 --> 00:38:27.920
protecting the environment. She was helpful, she was trusting, full

521
00:38:27.960 --> 00:38:33.119
of potential, and Ted Bundy exploited every bit of that goodness.

522
00:38:33.480 --> 00:38:39.159
He used her compassion against her. He looked into her eyes, smiled,

523
00:38:39.360 --> 00:38:43.760
and then destroyed her without a shred of hesitation or guilt.

524
00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:48.760
And this murder, in my opinion, showed how Bundy was

525
00:38:48.880 --> 00:38:53.880
continually evolving. He was no longer limiting himself to late

526
00:38:53.960 --> 00:38:58.960
night breaks. He was now confidently abducting women in public,

527
00:38:59.480 --> 00:39:03.960
using his charm as the ultimate weapon. His confidence was growing,

528
00:39:04.119 --> 00:39:08.039
his methods were becoming more sophisticated, and his evil was

529
00:39:08.159 --> 00:39:12.320
becoming more brazen. Just a month would pass when, on

530
00:39:12.360 --> 00:39:16.360
April seventeenth of nineteen seventy four, Ted Bundy would strike

531
00:39:16.440 --> 00:39:21.599
again at another Washington campus. Let's go to April seventeenth

532
00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:23.880
of nineteen seventy four, and I'm going to take you

533
00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:28.840
to Central Washington State College. This is in Ellensburg, Washington,

534
00:39:28.880 --> 00:39:33.079
which sits about ninety miles east of Seattle, a smaller,

535
00:39:33.199 --> 00:39:37.199
more intimate campus nestled in the high desert foothills of

536
00:39:37.239 --> 00:39:39.920
the Cascade Mountains. It was the kind of place where

537
00:39:39.960 --> 00:39:43.440
students knew each other by name and the community felt

538
00:39:43.559 --> 00:39:47.719
very tight knit and very safe. Susan Rancourt she was

539
00:39:47.800 --> 00:39:52.119
just eighteen years old, a freshman honor student majoring in psychology,

540
00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:55.840
the same field Linda Healy had been studying. Susan was

541
00:39:55.880 --> 00:39:59.960
the quintessential girl next door, petit shoulder length, dark brown

542
00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:04.079
here in a warm smile. She was deeply involved in

543
00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:07.639
the campus life, a member of the Young Republicans, active

544
00:40:07.679 --> 00:40:11.519
in her dorm, and known for her quiet, determination and

545
00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:16.280
kind heart. Friends would describe her as responsible, studious, and

546
00:40:16.519 --> 00:40:20.360
full of ambition. She game from a very loving family

547
00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:23.719
in the small town of Enomclaue, Washington, and she had

548
00:40:23.800 --> 00:40:27.639
chosen Central Washington because it felt like the perfect stepping

549
00:40:27.679 --> 00:40:31.840
stone toward her career in counseling and social work. Susan

550
00:40:31.960 --> 00:40:35.519
wanted to help people. She believed in the goodness of others,

551
00:40:35.559 --> 00:40:40.719
and that belief would ultimately be her undoing. April seventeenth

552
00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:44.840
was a somewhat mild spring evening on that campus. Susan

553
00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:47.519
had spent the day in classes, and she was headed

554
00:40:47.559 --> 00:40:51.079
to a meeting at the student government building. She was

555
00:40:51.119 --> 00:40:55.559
wearing a light jacket, jeans, and her usual practical shoes,

556
00:40:56.039 --> 00:41:00.320
nothing flashy, just a typical college student moving through or

557
00:41:00.400 --> 00:41:04.519
evening with purpose. The quad was still busy, students going

558
00:41:04.639 --> 00:41:08.239
and coming from the library, the cafeteria and all their

559
00:41:08.280 --> 00:41:12.639
evening activities. And it was public, well lit in places,

560
00:41:13.039 --> 00:41:16.800
and it should have felt safe. But Ted Bundy had

561
00:41:16.920 --> 00:41:21.119
driven the seventy miles from Seattle specifically to hunt here.

