June 10, 2026

Part 3 | 50 Shades of Evil: Washington - Ted Bundy

Part 3 of a 4 part series Jim Chapman brings you into the shadows of one of America’s most notorious serial killers: Ted Bundy. This episode covers Bundy’s 1975 attacks and murders in Colorado and Utah, his 1977 multiple escapes, the Chi Omega...

Show Notes
Transcript

Part 3 of a 4 part series
Jim Chapman brings you into the shadows of one of America’s most notorious serial killers:
Ted Bundy.

This episode covers Bundy’s 1975 attacks and murders in Colorado and Utah, his 1977 multiple escapes, the Chi Omega attack in Tallahassee, and the abduction and murder of Kimberly Leach just prior to his final capture in Florida.

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.

#bloodyangolapodcast #podcast #Washington #tedbundy #podcast #truecrime #florida #colorado #Serial

Chapters
04:05 Julie Cunningham
06:04 Denise Oliverson
11:23 The Youth Conference
14:58 The Traffic Stop Discovery
16:35 Inside Bundy’s Beetle
20:38 The First Jail Escape
22:21 The Florida Escape
24:32 Chi Omega Bloodbath
30:44 Kimberly Leach Abduction
34:45 Bundy’s Final Arrest

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WEBVTT

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Welcome back, folks. I'm your host, Jim Chapman, and today

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I am continuing fifty Shades of Evil Washington covering Ted Bundy. Now,

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when I left you in part two last week, I

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detailed the murder at a ski resort near Aspen, Colorado,

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when a twenty three year old nurse named Karen Campbell

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was abducted from a ski lodge she was staying at

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when she was on the way through the hotel lobby

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to go get a book to read from her room.

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Bundy had become more brazen than ever by this point,

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actually luring his victims in public. And that brings us

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to March of nineteen seventy five. So, just two months

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after Karen Campbell's frozen body was pulled from that snowbank

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outside of Aspen, Ted Bundy struck again in Colorado. This

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time the victim was a twenty six year old woman

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by the name of Julie Cunningham. Now, Julie was vibrant, outgoing,

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and full of that energy that drew people to her

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like a magnet. Friends would call her Jewels, and they

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described her as the life of every party. The one

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who organized ski trips remembered everyone's birthdays and absolutely lit

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up a room with her quick wit and generous kindness.

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She worked in Veiled Colorado, which is in the heart

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of the Rocky Mountains, and she had built a life

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around these ski slopes that she loved. She was independent, adventurous,

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and full of plans for her future more travel, maybe

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starting her own business. Definitely someone who could keep up

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with her spirit. She came from a close family that

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adored her, and she would share stories of life living

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on a mountain resort. Right on the evening of March fifteenth,

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nineteen seventy five, she was simply doing what she did best,

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living life on her own terms, walking through the quiet

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streets of Vail after dark, confident and unafraid in the

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town that she had made her home. As for Ted Bundy,

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he had driven across state lines again, his hunger by

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this point sharper than ever that failed escape with Carol

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d Ranch in the successful murdyer of Garon Gamble that

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had only fueled his arrogance. He was still maintaining his

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law school facade and Utah, still charming everyone who met him,

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but the mountains of Colorado had now become his new playground.

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This time. He escalated that deception with a new prop,

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a pair of crutches and a fake cast on his leg,

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turning himself into a picture perfect example of harmless vulnerability.

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He parked his tan Volkswagen Beetle in a spot where

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he could watch the foot traffic, and then he positioned

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himself on a sidewalk like a man who you would

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think genuinely needed help. Julie was walking alone when he

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called out to her, polite, slightly embarrassed, the perfect gentleman

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in distress. He probably said something like, excuse me, I'm

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on crutches and I just dropped my keys. Can Y

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help me get them? My car's right over here. The

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voice was so calm, educated and trustworthy. The smile was

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the same one he had worked on so many times before.

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So many trusting women would fall for that smile. Julie

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raised to be kind and helpful. She probably never hesitated.

