1989: Ted Bundy, psycho killer

Qu’est-ce que c’est?

It was 20 years today that Ted Bundy, the signature sexual psychopath in a golden age of serial killers,* rode the lightning in Florida’s Starke Prison.

Executed Today is pleased to mark the occasion with a conversation with Louisville crime writer Kevin M. Sullivan, author of a forthcoming2009 book on Ted Bundy … and a man who knows how the world looks from inside Bundy’s ski mask.


Ted Bundy is obviously one of the most iconic, written-about serial killers in history. Why a book about Ted Bundy? What’s the untold story that you set out to uncover?

The desire, or drive, if you will, to write an article about Ted Bundy and then create a 120,000 plus word book about the murders, was born out of my crossing paths with his infamous murder kit. Had Jerry Thompson [a key detective on the Bundy case -ed.] left Bundy’s stuff in Utah that May of 2005, well, it would have been an enjoyable meeting with the former detective, but I’m certain it would have all ended quietly there. Indeed, I doubt if I’d even considered writing an article for Snitch [a now-defunct crime magazine -ed.], much less a book about the killings. But it was having all that stuff in my hands, and in my home, and then being given one of the Glad bags from Ted’s VW that made it very real (or surreal) to me, and from this, a hunger to find out more about the crimes led me forward.


Ted Bundy’s gear, right where you want it — image courtesy of Kevin M. Sullivan. (Check the 1975 police photo for confirmation.)

Believe me, in a thousand years, I never would have expected such a thing to ever come my way. I can’t think of anything more odd or surreal.

ET: You mentioned that you think you’ve been able to answer some longstanding questions about Bundy’s career. Can you give us some hints? What don’t people know about Ted Bundy that they ought to know?

I must admit, when I first decided to write a book about the crimes, I wasn’t sure what I’d find, so the first thing I had to do was read every book ever written about Bundy, which took the better portion of three or four months.

From this I took a trip to Utah to again meet with Thompson and check out the sites pertaining to Bundy and the murders in that state. Next came the acquisition of case files from the various states and the tracking down of those detectives who participated in the hunt for the elusive killer.

Now, no one could have been more surprised than me to begin discovering what I was discovering about some of these murders. But as I kept hunting down the right people and the right documents, I was able to confirm these “finds” at every turn. And while I cannot reveal everything here, It’s all in the book in great detail. Indeed, you could say that my book is not a biography in the truest sense, but rather an in-depth look at Bundy and the murders from a vantage point that is quite unique. I wish I could delve further into these things now , but I must wait until it’s published.

The Bundy story has a magnetic villain and a host of victims … was there a hero? Was there a lesson?

The real heroes in this story are the detectives who worked day and night for years to bring Ted Bundy to justice. And if there’s a lesson to be learned from all of this, it is this: It doesn’t matter how handsome or articulate a person might be, or how nicely they smile at you, for behind it all, there could reside the most diabolical person you’ll ever meet! We need to remember this.

But how can you act on that lesson without living in a continual state of terror? Bundy strikes me as so far outside our normal experience, even the normal experience of criminality, that I’m inclined to wonder how much can be generalized from him.

Actually, (and I might say, thank God here!) people as “successful” as Ted Bundy don’t come our way very often. I mean, the guy was a rising star in the Republican Party in Washington, had influential friends, a law student, and certainly appeared to be going places in life. Some were even quite envious of his ascension in life. However, it was all a well-placed mask that he wore to cover his true feelings and intentions. On the outside he was perfect, but on the inside a monster. He just didn’t fit the mold we’re used to when we think of a terrible killer, does he?

Now, there are those among us — sociopaths — who can kill or do all manner of terrible things in life and maintain the nicest smile upon their faces, but again, just beneath the surface ticks the heart of a monster, or predator, or what ever you might want to call them. Having said that, I’m not a suspicious person by nature, and so I personally judge people by their outward appearance until shown otherwise. Still, it’s difficult (if not impossible) to see the “real” individual behind the person they present to us on a daily basis.

You worked with case detectives in researching your book. How did the Ted Bundy case affect the way law enforcement has subsequently investigated serial killers? If they had it to do over again, what’s the thing you think they’d have done differently?

They all agree that today, DNA would play a part of the investigation that wasn’t available then. However, in the early portion of the murders, Bundy made few if any mistakes, as he had done his homework so as to avoid detection. As such, even this wouldn’t be a panacea when it came to a very mobile killer like Bundy who understood the very real limitations sometimes surrounding homicide investigations.

I can’t help but ask about these detectives as human beings, too. Clearly they’re in a position to deal with the heart of darkness in the human soul day in and day out and still lead normal lives … is a Ted Bundy the kind of killer that haunts or scars investigators years later, or is this something most can set aside as all in a day’s work?

They are, first of all, very nice people. And you can’t be around them (either in person, or through numerous phone calls or emails) for very long before you understand how dedicated they are (or were) in their careers as police officers. They are honorable people, with a clear sense of duty, and without such people, we, as a society, would be in dire circumstances indeed.