562
00:41:21.280 --> 00:41:24.400
Now by this point he had refined his technique even further.

563
00:41:24.719 --> 00:41:29.239
No more risky basement break ins for Ted. Instead, he

564
00:41:29.400 --> 00:41:32.960
used the ultimate weapon in his arsenal, his charm and

565
00:41:33.079 --> 00:41:37.960
a carefully staged vulnerability. Again, he appeared on that campus

566
00:41:38.320 --> 00:41:41.119
with his left arm in a sling, looking every bit

567
00:41:41.239 --> 00:41:44.519
the harmless, slightly injured college guy who just needed a

568
00:41:44.519 --> 00:41:48.639
little help. Witnesses later recalled seeing a tall, handsome young

569
00:41:48.679 --> 00:41:51.920
man with an arm and a cast or sling, politely

570
00:41:52.039 --> 00:41:56.039
asking young women for assistance carrying books to his car,

571
00:41:56.320 --> 00:41:59.880
helping him with the stuck door on his Volkswagon Beetle,

572
00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:04.559
which was parked nearby. Teb was calm, articulate and completely

573
00:42:04.599 --> 00:42:09.159
non threatening. He blended in perfectly with that student population

574
00:42:09.400 --> 00:42:12.880
and Susan Raincourt. She was walking alone across that campus

575
00:42:12.920 --> 00:42:17.960
when he approached her. The conversation was brief, polite, almost mundane.

576
00:42:18.199 --> 00:42:20.599
He probably said something like, can you help me for

577
00:42:20.639 --> 00:42:24.679
a second. With that disarming smile and the fake injury,

578
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.480
the easy charm that made refusal seemed somewhat rude, Susan,

579
00:42:29.519 --> 00:42:32.880
who was raised to be helpful and trusting, likely said

580
00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:37.480
yes without hesitating. She walked with him toward the parking lot,

581
00:42:37.880 --> 00:42:43.280
but once they reached that ten Volkswagen Beetle, that mask dropped.

582
00:42:52.119 --> 00:42:56.199
Bundy struck her with lightning speed, smashing her in the

583
00:42:56.360 --> 00:42:59.000
skull with a heavy object that he kept in the car,

584
00:42:59.119 --> 00:43:02.760
most likely that same tire iron or crowbar he had

585
00:43:02.880 --> 00:43:07.239
used before, and the attack again was vicious and efficient.

586
00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:10.599
Susan never had a chance to scream or fight back

587
00:43:10.679 --> 00:43:14.320
in any meaningful way. He forced her into the car.

588
00:43:14.400 --> 00:43:17.960
He drove her to a remote wooded area miles away,

589
00:43:18.400 --> 00:43:23.199
and there he finished what he started. The murder was savage,

590
00:43:23.440 --> 00:43:28.000
Like his other victims, a sexual assault followed his release.

591
00:43:28.440 --> 00:43:33.679
He craved so badly after every murder and then, like

592
00:43:33.760 --> 00:43:36.880
the others, he disposed of her body in a shallow

593
00:43:36.920 --> 00:43:40.760
grave on Taylor Mountain, that same ground he had already

594
00:43:40.840 --> 00:43:45.159
used for Lenda Healey and Donna Manson. And much like

595
00:43:45.280 --> 00:43:50.840
other serial killers, Bundy took souvenirs, item of clothing, perhaps jewelry,

596
00:43:50.920 --> 00:43:55.920
small trophies that would feed his growing need for control

597
00:43:56.440 --> 00:44:04.960
even after the kill. And it would be discovered much

598
00:44:05.199 --> 00:44:10.039
later on, just before his demise, that Bundy would actually

599
00:44:10.280 --> 00:44:14.280
revisit these victims after he would bury them in these

600
00:44:14.320 --> 00:44:18.840
shallow graves over and over again. So the next morning,

601
00:44:19.000 --> 00:44:22.840
Susan's friends noticed that she was missing. She had never

602
00:44:22.960 --> 00:44:26.400
returned to her dorm. Her books and her purse were gone,

603
00:44:26.480 --> 00:44:28.840
but there was no note and no signs of a

604
00:44:28.880 --> 00:44:35.000
struggle on campus. A massive search began almost immediately. Helicopters, bloodhounds,

605
00:44:35.159 --> 00:44:39.639
hundreds of volunteers would come the foothills and the campus grounds.