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She walked with him toward the Volkswagen. They chatted briefly

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on the way, and once they reached that car, you

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know what happened next. That monster appeared. Bunny would strike

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with the same savage precision he had perfected, a crushing

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blood of the head, Julie would crumple, and he drove

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her to a remote, heavily wooded area in the mountains

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outside of Vail. There, in the freezing March darkness, the

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full horror unfolded again. He would bludgeon her, he would

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sexually assault her, and when he was finished, he would

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dispose of her body in a shallow grave. Now Julie

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Cunningham's remains were finally found in August of nineteen seventy five.

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Her once vibrant face was reduced to bone and evidence

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of the brutal beating that she had endured. Her family

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and friends were shattered. They had waited in growing dread

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as days turned into weeks with no words. Search parties,

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of course, would comb Veil, hoping against hope that she

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had simply taken an unplaned hike and got lost. When

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her body was finally recovered, the grief became a wound

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that would never fully close. The entire Veil community, a

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town built on mountain hospitality and trust, was left reeling.

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Ski instructors, bartenders and locals who had laughed with Julie

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just days earlier now would lock their doors at night

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and look twice at every stranger, and y'all by this

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point you have to be thinking, how in the hell

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is this guy not caught yet after all these killings.

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Now you do have to keep a few things in mind.

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Authorities were still more than a decade away from DNA

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being a viable tool in solving murders. Fingerprints, which Bunny

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didn't leave anywhere anyway, were really the only way to

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link someone to a crime. This is back when you

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had to do real police work. You didn't have all

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these cameras around, and you didn't have all these license

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plate trackers and things of that nature. But back to it.

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Less than a month after Julie Cunningham vanished in those

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Colorado Mountains, Ted Bundy would strike again. Denise Oliverson was

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twenty four years old, a radio young woman from Grand Junction, Colorado,

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and she lived and breathed for the outdoors. She was

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the kind of person who would find joy in simple things,

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long bike rides along the river, weekend hikes in the

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Red Rock canyons, and quiet evenings on the Colorado landscape.

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She worked a modest job, but she dreamed bigger. She

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dreamed of travel, of nature, photography, one day, building a

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life surrounded by the mountains and rivers that she loved

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so much. She was close to her family and friends,

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and they would describe her as independent, kind hearted, gentle,

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and a free spirit. On Easter Sunday, April sixth of

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nineteen seventy five, Denise was doing exactly what she loved most,

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hopping on her bicycle for a peaceful afternoon ride along

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the scenic pass near the Colorado River. She wore comfortable clothes,

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her favorite sandals, and she didn't carry anything else with

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her that day. It was supposed to be just a quick,

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beautiful ride. Unfortunately, it would become her last. Ted Bundy

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he was already in Colorado, still commuting from law school

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life in Utah, still riding the high of his previous

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kills and the arrogance that told him he could get

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away with anything. He had no elaborate plan for that day,

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no crutches, no slang, no fake badge. This again, was

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a murder of opportunity for Bundy. He sensed easy prey

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along that quiet scenic route. He spotted Denise riding alone,

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and he pulled his tan Volkswagon Beetle alongside her, and

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he used that same charm that worked so many times before. Brief, polite,

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almost casual conversation. Whatever he said, a friendly hello, a

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request for directions, a comment about the beautiful day. It

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was enough. Denise, trusting and at ease in her own territory,

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must have stopped to talk. Moments later she was gone.

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Bundy overpowered her and killed her in the same way

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he did with all the other victims. And when he

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was finished, he disposed of her body in the rushing

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waters of the Colorado River, a calculated choice that would

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make recovery nearly impossible. Denise Oliverson's bicycle and one of

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her sandals were later found neatly placed under a bridge

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along that trail, the only physical trace left behind. Sadly,

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her body has never been recovered. She simply vanished into

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the scenic landscape that she loved, erased by a monster

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who saw her only as a moment thrill. So the

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next victim I'm going to tell you about it's gonna

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hit a little bit harder because of the age of

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that next victim, Lynette Culver, was just twelve years old,

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y'all twelve. She was a small town girl from Idaho

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who came to Utah in May of nineteen seventy five

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for a youth conference. She was still carrying that wide

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eyed innocence that most kids lose somewhere around middle school.

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She had long, dark hair, a soft smile, and she

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was the kind of child who trusted adults. She wasn't

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a college student. She wasn't hitch hiking after a night out.

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She was just a little girl, excited to be away

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from home for a few days, surrounded by other kids

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her age, full of the joy that comes with new

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adventures when you're a child. But Ted Bundy took her anyway.