Even before Bundy came along, these men were veteran investigators who had seen many bad things in life, so they carried a toughness which allowed them to deal with the situations they came up against in a professional manner. That said, I remember Jerry Thompson telling me how he looked at Ted one day and thought how much he reminded him of a monster, or a vampire of sorts. And my book contains a number of exchanges between the two men (including a chilling telephone call) which demonstrate why he felt this way

How about for you, as a writer — was there a frightening, creepy, traumatic moment in your research that really shook you? Was there an emotional toll for you?

Absolutely. But the degree of “shock”, if you will, depends (at least for me) on what I know as I first delve into each murder. In the Bundy cases I had a general knowledge of how Bundy killed, so there wasn’t a great deal that caught me by surprise, as it were. Even so, as a writer, you tend to get to know the victims very well through the case files, their family members or friends, and so on. Hence, I’ll continue to carry with me many of the details of their lives and deaths for the remainder of my life. And so, lasting changes are a part of what we do.

However, I did a story a few years back about a 16 year old girl who was horribly murdered here in Kentucky, and this case did cause me to wake up in the night in a cold sweat. Perhaps it was because I have a daughter that was, at the time, only a few years younger than this girl, and that some of what transpired did catch me off guard, so to speak, as I began uncovering just what had happened to this very nice kid.

Watch for Kevin M. Sullivan’s forthcoming The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History from McFarland in summer or fall of 2009.

* In fact, the term “serial killer” was coined in the 1970’s by FBI profiler Robert Ressler, as an improvement on the sometimes inaccurate category of “stranger killer”.


Additional Bundy resources from the enormous comment thread:

On this day..

8,544 thoughts on “1989: Ted Bundy, psycho killer

  1. Richard, you need to stop bothering Kevin. You have a website with a forum on it. Go back to your own sandbox and play there. Many posters find your stalking of Kevin very creepy

    • Richard, I apologize for missing your earlier post (substantively the same as this one) — that’s on me and not Kevin.

      Separate from that, this isn’t quite a “public” forum and I really have no interest in hosting a flame war policing the disputes in some Facebook group. (For the record, I’m not in this Facebook group nor the wider circle of Bundy enthusiasts and have no idea of the reference points and no influence with the parties involved.) Everyone has had their say on the matter at this point. No mas.

  2. On September 9 in the group “The Many Faces of Ted Bundy” I responded to an invitation soliciting questions to ask Kevin M. Sullivan during his interview there on a yet to be determined date. I asked why he was preventing any discussion about the Bundy medallion.

    The next morning I saw that the interview date had been determined. I also learned that I had been banned from further participation in the group.

    If Sullivan was not responsible for this act of censorship, he is aware of it now. Going forward, he has an ethical choice to make.

    To proceed with the interview under these circumstances will mean that he has knowingly entered into a conspiracy to cover up certain facts about the Bundy case to the detriment of his readers. It will also mean that he has betrayed his purported standing as an “investigative journalist” to take on the role of propagandist.

    He is walking into this with eyes wide open. He should choose wisely.

    • Or maybe he just had enough with you…

      You don’t like him and what he has to say, then stop stalking him!

    • Richard, I’m responding to this not because i have to respond, but simply to let the facts speak for themselves.

      When the folks contacted me and they asked me about you, I told them the same thing that I told you here some time ago, and that was the following: You have trashed the last three books I’ve written, and we’re not friends. I told them that you obviously have a problem with me, and left it at that. I did not bother to tell them that I thought I had unfriended you on Facebook, and when your post showed up, I was surprised. I then did the natural thing and unfriended you as we’re not friends. You incorrectly thought I banned to to hide your post about the medallion or whatever it was, and that’s not so. It had absolutely nothing to do with that object you have, that in my mind, may, or may not, be from Bundy. Again, you’re not seeing this the way it really is, and I told you this at the time I made the other post here on ET.

      Now, as to them banning you, I had nothing to do with that. Perhaps they decided they needed to ban you based on my telling them that you’ve trashed the last three books I’ve written, and they’re not stupid and understand what’s going on here. And if that’s the case then you can’t point the finger at me. You need to look to yourself about all of this.

      And let me add, since you’ve once again brought my name into the mix: It’s like you’re stalking me. I never talk to anyone about you. I don’t tell folks you’ve trashed my books unless they ask me about you and the problem they believe you have with me. So why are you “following” me around asking questions for an upcoming show that I’ve already answered you directly about a few months ago? Do you think I’d have a new answer for you? No, I wouldn’t. I would simply say that I’ve already answered that in a prior conversation.

      Btw: Do you have plans to trash my future books?

      I’m only asking rhetorically, of course.

      • Upon consideration I’ve removed Richard’s most recent post here, not at any behest of Kevin’s — he has no formal or informal decision-making role at this site — but simply because it’s taking the conversation in the direction of an unproductive flame war.

        While I’m sure that Richard would counter that he’s made substantive claims about purported censorship elsewhere, I simply have no interest in providing a channel for this sort of grievance, concerning a conversation that’s off-site and unknown to me. Suffice to say that Richard and Kevin both dispute one another’s characterizations of events.

        While there is obviously vigorous conversation elsewhere, substantive Bundy discussion on this page has gone pretty quiet in recent months. In view of that, I’m going to close comments on this post for a little while to lower the temperature.