606
00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:44.079
Her family would drive up, Their faces etched with terror

607
00:44:44.199 --> 00:44:48.760
flyers with Susan's smiling senior photo would blanket the region.

608
00:44:49.159 --> 00:44:54.119
But there was nothing, nobody, no witnesses, no one who

609
00:44:54.119 --> 00:44:58.000
could connect those dots. Just a bright young woman who

610
00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:02.079
had vanished seemingly in the thin air on a college

611
00:45:02.119 --> 00:45:06.599
campus that now felt cursed, and I want you to

612
00:45:06.639 --> 00:45:10.920
pay close attention to the calculated evil in this one.

613
00:45:10.960 --> 00:45:13.960
Ted Bundy didn't lurk in the shadows waiting for a

614
00:45:14.079 --> 00:45:17.199
victim to walk by. He walked right into a crowned

615
00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:21.599
college campus in broad evening light, used his fake injury

616
00:45:21.719 --> 00:45:25.119
and his charm to lure an honor student into helping him,

617
00:45:25.239 --> 00:45:29.920
and then destroyed her life in seconds. He chose that

618
00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:35.480
public setting deliberately. It heightened the thrill for him. It

619
00:45:35.679 --> 00:45:38.519
proved he could operate in plain sight and still get

620
00:45:38.559 --> 00:45:43.440
away with it. The psychological tear this spreads across all

621
00:45:43.840 --> 00:45:48.199
Washington colleges at this point is pretty devastating. Students who

622
00:45:48.239 --> 00:45:51.559
felt safe walking to evening meetings. They would now move

623
00:45:51.599 --> 00:45:56.039
in packs. Parents would actually pull their daughters out of school,

624
00:45:56.280 --> 00:46:01.119
and campus security lines were jammed with fright and calls.

625
00:46:01.559 --> 00:46:05.119
All the meanwhile, Bundy drove back to Seattle, cleaned up,

626
00:46:05.159 --> 00:46:08.119
and resumed his normal life as a law student and

627
00:46:08.199 --> 00:46:13.840
political volunteer, probably smiling at the newspaper headlines about the

628
00:46:13.920 --> 00:46:18.320
quote missing co ed. This was the very moment that

629
00:46:18.400 --> 00:46:21.960
the pattern became obvious. If you've been paying attention in

630
00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:26.039
this podcast. Young women, all of them, all with law

631
00:46:26.280 --> 00:46:30.840
dark hair, and every attack on a college campus, the

632
00:46:30.960 --> 00:46:35.679
charming stranger with the injury, the Volkswagen Beetle. But unfortunately

633
00:46:35.800 --> 00:46:39.639
law enforcement they were still connecting dots because some of

634
00:46:39.679 --> 00:46:45.039
these attacks occurred in separate jurisdictions. But Bundy's evil was

635
00:46:45.119 --> 00:46:50.079
accelerating an alarming pace, and just three weeks later, on

636
00:46:50.199 --> 00:46:53.840
May sixth of nineteen seventy four, he would strike again,

637
00:46:54.480 --> 00:46:57.760
and this time he would cross state lines into Oregon.