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He saw her on the streets of Salt Lake City

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and pulled up in that Voltswagon. He used the same calm,

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trustworthy voice he used on g Women and Lynette. Because

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she was twelve, and because she had been raised to

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be polite, got in. What happened next is almost too

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cruel to say out loud. He drives her to a

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remote motel room. He kept her alive long enough to

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subject her to hours of horrific sexual abuse, and then

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he strangled her, slowly, deliberately, a child twelve years old.

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Her body was found weeks later, dumped like trash in

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a river bed outside of Salt Lake City. The evidence

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of what he had done to her was unmistakable and unspeakable.

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And this, to me was the moment that Ted Bundy

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proved he had absolutely no limits to his evil. No

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age too young, no innocence too pure. He looked at

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a twelve year old girl and saw the same thing

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he saw when he looked at a twenty three year

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old nurse or a nineteen year old college student, an

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object to be used, broken, and thrown away. Lynette Culver

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never got to grow up. She never got to have

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her first real crush, never got to graduate high school

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or phil a parent's pride on her wedding day. She

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was a race before she ever had the chance to

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become who that little girl was meant to be. One

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month later, Bundy was hunting again, and this time he

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walked straight into a place where parents would think their

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children were safe. And I'm going to take you to

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June of nineteen seventy five and BYU. Brigham Young University

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in Provo, Utah, where a young, well let supervised youth

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conference filled with hundreds of teenagers, laughing, singing hymns, making

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new friends under bright lights and watchful adults eyes. It

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was supposed to be one of the safest places of

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fifty teen year old girl could be, But Susan Curtis

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never stood a chance. She was fifteen, still carrying that

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last bit of innocence of childhood, and she was the

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kind of girl who hugged her little sisters goodbye, wrote

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notes in her bible, dreamed of college and mission trips

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with her church. And she came from a loving family

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that believed in the goodness of people. And on that

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warm June evening, she was exactly where she was supposed

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to be, surrounded by other kids, her age chaperones nearby,

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and that whole campus was lit up alive. But that

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didn't sway Ted Bundy. He moved through that crowd, stalking.

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He wasn't a counselor, he wasn't a student. He was

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simply there, blending in perfectly among the older youth leaders.

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No one would even give him a second glance. He watched,

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he waited, and when he saw Susan, he chose her

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the way a wolf would chew pray. He approached and

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probably asked a simple question or made a friendly comment,

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making some polite request, the maid saying no feel rude,

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fifteen years old, raised to respect adults, she would follow Bundy.

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Then she would get in his volkswagon. He drove her

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out to the black Utah desert, where no one could

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hear her scream. And what he did to her there

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was monstrous, the same mo as the others. And when

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he was finished, he dumped her body in a shallow

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grave far from the campus, like she was nothing more

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than garbage. He no longer needed. Susan Curtis simply vanished

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from that youth conference, taken in plain sight, while hundreds

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of other kids kept laughing and singing just a few

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miles away. Her family waited up all night, then the

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next day, then the next week, and nothing ted. Bundy

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just walked into a church chief conference, stole a fifteen

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year old girl like it was the easiest thing in

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the world. He looked at pure innocence and saw something

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to destroy. He proved once again that no place was safe,

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no age was too young, No amount of love or

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supervision was gonna stop this guy. And while Susan's mother

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cried herself to sleep every night wondering what her baby

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girl had suffered in those final hours, Bundy, he simply

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drove back to his apartment, cleaned the blood in his car,

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and kept living that perfect double life that had now

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claimed more than a dozen young lives. But the arrogance

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is catching up with Bundy. All serial killers do it. Eventually,

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they get lazy or cocky. They stopped being so detailed

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in their cover ups, sloppy in their planning. They start

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to feel untouchable, and that always becomes their undoing. Let's

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go to two point thirty morning on August sixteenth of

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nineteen seventy five, in a quiet stretch of highway just

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outside Salt Lake City. Most people are asleep. However, Ted

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Bundy was wide awake. He was still riding the high

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of his latest kills. And of course he's driving that

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same tan Volkswagen Beetle, the one that had already carried

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so many young women to their deaths. When a Utah

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Highway patrol officer noticed something off, the car was weaving slightly.