  3. Hello everyone:)
    I’ve been reading this forum for a month now starting with the very first post and enjoying it very much!

    Dear Kevin – you are a wonderful host, patient and understanding. I read your book TB Murders and it was so gripping I couldn’t put it down until I read it all. Well done writer:)

    Recently I found a forum where a girl wrote that her father was Bundy’s roommate during psychology studies – year 1969 or so. That’s what her Dad said:
    – B was a neat freak

    – B was very often moody (in negative sense)

    – B was sometimes a disloyal friend, eg: the man fancied a girl but B convinced him to give up on her BUT later on the man saw B charm this girl trying to pick her up

    – on the other hand when the man was in trouble B helped him a lot

    – once B asked the man if he ever thought about having sex with a dead woman, the man laughed treating the question as a joke

    – B talked in his sleep a lot, when the girl poster asked her Dad what was being said he refused to tell her (meaning it was not apprioprate for girl’s ears)

    – when the man was cleaning the room he once found a jar/tin under B bed/or under the mattress full of women’s hair – several women as the bunches of hair were of different colour. Souvenirs?

    Well I thought it was quite interesting as it all happened in late 60ties.

    Take care all!!!

    • Hi Dota…

      So glad you joined the conversation here, and welcome! Thanks also for the kind words about me and my book. Hearing good words are always a good thing lol!

      Yes, very interesting info on Bundy, and I always enjoy when new anecdotal info comes to light. I had someone contact me the other day who is a verified Bundy contact, and she’s given me additional info on Bundy, and I’ll be using this for an article later on. Very cool when it shows up.

      Btw, if you have any questions about my Bundy books or the case in general, feel free to ask it right here, and I’ll get back with you ASAP.

      Until next time…

      Kevin 🙂

  4. Hello folks.
    These are most likely images of Cowell’s greenhouses. They were located on Ridge Road at the intersection of Ridge Road, Domino Road and Wartman Road. The first two links show Fern’s Flower Shop. Although, it doesn’t mention Cowell or Roxborough nursery, I feel strongly it was owned by Cowell. Perhaps he used Fern for business reasons.
    https://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Detail.aspx?assetId=18778
    https://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Detail.aspx?assetId=18766

    These photographs show greenhouses that were located near the store and seemed to support the retail operation.
    https://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Detail.aspx?assetId=18772
    https://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Detail.aspx?assetId=18779

    This link from the Philadelphia Land Use map of 1942 shows the location of Cowell’s House and the area where his greenhouses most likely stood. You need to zoom into the intersections of Ridge Road, Domino Road and Wartman Road. Another location on this map is the intersection of Ridge Road and Parker Avenue. In 1942, it shows a greenhouse located there. No photos found. It is questionable whether Cowell was associated with these or not.
    https://www.philageohistory.org/rdic-images/view-image.cfm/LUM1942.7-2

    Plate 7-1 from the 1942 Land Use Map. At the intersection of Ridge Avenue and Minerva street (north of where Cowell’s house stood) there is a greenhouse located on the East side of Ridge Road. There is a hothouse indicated on the West side of Ridge Road across from that same greenhouse. My first thought was that these locations were Cowell’s nursery but that was before I found the Fern’s Flower Shop photographs which made more sense. The greenhouse is still in operation and is now called Secret Garden. The hothouse is no longer there and the land is undeveloped.
    https://www.philageohistory.org/rdic-images/view-image.cfm/LUM1942.7-1

    I think that pretty much covers his grandfather’s home and business.

  5. Evening All,

    I’m still researching, what I am almost certain, are photographs of the Cowell nursery Greenhouses and, what are denoted on the maps, as “Hothouses.” Since I am not a computer genius, I have to rely on my better half, Diane, to take my research and make it assessable to you folks ( Diane, works for Micro Soft ).
    I also have maps which show the locations of “nurseries, hothouses and greenhouses” that are located on Ridge Ave. but are not the buildings shown in the above mentioned photos.
    With Diane’s help, I will send you the photos of the greenhouses and modern photos of where they once stood, sections of other maps indicating where the other nursery buildings that are not represented by the photographs were located and modern photos of their present locations.
    These visuals include some graphics and captions that I added to them, hence my desire to post them directly from my files to Kevin’s Blog.
    I will give the Head Man, Diane’s contact information to facilitate, not only this exchange, but some others that I believe might be interesting.

  6. Good Evening All,

    I would like to know if there is a computer procedure ( without too much hassle) that allows me to post photos, maps, etc. directly from my “Bundy File” to this blog?
    I have more material related to Cowell’s house and nursery, as well as other subjects, such as, the Issaquah dump site, locations of where Ted probably intended to keep Ott and Naslund initially and the area where he probably kept them all alone, photos of the Grupe Conference Center as it appeared on the night Rancourt was taken and other interesting stuff. To introduce these elements of my files, it would be best to attach them directly to the blog, besides many do not have links.
    What do you people think, is this attainable?

    • You’d have to clear everything through the Headsman, and he might have an even better idea, but I’m just guessing.

      Also, I like the fact that the Grupe Conference Center, still has that cool distinctive roof that was there in 1974.

    • Interesting and new-to-me question.