638
00:46:58.159 --> 00:47:01.760
So Oregon State University was a world away from the

639
00:47:01.800 --> 00:47:05.960
bustling university district of Seattle. It was quieter. It was

640
00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:10.840
a more rural campus, surrounded by rolling farmland and evergreen forest,

641
00:47:11.239 --> 00:47:16.280
and students there came for the strong agricultural and forestry

642
00:47:16.400 --> 00:47:20.199
programs that college offered. They also went for a sense

643
00:47:20.239 --> 00:47:23.159
of community and for the promise of a solid future

644
00:47:23.559 --> 00:47:28.039
and a state known for its natural beauty like Oregon. ROBERTA.

645
00:47:28.079 --> 00:47:31.679
Parks was twenty years old. She was a sophomore majoring

646
00:47:31.760 --> 00:47:35.639
in religious studies and a minor in psychology, and she

647
00:47:35.800 --> 00:47:40.119
was the middle child of a close, loving family from Eugene, Oregon.

648
00:47:40.239 --> 00:47:43.320
She was the kind of daughter who called home every Sunday.

649
00:47:43.480 --> 00:47:47.199
She would write long letters about her classes. She dreamed

650
00:47:47.239 --> 00:47:52.360
of one day working in pastoral counseling or the youth ministry.

651
00:47:53.039 --> 00:47:57.639
Friends would describe her as a gentle, introspective, and deeply

652
00:47:57.800 --> 00:48:02.159
compassionate young lady with a quiet strength that drew people

653
00:48:02.239 --> 00:48:05.840
to her. She had long, straight, black hair that reached

654
00:48:05.880 --> 00:48:09.199
the middle of her back, soft brown eyes, and a

655
00:48:09.239 --> 00:48:13.400
smile that made her feel approachable and trustworthy. And Roberta

656
00:48:13.519 --> 00:48:18.360
wasn't the party type. She preferred deep conversations, long walks

657
00:48:18.360 --> 00:48:22.280
in the woods, and volunteering with campus faith groups. She

658
00:48:22.400 --> 00:48:25.639
had plans for graduate school, and on May sixth of

659
00:48:25.719 --> 00:48:29.840
nineteen seventy four, she was simply trying to live that ordinary,

660
00:48:30.159 --> 00:48:33.800
hopeful college life. It was a mile Monday evening, and

661
00:48:33.920 --> 00:48:36.920
Roberta had spent the day in classes, and she was

662
00:48:37.039 --> 00:48:40.840
headed across campus toward a late afternoon meeting at the

663
00:48:40.880 --> 00:48:45.239
student union. She would wear light sweater, jeans, and comfortable shoes,

664
00:48:45.320 --> 00:48:48.440
nothing that would draw attention. The campus was still active,

665
00:48:48.800 --> 00:48:53.039
students were milling about, heading to the library or study groups.

666
00:48:53.320 --> 00:48:56.480
It felt safe, It felt familiar, in the kind of

667
00:48:56.519 --> 00:48:59.559
place where a young woman could walk alone and not

668
00:48:59.599 --> 00:49:03.960
even have have a second thought, but ted Bundy. He

669
00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:08.960
had driven in from Seattle and crossing into Oregon specifically

670
00:49:09.480 --> 00:49:14.280
to hunt a new victim. Now by this point, Bundy

671
00:49:14.320 --> 00:49:18.880
had perfected that routine like a seasoned actor. His arm

672
00:49:18.920 --> 00:49:23.760
in a sling, polite, slightly awkward smile. The VW Bug

673
00:49:23.880 --> 00:49:27.480
parked just far enough away to see Menison. He approached

674
00:49:27.559 --> 00:49:32.039
Roberta with the same disarming, vulnerable smile he had used

675
00:49:32.079 --> 00:49:35.480
on Susan rain Corps and probably said, excuse me, can

676
00:49:35.519 --> 00:49:38.239
you help me carry these books to my car? My

677
00:49:38.480 --> 00:49:43.159
arm's broken. The voice was calm, educated, trustworthy, the kind

678
00:49:43.199 --> 00:49:46.239
of request that may have made her feel like saying

679
00:49:46.320 --> 00:49:50.880
no would just be inconsiderate, So Roberta said yes. She

680
00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:54.480
walked with him toward the parking lot, probably chatting lightly

681
00:49:54.559 --> 00:49:57.480
along the way like any polite college shit it would.