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The plates looked suspicious in the officer, He hit his

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lights and pulled Bundy over. Now Bundy was calm at first,

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that famous charm clicked on like a switch. He smiled,

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handed over his license, made some polite small talk, but

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the officer he wasn't buying it. Something about this clean

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cut lost did it didn't feel right. At two thirty

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am on a deserted road, he asked Bundy to step

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out of the car, and that is when the nightmare

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finally began to crack open. Inside that volts Wagon and

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plane view were the tools of a predator. A pair

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of handcuffs, a crowball wrapped in tape, a ski mask,

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a flashlight with fresh batteries, a large knife, a rope,

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and an ice pick. The officer's blood ran cold at

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this point. This wasn't a kid with a joint in

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a glove box. This was a rolling torture kit. Bundy

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was arrested on the spot for possession of burglary tools

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and attempting to evade police. And before we go any further,

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I want to deviate for a second and just tell

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you about this nineteen sixty eight volts Wagon beetle that

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police would discover when they pulled Bundy over. It was

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very interesting in its modifications. It was actually altered to

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serve as a mobile hidden chamber for these crimes. The

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interior was modified by Bundy to enabled abduction transportation in

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the murder of his victims while keeping them hidden from

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outside view. Now how did he do that? Well, for

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one thing, the passenger seat was missing. Bundy actually removed

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that passenger seat, and what that would do is allow

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him to lay victims flat on the floorboard and keep

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them below the window line, and that would avoid anyone

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from seeing obviously that whoever was inside and on the

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floor of that passenger seat, and it would avoid attention

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for Bundy. He also removed the interior door handle, and

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of course he did that to make sure the victims

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could not escape. Even if they were gained consciousness while

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inside of the vehicle, they had no door handle to

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pull on. And of course they found the murder kit

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that I just told you about. When they would examine

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the car, they would also find a lot of forensic evinence,

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including hair matching several victims and bloodstains beneath the door

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pan on where Bundy had neglected to clean. So that's

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just a little insight on that. So Bundy gets taken

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in and police were well aware by this point of

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a ted who had a VW bug that was involved

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in the attempted mall abduction of Carol Deant. Remember that

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brave eighteen year old from last episode who had fought

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her way out of the same car. This was just

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nine months prior to Bundy getting pulled over by police.

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So they pay her a visit and they show her

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like a six pack lineup of photos, and immediately she

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identifies Ted Bundy. For the first time, the monster had

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to face a name in physical evidence, tying him directly

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to one of his victims. Yet even in custody, Ted

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Bundy omo slipped away. He was charming, articulate, he was polite,

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and he looked like the last person on earth who

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would have done the things the police were starting to

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suspect him of. Detectives would sit across from him and

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struggle to believe it. They thought to themselves, this guy,

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a law student, a Republican volunteer, this clean cut kid

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with the perfect smile. The initial disbelief was so strong

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that for a brief moment, it almost seemed possible he

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might actually walk free. His evil had hidden in plain

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sight for so long that even when the evidence was

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sitting right in front of them, some officers had trouble

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excepting this boy next door was actually the devil himself.

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So for one terrifying night. In August of nineteen seventy five,

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the most prolific serial killer in American history sat in

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a Utah jail cell, where the entire case against him

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teetered on the edge of collapsing. If the police had blinked,

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if they had let that charm work its magic just

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a little bit longer, Ted Bundy may have walked out

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of that station, gotten back in that Volkswagon, and kept

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killing more college girls, more fifteen year old girls, more

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twelve year old girls. That body count already numbered in

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the double digits, and it could have doubled again, maybe

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even tripled. But the evidence held, and Bundy was finally

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in his cage, at least temporarily. Because Ted Bundy wasn't

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finished yet, not by a long shot. He still had

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two of the most daring escapes and criminal history left

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in him, and more women to kill, so by early

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nineteen seventy seven, the case against him had grown pretty ironclad.