      I’ve got plenty of hosting bandwidth and I’m not opposed to opening a page in this domain. But perhaps the right channel would instead be something like a shared or public Google Drive folder that could simply be linked from the post. How many images are in question here? Is this going to be a living resource that might evolve over time?

  7. Hello folks.

    I think I found photographs from the 1950s showing the Cowell house in Philadelphia where Ted spent his first 5 years with his grandfather and mother. The address is 7201 Ridge Avenue in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia. The actual house stood at the corner of Ridge Avenue and Domino Lane where the driveway for Tony Roni’s Pizza is now. The rest of the property ran West down Domino Lane. One of the pictures shows the lot after the house was destroyed in 1969.

    I discovered the site of his house by reading a book by Ron Fransce and Karen Valentine called “Crime Buffs Guide to Outlaw Pennsylvania”. One of the photographs has a sign advertising a nursery and we know Cowell opened a nursery in the 1950s. I am researching the nurseries now.

    http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Detail.aspx?assetId=19191

    http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Detail.aspx?assetId=19183

    http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Detail.aspx?assetId=19181

    http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Detail.aspx?assetId=73989

    • What a shame the photos of the house can’t tell us what went on there over the years! Thanks for sharing them, Bob.

    • Thanks for the pics, Bob! Always happy to see new photos of pertinent locations. It’s been years since I did the research, but in The Bundy Murders I give an address where Bundy was staying when he returned as an adult, and it’s apparently (I think) a newer home the Cowells owned. I didn’t care to locate a pic, but my friend, Ron Franscell, posted a pic of this home in the book you mentioned.

    • I have to say, in that 1st photo, that is one creepy looking old house! looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie.

  8. Bob,
    I read Dielenberg’s book and found it quite useful for a one- source reference. I would recommend the book to a new Ted- Bundy Researcher, except those parts of the chapters which are dedicated to Dielenberg’s theories as to where Bundy took his victims and killed them, which seem totally at odds with his discussions with other, more believable, investigators.
    Despite these problems, I found his book very useful when it came to period photographs, maps and supporting references. For example, his maps and photographs of the Issaquah site, the early Cowell home address, the Lynda Healy basement room, the Taylor mountain dump site and the Wilcox orchard photo helped me to better understand the physical spaces involved in Ted’ s crimes.
    Dielenberg’s explaination, at the beginning of the book, of Bundy’s brain impairments and how these may have caused him to kill, seemed logical, well thought out and is one of the best theories I have encountered.
    Despite these “pros”, there are better sources for Bundy’s life elsewhere.

  9. At the top of the page in the interview Kevin was asked if there was a hero in the bundy saga. I have read several books on his murder spree but don’t consider myself to be an expert by any stretch. Here are some random thoughts…I welcome comments from others more knowledgeable than I.
    There wasn’t one hero…there were many:
    Keppel, McChesney, Mackey, Dunn, Fisher etc all worked tremendously hard at catching the elusive killer. It must have been like looking for a needle in a million haystacks.
    They did the best they could with the investigative tools they had at the time. No Vicap, cellphone records, sophisticated DNA identification, etc.
    The first real hero in my narrow minded opinion was Bob Hayward whose arrest of bundy put the spotlight on him. Without Hayward’s traffic stop bundy would not have been fingerprinted and there would have been no mugshot.
    Next…the detective that called Seattle to ask about bundy’s backround, making a connection to missing girls from multiple states.
    Carol DaRonch and the ladies from Viewmont who picked bundy out of a lineup.
    Judge Hanson who sentenced bundy to prison.
    Danny Parmenter who, along with his younger sister chased bundy in the stolen van and got the license plate number….another important piece of the puzzle.
    The FLA. police officer who spotted the stolen plate on the floor in bundy’s stolen car in the middle of the night.
    Nita Neary for her positive, unwavering ID of bundy as the person leaving Chi Omega with a club in his hand.
    Cheryl Thomas’ roommates whose actions scared bundy off thereby saving Cheryl’s life.
    Officer David Lee who apprehended bundy in Pensacola and took away his freedom once and for all.
    Trooper Ken Robinson who discovered little Kimberly Leach’s body.
    Prosecutors Larry Simpson and George Dekle and their assistants whose skill in the courtroom got bundy found guilty and sentenced to death.
    Judges Cowart and Jopling who presided over the trials properly leaving no room for a mistrial.
    Richard Souviron whose expertise in dental forensics probably sealed the deal in the eyes of the jurors.
    I would call the jurors heros of sorts for coming up with a guilty verdict.
    The final hero, again, just my opinion. was the executioner who rid the world of a monster who got a thrill of taking the lives of some many beautiful young women and two 12 year old girls.

  10. Hey Brad,

    First, there was no “reply” to click on so I’m posting it as a new comment.

    Yes, absolutely. Had Keppel welcomed Dielenberg with open arms, he wouldn’t be saying bad things about him. Apparently he doesn’t understand how all of this works: Prior to “breaking into” this rather tight circle that comprises this “Bundy world” (for lack of a better description), I had to push out to folks and put my best foot forward. And because I had a cardinal rule to always be true to my word, and do everything I told them I’d do, I started getting a good reputation with some in this circle. Then, when I contacted others who didn’t know me, I would tell them who I was working with, and in some cases, after they checked with those folks, they’d get back with me and we’d start working on the case together. With all of these folks i had an open=door policy, and I always closely guarded the information they gave to me. When you do this enough, it continues to get around, and you end up have a super relationship with these folks.