682
00:49:57.880 --> 00:50:01.840
Witnesses would later remember seeing a tall, handsome young man

683
00:50:02.239 --> 00:50:05.199
with his arm in a sling, speaking with a young

684
00:50:05.320 --> 00:50:10.800
woman who matched Roberta's description. No screams, no struggling public,

685
00:50:11.199 --> 00:50:14.360
just two people walking together like it was the most

686
00:50:14.360 --> 00:50:17.079
normal thing in the world. But once they reached that

687
00:50:17.360 --> 00:50:22.800
tan Volkswagen once again figurative mass the Bundy war vanished

688
00:50:23.039 --> 00:50:34.239
in an instant. Bundy would strike her with the same

689
00:50:34.400 --> 00:50:38.239
calculated savagery that had become his trademark. A heavy blow

690
00:50:38.280 --> 00:50:41.440
to the head with either a tire iron or a crowbar,

691
00:50:41.920 --> 00:50:47.039
and immediately Roberta's body crumbled. He forced her inside, drove

692
00:50:47.079 --> 00:50:51.119
her to a secluded wooded area miles away, and there,

693
00:50:51.159 --> 00:50:55.719
in the growing darkness of the Organ forest, he unleashed

694
00:50:56.039 --> 00:51:01.159
the full horror, repeated crushing blows to skull, and the

695
00:51:01.320 --> 00:51:06.920
sexual assault that always followed, a complete and utter domination

696
00:51:07.199 --> 00:51:11.360
of a young woman who only wanted to help. When

697
00:51:11.400 --> 00:51:14.119
he was finished, he disposed of her body in his

698
00:51:14.280 --> 00:51:19.039
shallow grave and once again on Taylor Mountain, bringing her

699
00:51:19.320 --> 00:51:24.239
all the way back into Washington, the same ground he

700
00:51:24.280 --> 00:51:28.519
had already used for Lenda Heally, Dono Manson and Susan Raincourt.

701
00:51:28.639 --> 00:51:32.440
He again scattered a few personal items around the mountain

702
00:51:32.519 --> 00:51:36.920
to confuse searchers, and kept small souvenirs for himself, feeding

703
00:51:37.039 --> 00:51:42.440
the growing collection that satisfied his need for control. Long

704
00:51:42.599 --> 00:51:50.360
after the kill, Roberta's disappearance was reported Within hours. Her

705
00:51:50.440 --> 00:51:53.719
roommates noticed that she never returned from that meeting. Her

706
00:51:53.760 --> 00:51:58.159
family drove up from Eugene in an absolute panic. Again,

707
00:51:58.320 --> 00:52:02.480
flyers went up search for He's looked everywhere. Helicopters flew

708
00:52:02.559 --> 00:52:06.519
over the area, but there was nothing, nobody, no witnesses

709
00:52:06.559 --> 00:52:10.199
who could yet identify the charming stranger in a sling.

710
00:52:10.880 --> 00:52:15.559
Just another bright, compassionate young woman erased from this earth

711
00:52:15.679 --> 00:52:19.039
in a matter of minutes. And this is where the

712
00:52:19.159 --> 00:52:24.599
growing evil becomes impossible to ignore. You see, Ted Bundy

713
00:52:24.719 --> 00:52:28.480
wasn't content to stay in even one state anymore. He

714
00:52:28.599 --> 00:52:33.960
was deliberately crossing borders, expanding his hunting grounds, proving to

715
00:52:34.079 --> 00:52:38.159
himself he could operate anywhere, anytime and still be invisible.