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He was extradited from Utah to Colorado to stand trial

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for the murder of Karen Campbell. He was being held

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in the Pitkin County Courthouse. This is an aspen, a

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beautiful old building in the heart of ski country and Bundy, ever,

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the narcissist, decided he's going to represent himself. He charmed

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the judge, he charmed the courtroom, and he was allowed

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to use the law library without handcuffs or even constant supervision,

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because after all, he was a law student, which how

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unbelievable is this, y'all? No one would even supervise him

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in the law library. He was polite, he was cooperative,

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and to them he was the perfect prisoner. So on

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June seventh of nineteen seventy seven, during a court recess

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ted Bundy simply climbed out of a window. He had

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spent weeks prior studying the courthouse layout, timing the guards,

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and he climbed through an open window on the second floor,

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dropped twenty feet to the ground below, and sprinted into

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the mountains behind Aspen. For six days, y'all, he was

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free hiding in the wilderness, stealing food, growing more arrogant

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with every hour than he remained on the loose, and

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the manhunt would be massive, helicopters, bloodhounds, roadblocks, But the

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clean cut lost in him, who looked like he belonged

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on a ski slope, He simply vanished into the trees.

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He was recaptured on June thirteenth, exhausted and hungry, and y'all,

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he just turned himself in and he was thrown into

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the Garfield County Jail and aspen with tighter security, or

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so everyone thought. On December thirtieth of nineteen seventy seven,

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the five days after Christmas, Bundy did it again. This time,

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he had spent moss preparing. He had smuggled a hacksaw

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blade hidden inside of a legal file. He had lost

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enough weight by starving himself that he could fit through

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a tiny hole he cut in the ceiling of his cell,

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and late at night, while the jail was quiet and

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the guards were distracted, ted Bundy would crawl through that hole,

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crawl along the ceiling, drop into the warden's apartment, steal

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the warden's clothes, and simply walk out of the front

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door of that jail like a freeman. He stole a car,

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he drove through a blizzard, and he made it all

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the way to Tallahassee, Florida. Two escapes, two times. The

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system failed. Two times. A man already suspected of murdering

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more than a dozen women, was handed his freedom on

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a silver platter, because he was charming, he was smart,

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and because no one could quite believe the boy next

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door was capable of pure evil. Now, while Ted Bundy

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was on the run, first in the Colorado Mountains, then

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across the country to Florida, he wasn't hiding, he wasn't reflecting,

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he wasn't sorry, he wasn't planning. The audacity of these

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escapes wasn't just about freedom. It was about proven to

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the world into himself that he was smarter than every cop,

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every judge, every detective who tried to stop him. He's

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the very system designed to protect society as his personal playground.

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He turned a courthouse, in a jail, and in nothing

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more than an inconvenient pit stop on his way to

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his next gill. And that moment, that moment that he

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reached Tallahassee, the monster was unleashed again with a fury

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that no one had ever seen before. So let's go

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to January fifteenth of nineteen seventy eight in Tallahassee, Florida.

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And this is a little less than three weeks after

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his escape in Colorado. It's two forty five am at

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the Cayomega sorority house at Florida State University in twenty

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young women, sisters, best friends, daughters. They laid there, dreaming

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in their beds. They had laughed together just earlier that evening.

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They should secrets, planned weekend dates, complained about exams, and

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the house smelled like you would expect a sorority house

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to smell shampoo, perfume and Vanilla's scented candles. Now the

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doors were unlocked because this was their home. This was

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supposed to be safe, and this was on the complete

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opposite side of the country from where Bundy operated. Most

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of these ladies had no idea he even existed. In

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the darkness, Bundy walked through an unlocked back door like

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he in the place. No charm this time, no fake cast,

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no polite smile. The mask was completely off. What stepped

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into that house was something evil, wearing a human face,

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eyes black and dead, jaws set in an oak club.

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Gripped tightly in both hands, he moved down to the

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second floor hallway with terrifying speed, in silence. First room

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on the right, Margaret Bowman. She was twenty one years

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old and she was the big sister of the house.

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Long dark hair, fanned across her pillow, her face peaceful

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in sleep. She was a girl everyone came to with

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the problem. She was kind, she was popular, and she

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was the one who made you feel like you belonged.

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Bundy would walk up to her bed, raise the heavy

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oak log high above his head, and bring it down

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with every ounce of savage strength that he possessed. The

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first blow cracked her skull like an eggshell. The second

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and third would turn her face into a mess of

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blood and bone. And while she was still twitching, still

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trying to draw breath through the wreckage, he wrapped a

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