    Now, whenever I happened upon someone who didn’t want to speak with me, I handled it like a professional and let it go. Of course, it only happened twice when I was writing The Bundy Murders, but each time I let it go and moved on. At no time did I disparage the individual either in private conversation or in print. I maintained an even keel, as it were, and my relationship remained intact. Dielenberg, on the other hand (I was told) approached Keppel with something like a know-it-all attitude, and in short order Keppel wanted nothing to do with him. Not a wise way to approach folks. Whenever someone approaches me that way, I reject them and move on. So it would have been better to let it go and move on, but instead, he’s still blasting Bob Keppel. And no matter what minor disagreements the Bundy investigators might have with each other (and believe me, I’ve heard them all), they all would flatly reject Dielenberg or anyone else who pulled a stunt like that. Indeed, you’d be surprised (and so would Dielenberg) at the names I know that will never have anything to do with this guy! It’s extraordinary just how bad a reputation he has “in this world” , and it’s his own fault.

    Again, when I saw him recently slamming Keppel, I wanted to share with the readers here some things that you all couldn’t know unless I told you. Of course, I never comment at his Facebook page, and I rarely visit it. When I do, it’s to see what Chris Mortensen has posted, as he and I are friends. Indeed, Chris did a great deal of work for that book, and anything good about it I certainly credit him.

    I know, this was a bit wordy, but I felt you would like to know.

    • Thanks for the reply – I am a huge fan of Chris “Captain Borax” Mortensen’s work, especially his YouTube videos. I watched one (and ONLY one) of Dielenberg’s vids, and I got that exact impression of him – he’s an incredible narcissist who believes he knows everything about the Bundy cases, and anyone who disagrees with him is an idiot or a dunce.

      Robert Keppel a dunce? Give me a (expletive) BREAK!

      Thanks again for the work you’ve done. As I said, I may still get a copy of the Timeline just for the work Chris Mortensen did with the photos, maps, etc., while ignoring Dielenberg’s commentary.

      • Yeah, Chris’ videos are great. He was doing that long before Dielenberg came along. And you should pick up a copy of the Timeline just because of Chris’ contributions. When you see something from Dielenberg, just move along lol! 😉

        • I’ve just watched Captain Borax’s video about the abduction of Nancy Wilcox. Despite it being said that Nancy and Ted may have had prior contact at her job in the coffee house I don’t think that they can have done as Bundy claims to Dennis Couch that he didn’t know her name. Of course that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have been stalking her. I don’t suppose waitresses wore their names on tags like they do now. My daughter has had to lobby at the place where she works – a hospital- to only have their first names on tags as previous they included surnames. She didn’t like being added on Facebook by people she didn’t know from the appointments system but there are more nefarious things people can learn and do as a result…

          • Hey Fiz…

            And also, Bundy told Michaud in the third-person that he happened upon her randomly and made his move. To my knowledge, I haven’t seen anything from the official record or from interviews from others like Michaud that would lead us to believe otherwise. That said, I don’t suppose we can completely rule these types of things out either as there’s no absolute proof either way. And at this late date, we’ll probably never have a definitive answer.

      • As rude and unprofessional it is that Dielenberg slams Keppel like he does, it can not be argued that Keppel was hugely wrong in his account of Lake Sam’s facts. It wasn’t Bundy’s car in that photo, and Bundy definitely wasn’t in it. Ordinary Bundy fans proved that 40 years after it happened. Whatever way you look at it, that is shockingly bad police work.

        • Hi Corey,

          While its true they made a mistake, it was based on the testimony of one of the women who followed Bundy to his car but didn’t go with him. She told authorities Bundy’s car was in this location. So, it would be perfectly natural for the authorities to believe that might be Bundy’s car.

          • Of course. At the time – 1974. But Keppel was still making this claim in his Riverman book in 2005.
            I dunno… by then one would think a simple look at Bundy’s car that he was caught in compared to the one in those photos, its clear that it’s not the same car. And a magnifying glass easily shows no one’s in it. Yet for 30 years they got it wrong. Keppel also insisted in that same book Bundy had killed Devine – was later proven linked to another killer.
            You know what they say about assumptions.

          • In 1974 perhaps. Not for 30 years, and he said in his 2005 Riverman book ‘the driver could clearly be seen in the car’. He also said Kathy Devine was a Bundy victim – that was proven incorrect when the real murderer was found.

            You know what they say about assumptions.

  11. I am not sure to be honest. They have a high profile cast with Zac Efron as Bundy, John Malcovich as Judge Cowart and others. I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes straight to Netflix/Amazon Prime.

    • If it goes to Netflix I’m fine but not everything on American Netflix is shown on U.K Netflix unfortunately. If it’s Amazon Prime I’m stuck as we have Chromecast.

      • Me too. I am from the UK as well. Apparently we can purchase the Snapped notorious Ted Bundy doc on iTunes but I haven’t tried yet.