716
00:52:38.599 --> 00:52:41.639
He was getting off on the fact that no one

717
00:52:41.760 --> 00:52:44.639
had a clue who he was where. Berta Parks wasn't

718
00:52:44.719 --> 00:52:47.079
chosen because she was in the wrong place at the

719
00:52:47.119 --> 00:52:51.719
wrong time. She was chosen because she was exactly his type, long,

720
00:52:51.840 --> 00:52:56.480
dark hair, trusting kind, and because her compassion was the

721
00:52:56.559 --> 00:53:00.320
perfect weapon he could use against her. He looked into

722
00:53:00.360 --> 00:53:03.519
her eyes, used her good nature as bait, and then

723
00:53:03.639 --> 00:53:07.519
destroyed her without even a flicker of hesitation or guilt.

724
00:53:07.840 --> 00:53:12.760
He was a predator, refining his craft, testing how far

725
00:53:12.840 --> 00:53:15.840
he could push the boundaries and getting off on the

726
00:53:15.880 --> 00:53:20.960
growing terror he was spreading across the entire Pacific Northwest,

727
00:53:21.280 --> 00:53:24.440
and the fact that he now crossed state lines also

728
00:53:24.559 --> 00:53:27.679
added to the confusion for authorities. Now we are not

729
00:53:27.840 --> 00:53:32.800
talking about just different jurisdictions, we're talking about different states.

730
00:53:32.920 --> 00:53:35.760
But Bundy, he was counting on that chaos. It was

731
00:53:35.880 --> 00:53:40.360
pre planned, and while families grieved in campus is locked down,

732
00:53:40.800 --> 00:53:44.119
he simply drove home, cleaned that car, and continued his

733
00:53:44.199 --> 00:53:48.360
life as the charming, ambitious law student everyone thought they knew.

734
00:53:48.639 --> 00:53:52.320
Less than a month later, on June first, nineteen seventy four,

735
00:53:52.800 --> 00:53:57.199
he would strike yet again. Brenda Ball was twenty two

736
00:53:57.280 --> 00:54:00.719
years old, a free spirited young woman living in the

737
00:54:00.760 --> 00:54:05.119
heart of Seattle's university district. She wasn't a college student

738
00:54:05.320 --> 00:54:08.199
like so many of Bundy's other victims. She was out

739
00:54:08.239 --> 00:54:11.199
in the real world, working on jobs and trying to

740
00:54:11.199 --> 00:54:14.760
find her place. Friends would describe her as vibrant, out going,

741
00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:18.360
and full of laughter. She had long, straight, brown hair

742
00:54:18.400 --> 00:54:22.320
that fell well past her shoulders, exactly the look that

743
00:54:22.360 --> 00:54:25.559
seemed to draw ted Bundy in like a magnet. She

744
00:54:25.639 --> 00:54:29.360
had warm eyes a playful personality that made her popular

745
00:54:29.519 --> 00:54:33.159
among the local bar crowd. But life hadn't always been

746
00:54:33.199 --> 00:54:35.800
easy for her, but this girl she faced it with

747
00:54:35.920 --> 00:54:41.360
resilience and hope. She loved music, dancing, late night conversations

748
00:54:41.400 --> 00:54:44.800
with friends, and she dreamed of one day settling down,

749
00:54:44.880 --> 00:54:49.559
maybe starting a family, maybe traveling. And on June first

750
00:54:49.639 --> 00:54:53.079
of nineteen seventy four, she was just trying to enjoy

751
00:54:53.079 --> 00:54:56.840
a Saturday night the way thousands of other young adults

752
00:54:56.880 --> 00:55:00.880
did in Seattle. A few drinks, good cou company, and

753
00:55:00.960 --> 00:55:02.760
a ride home at the end of it. She had

754
00:55:02.800 --> 00:55:06.119
spent the evening at Flame Tavern, which was a popular

755
00:55:06.280 --> 00:55:09.320
dive bar near the University district. It was known for

756
00:55:09.400 --> 00:55:12.920
its cheap drinks and its loud jukebox. Yes they had

757
00:55:13.000 --> 00:55:17.079
jukeboxes in those days. Now the place was packed that night,

758
00:55:17.400 --> 00:55:21.159
live music, cigarette smoke hanging thick in the air, people

759
00:55:21.280 --> 00:55:25.360
laughing and shouting over the noise, and brenda. She had

760
00:55:25.400 --> 00:55:28.639
a few drinks, she danced a little, and around two

761
00:55:28.679 --> 00:55:32.679
am she decided it was time to head home her friends.