        There is another Bundy documentary currently in production called ‘Theodore’ due out in 2019. It will have interviews with Al Carlisle, Marylynn Chino, Judge Bruce Lubeck who presided over the DaRonch trial. Unfortunately it includes Rhonda Stapley who claims to be a surviving victim but her testimony is not consist with Bundys MO.

        https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6845982/?ref=m_nv_sr_1

        • I believe Rhonda was attacked but I don’t believe that Ted Bundy was her attacker.

          • no disrespect to other’s opinions, but I do believe that Rhonda Stapely was attacked by bundy. the timeline for it is correct. Bundy’s MO was flexible and he was an opportunistic predator. he was almost always on the hunt. his attack on her was a bit strange in that he seemed to have gotten distracted somehow and she was able to get away. but overall, I can find no reason to disbelieve Rhonda.

          • Look up Captain Borax II on YouTube. Look for his video where he follows the route Stapley claimed Bundy took her on, and her supposed escape route. He pretty much disproved her claim. At least about Bundy.

        • Hi Jason,

          Per Rhonda Stapley: She’s a Facebook friend of mine, and has been for quite some time. She’s a nice lady and I like her. However, I too don’t believe she was attacked by Ted Bundy for a couple of reasons. First, Bundy NEVER removed the passenger door handle. That’s just a persistent myth. Second, had Rhonda been in his hands as described in the book, she would have been killed. Now, at some point she learned of my opinion (which is rooted in fact), that Bundy didn’t fool with the door handles on his VW, and she contacted me. It was at that time I explained to her that while I have no trouble believing she was attacked by someone, that someone wasn’t Bundy. She disagrees, and that’s okay with me.

          Good to hear from you again!

          Kevin

  12. Here’s an interesting tidbit on the new Ted Bundy film Extremely Wicked, shockingly evil and vile. Liz Kloepfer has been consulting with the characters on the movie. Here is a portion of the interview with the character who plays Liz’s best friend, Marylynee Chino:-
    And what was crazy about doing that movie is I actually met one of Ted Bundy’s girlfriends on set. She was there and we had dinner together.

    DC: And that’s the character you play?

    AS: I actually play the girlfriend’s best friend who tries to convince her that something’s wrong. She has an addiction to alcohol and becomes very self-destructive and I have to convince her that there’s something wrong with [Ted Bundy]

    https://tedbundy.tumblr.com/post/173776454218/westworlds-angela-sarafyan-talks-clementines

    • Now that is interesting, Jason! Is the film being made for TV or for general cinema release? I would like to see it given the efforts being made for realism. Thank you.

    • Very cool….if Liz has made herself available to consult on the movie maybe she will sit down for a video interview someday. That would be fascinating.

  13. Bob is back again.

    Sorry about last night but my wife insists I eat dinner while it is still hot.

    I saw the John H. Browne/Oxygen program the other day. I thought it was an interesting look at his life, personal beliefs and career.

    However, Mr. Browne brought little, or nothing new, to the Bundy story. All of the subjects that he discussed have been dissected many times in other books and forums. I have read his book and felt the same sense of disappointment in those chapters where he related his professional interaction with Ted. His book was thin on any new material on Bundy, except in one regard!

    On Browne’s program and in his book he talks about visiting Bundy in a jail cell. He discovers Bundy lying on the floor crying and in some kind of “trance.” In this state Ted opens-up about many past crimes, killing a young male friend, murdering one hundred people, describing the sadistic sex acts on his victims, why he enjoyed these perversions and how he planned and carried out his fantasies.
    While I am unsure how to tactfully reveal the nature of Ted’s true nature on T.V., Browne should have in his book. These areas have never been truthfully revealed, only speculated about. Mr. Browne could have improved his book and his program by finding a way to let the many Bundy researchers privy to “The Entity”, which Ted successfully hid from everyone for so long.

    Bob

    • Not a fan of John H. Browne. He says he doesn’t believe in the death penalty but would have torn his girlfriends killer from limb to limb. And he sorta of confirmed my opinion of criminal defense lawyers that it is more or less a game of “yes, my client MIGHT have committed those crimes but can you PROVE it?”
      It’s not about justice for the victims so much as winning the case at any cost.

  14. HI Kevin…great job on the Notorious: Snapped Ted Bundy
    documentary the other night. I think I detect a hint of
    jealousy from a couple of your detractors. Best show I have seen on the monster that was bundy. Looking forward to the
    new movie on bundy. I hope it is not filled with inaccuracies.
    Did anyone notice some errors in Snapped? They showed
    bundy getting stopped in a van in Pensacola when in actuality
    it was a stolen VW. In the show that followed, the interview with John Henry Browne there was a glaring error when his
    ex-wife said that Kimberly Leach was “abducted in Tallahassee while walking home from school”….major error, don’t know how it made it past the fact checkers.
    Bundy was a vile, evil human being who put his own family through so much misery as well as the victims families and friends. In my opinion it would take a DVD boxed set of about 8-10 discs to tell the whole horrible story accurately and completely.
    The interviews with Cheryl Thomas and her ex-roommates was very touching. They actually saved Cheryl from bundy’s rampage. Imagine if there was a part 2 to Snapped with interviews of others involved or affected by bundy, not sure if all are still alive: Carol DaRonch, Carol Boone, Elizabeth Kloepfer, Mike Fisher, Don Patchen, Norm Chapman, Officer David Lee, Jerry Thompson, George Dekle, Diana Weiner, Lynn Thompson and other prosecutors and defense attorneys from the Miami/Orlando trials.
    As I write this it is just 5 days past the 44th anniversary of the Lake Sammamish abductions of Janice Ott and Denise Nasland. A big shout out to the folks that have posted videos of the bundy sites, news reports, trail footage, etc. Captain Borax does amazing videos. Bundy continues to fascinate and repulse.

    • I also liked the program – bought it on iTunes.

      I noticed another mistake – during the part about the Carol DaRonch abduction attempt, they had him picking up a hitchhiker on the street – of course, he got to her inside the Fashion Place Mall.

      I agree that it was good to see Cheryl Thomas, and how she successfully overcame what Bundy did to her, and didn’t let it ruin her life. A very inspirational story.

      A question for you, Kevin: I once thought that if Bundy had realized how successful his “mask” was, and had chosen to run with it (stick to law school and politics) instead of killing women, that he’d have been a success. After watching the show, I’ve concluded that if he had, eventually he would have been exposed as a fraud. Do you agree?

      • Brad….Right you are!! The DaRonch portion of the show was definitely a “What. the……?.” moment. I caught it while watching the program but failed to mention it in my posting.
        Thanks for catching that.
        Planning to visit The Old Courthouse in Orlando in a couple of
        weeks. It is now a museum and is the location of bundy’s second
        trial where he was found guilty for the murder of little Kimberly
        Leach.

      • Hi Brad,
        That’s a good question, and I think his life might have turned out like this: First, Bundy was a very large bundle in insecurities. He had a terrible self-image of himself and I don’t think he would have ever “cured” himself of these debilitating feelings. That said, had he not had a desire to murder people, he may have graduated from law school and actually functioned in life as a relatively normal person. But even if this was the case, he may have found it difficult, for example, to function properly as a husband, and may have had an up and down personal life. Of course, this is all speculation, but it’s interesting to contemplate.

    • Hi Jack!

      Thanks for the good words about my interview on the program. It was a fun shoot, and rather long – eight hours!

      Who’s detracting me now, I must have missed something? lol!

      Thanks again!

      Kevin

      • Kevin….I should have made clear that it was some older posts that I was referring to….nothing to do with your appearance on Snapped. Just finished your third book on Bundy. All of your books (plus the Timeline book) were very interesting. Now I have to read them again in case I missed something.

        • (A disclaimer: Dielenberg Timeline comments ahead…)

          Hey Jack,

          Oh, yes, I think you’re referring to the more recent dust-up. Well, I had nothing to do with that, other than to respond one time to what I noticed had been said about me. Then others began commenting, but I stayed clear of it all. I like to avoid these things if at all possible. lol!

          Btw: Did you ever read my review of the Timeline? Boy, is there a story behind that one (I was attacked by the author in print!) If you haven’t read it, you can still see the review posted on Amazon UK, and it’s the only 2 star review (the book was removed by Amazon US and may never return). I reference Dielenberg in The Bundy Secrets (without naming him), with one story where he was egregiously incorrect (because he doesn’t know the case as well as he thinks he does), but I go into my full rebuttal in my review. If you go to page 167 in the Timeline, you can read his comments about my statement on why Bundy called Liz after kidnapping Debra Kent. After this showed up in print, I added the following to The Bundy Secrets, but I do the professional thing and i do not name the author. Here’s the passage from The Bundy Secrets: “When Bundy kidnapped Debra Kent from Viewmont High School in Bountiful, Utah, he rushed with the unconscious Debra Kent (he had whacked her in the head with a crowbar) to his apartment at 565 First Avenue. With Kent in a semi-coma, he left her covered up in his VW, went upstairs, and called Liz. Of course, a small part may have been to create an alibi, but that, in my view, was not the principal reason for the call. His reason for the call, as I suggested in The Bundy Murders, “was his way of stepping back from the crevasse of complete insanity. It was a clear attempt to connect with the only real anchor to the normal world he possessed.” Now, when this individual read this (he was working on a Bundy project), he accused me of making “shit (his word, not mine) up as I go along” and ridiculed me for it. Of course, I knew better, and I let him know there were so many things about the case that he didn’t know. However, at the time, I couldn’t remember exactly where in the record this passage lay hidden, so I responded with something else in that story that, in my view, proves my point. But lo and behold, when I was researching for this new book, I came across the statement from Liz above about her feeling that Ted would contact her after doing these things, as a way to, as she said, “touch base with reality.” Bundy had all but agreed with her. With this, I consider the case now closed.” Dielenberg had no idea this was in the record, otherwise ,he wouldn’t have “stepped in it”, as it were, with the attack on me. Now, to continue just a bit more about his usual MO…

          I just noticed (on his Timeline Facebook page), for example, he’s changing some incorrect info to reflect the true location of where Melisa Smith’s body was located “bordering Timberline subdivision” (The Bundy Murders). Well, while I can’t prove it, it may be he’s making this change due to my posting pics on Facebook of her police report where this is mentioned. and it was passed along to him. And even if he’s just now finding this out from another source, this correct information has been in my book, The Bundy Murders, since 2009.