762
00:55:32.760 --> 00:55:35.159
They offered her a ride, but she kind of waved

763
00:55:35.199 --> 00:55:38.199
them off. It was only a short distance and she

764
00:55:38.440 --> 00:55:44.320
just figured she'd hitchhike. Now, while this may sound absolutely crazy. Today.

765
00:55:44.920 --> 00:55:48.920
It was nineteen seventy four, y'all, and hitchhiking was common,

766
00:55:49.400 --> 00:55:54.280
almost casual. People loved meeting strangers in those days. She

767
00:55:54.360 --> 00:55:58.480
stepped out into the cool, misty Seattle night. Her hair

768
00:55:58.559 --> 00:56:02.079
was slightly damp from the rain. She sticks her thumb

769
00:56:02.119 --> 00:56:05.599
out and she looks for a ride. Well ted Bundy.

770
00:56:05.960 --> 00:56:10.559
He had been cruising that area in that ten Volkswagen Beetle.

771
00:56:10.639 --> 00:56:15.400
He was trolling exactly for this kind of opportunity. He

772
00:56:15.440 --> 00:56:19.639
sees her, He pulls over and he flashes that disarming smile,

773
00:56:20.280 --> 00:56:23.840
and Brenda climbs in and she was relaxed, maybe a

774
00:56:23.840 --> 00:56:28.400
little buzzed, even chatting easily with this handsome, well spoken

775
00:56:28.480 --> 00:56:33.119
young man behind the wheel of that beetle. Bundy was calm, charming,

776
00:56:33.239 --> 00:56:36.400
completely in control. He didn't need to force anything. She

777
00:56:36.559 --> 00:56:41.079
got in willingly. So he drives her to a secluded

778
00:56:41.480 --> 00:56:45.719
wooded area several miles away, a remote spot off the

779
00:56:45.760 --> 00:56:48.960
main roads, where the only sound you really can hear

780
00:56:49.119 --> 00:56:52.880
are the rain on the leaves in just the distant

781
00:56:53.159 --> 00:56:58.519
hum of traffic. And once there he changed into evil.

782
00:57:04.760 --> 00:57:08.920
He bludgeoned her with savage, repeated blows from that same

783
00:57:09.079 --> 00:57:12.400
heavy tron he kept in the car, and the attack

784
00:57:12.599 --> 00:57:16.719
was brutal and efficient, the same kind of overwhelming violence

785
00:57:17.119 --> 00:57:22.440
designed to eliminate any chance of resistance. Brenda never stood

786
00:57:22.440 --> 00:57:25.920
a chance. He sexually assaulted her while she either lay

787
00:57:26.000 --> 00:57:29.760
dying or was already dead, then disposed of her body

788
00:57:29.840 --> 00:57:34.199
in the same casual indifference that you may throw out

789
00:57:34.400 --> 00:57:38.119
the trash. Again. He left her in a shallow grave

790
00:57:38.199 --> 00:57:41.840
on Taylor Mountain, but no elaborate cover up this time,

791
00:57:41.920 --> 00:57:45.960
no need. He simply drove away, cleaned that car the

792
00:57:46.000 --> 00:57:49.559
next morning, and went about his business as if he

793
00:57:49.960 --> 00:57:54.440
just hadn't erased a whole life from a young woman

794
00:57:54.960 --> 00:57:58.239
in a matter of minutes. Brenda's disappearance was reported the

795
00:57:58.280 --> 00:58:00.639
next day when she failed to show up for work

796
00:58:00.840 --> 00:58:04.480
or call her friends. Her family and loved ones, of course,

797
00:58:04.599 --> 00:58:09.199
were immediately terrified because it just wasn't like her. No

798
00:58:09.360 --> 00:58:13.159
witnesses who remembered a specific car or man driving it,

799
00:58:13.679 --> 00:58:16.679
just another woman who had vanished after a night out.

800
00:58:17.079 --> 00:58:20.599
Another name added to the growing list of missing women

801
00:58:21.239 --> 00:58:25.559
in the Pacific Northwest. In this murder, it revealed something

802
00:58:25.880 --> 00:58:30.920
especially chilling about Ted Bundy's evil Unlike the carefully staged

803
00:58:31.039 --> 00:58:35.960
campus abductions. Brenda Balls killing. He didn't plant days in advance.

804
00:58:36.360 --> 00:58:38.639
He didn't need a fake an injury, or have that

805
00:58:38.760 --> 00:58:43.199
whole polished routine. He just saw a vulnerable young woman

806
00:58:43.280 --> 00:58:46.519
on the side of the road and took her because

807
00:58:46.559 --> 00:58:50.480
he could, because the urge was there and the opportunity

808
00:58:50.599 --> 00:58:54.960
presented itself. The casual way he disposed of the remains,

809
00:58:55.239 --> 00:58:59.079
the complete absence of remorse or even a second thought,

810
00:58:59.719 --> 00:59:05.519
just shows how far this monster had evolved. Brenda wasn't

811
00:59:05.519 --> 00:59:11.039
a project or carefully chose victim. She was simply convenient,

812
00:59:11.760 --> 00:59:15.000
and that made her death even more horrifying, proof that

813
00:59:15.159 --> 00:59:17.920
no one else was safe, not even for a two

814
00:59:18.039 --> 00:59:21.599
minute hitchhike after a night out. And this killing also

815
00:59:21.800 --> 00:59:25.760
showed Bundy's growing arrogance. He was operating in the same

816
00:59:25.840 --> 00:59:31.440
city where police were already investigating multiple disappearances, yet he

817
00:59:31.599 --> 00:59:36.760
felt untouchable. While families grieved and the city grew more fearful,

818
00:59:37.079 --> 00:59:41.400
he continued his double life. He attended classes, volunteered on

819
00:59:41.440 --> 00:59:46.280
political campaigns, charming every single person he met, all while

820
00:59:46.400 --> 00:59:50.800
his collection of trophies from the dead grew in secret,

821
00:59:51.239 --> 00:59:55.960
and just ten days later, on June eleventh, nineteen seventy four,

822
00:59:56.440 --> 01:00:00.199
he would strike again. This time he would target a bright,

823
01:00:00.400 --> 01:00:05.679
young University of Washington student named George Ann Hawkins, and

824
01:00:05.719 --> 01:00:10.360
the terror was about to get even more personal. In

825
01:00:10.559 --> 01:00:14.960
next episode, we will continue on with the evil that

826
01:00:15.079 --> 01:00:20.400
is Ted Bundy. Already five murders and one near murder

827
01:00:20.719 --> 01:00:24.320
in just six months, and the pace and frequency of

828
01:00:24.360 --> 01:00:28.480
these killings would only increase as we go along in

829
01:00:28.519 --> 01:00:32.280
this story. Thank you so much for listening. As always,

830
01:00:32.360 --> 01:00:35.679
check out the Patreon for commercial, free early releases and

831
01:00:35.760 --> 01:00:40.239
more at patreon dot com. Slash Bloody in Gola podcast

832
01:00:40.400 --> 01:00:44.960
and until next time for Bloody and Gola, I'm Jim Chapman.

833
01:00:45.639 --> 01:00:46.280
Much love,