          I also noticed on the Timeline Facebook page, that Dielenberg puts down those authors who’ve stated that Bundy had a thing for detective magazines. Well, with all other mistakes he’s made along these lines, he lacks the proper knowledge that some of these authors already have (including myself): namely, that Bundy told Bill Hagmaier that he in fact did have a thing for the detective magazines. Dielenberg never interviewed Bill Hagmaier (I did twice), just as he was never able to interview all of the investigators in the case (most of these folks want nothing to do with him, but I’ve worked with them all). He also doesn’t have the thousands and thousands of pages of case file material (as I have), and without ALL of these sources you’ll make major mistakes, and he does.

          He also runs down Ron Holmes, who worked with Bundy (Ron is from Louisville, and I’ve interviewed him), but Bob Keppel told me years ago that until Bundy and Holmes had a falling out, Bundy considered Holmes his golden boy, and Bundy had every intention of confessing everything to Holmes until they had problems. But Dielenberg dismisses all of this (as he does with all others he considers to be a threat). And perhaps the most surprising of all, he runs down Bob Keppel, calling him a dunce, which is absurd! Methinks he’s revealing a good deal about himself here and with his other condescending comments!

          Dielenberg also considers himself an “insider” in the “Bundy world”, but he’s not. He’s known a bit in that world, but he isn’t liked. I know this personally, as I’m not just in this world, but have been firmly established in it for many years now, and I’ve heard the negative chatter about him. I’ve also helped others meet all those I have known and worked with over the years, and it has paid dividends for them, believe me. Dielenberg is certainly on the outside when it comes to most of these folks, and he has a reputation that sucks lol!

          And so, it was after reading the Bob Keppel “dunce” comment that I felt it was time to clue folks in from this thread per some of the things I know about this situation, and I took your Timeline comment, Jack, as a way to open it to all the others who read here.

          Lastly, Dielenberg’s MO is this: to run down other Bundy authors so as to help his own work (that hasn’t happened); to run down those who have brushed him off (Keppel, etc); and to sometimes belittle those who disagree with him on his Facebook Timeline page. And it should go without saying, that it’s a strange way to try to get ahead in this thing, but that’s the path he’s apparently chosen.

          So, my friends, a word to the wise…

          • I forgot to add Liz’s actual comment in my original post about why SHE THOUGHT Ted called her that night. Here it is in The Bundy Secrets but taken from the official record…

            “Uh, I asked him, I mentioned that there was a phone call that he made to me from Salt Lake City when a woman down there was abducted. It was late at night and I’ve always thought, well, he couldn’t be out abducting women because I’d talked to him on the phone that night, and I asked him if he didn’t sometime call me or come over to touch base with reality after he had done some of these things, and he said, “That’s a pretty good guess.”

            Sullivan, Kevin. THE BUNDY SECRETS: Hidden Files On America’s Worst Serial Killer (Kindle Locations 2243-2246). WildBlue Press. Kindle Edition.

          • So Keppel – among others – brushed Dielenberg off. That explains the recent post on the timeline Facebook page calling Dr. Keppel a “dunce”…

            I was still considering getting the book because of the hard work Captain Borax did getting the pics and other, actually useful info. Should I just ignore it?

          • That was some reply Kevin!! I bought the Timeline book several months ago because of Chris Mortenson’s You Tube video about it. It contains several photographs that I had never seen before but honestly I have not read the text yet. If the author slammed Keppel as being a “dunce” then his credibility has surely taken a hit for that asinine remark.

  15. What I find so hard to comprehend is the fact that the fighting stopped 100 HUNDRED YEARS AGO!. I was born in 1955 and World War I was always an event, that while it occurred in “the past” , the war never seemed as far away as say, The Civil War. Anyway, I wanted to discuss the Browne documentery but my wife is announcing dinner. I gotta go.
    Bob

  16. Good Evening, My Fellow Bundy Enthusiasts,

    Today is Sunday, July 17, 2018. (as a sidebar, for the military historians among you and for the others, this coming November 2018 most of the western world and other nations such as Japan, an ally of France, Great Britain and the United States, will observe the fact that on November 11, 1918, a peace was declared and honored by all of the nations that had been engaged in the heavy fighting that began in August 1914) More soon.

  17. Hi All! I’m sure everyone knows this, but this Sunday night (7/15) starting at 6 p.m. ET is a huge Bundy night on Oxygen network.

    According to this: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2018/07/09/oxygen-media-premieres-snapped-notorious-ted-bundy-on-sunday-july-15th-at-6pm-et-pt-155511/20180709oxygen01/ two new documentaries.

    They are claiming interviews with three survivors, some who haven’t spoken on the subject in 40 years, and even allude to information from the elusive Hagmaier. Wow! Again, apologies if everyone is aware, but sounds like can’t miss. Maybe an appearance by or information from Kevin?

    Hi Kevin!

    Take care all.

    • And I won’t get to see it over the pond but if I’m lucky it will turn up on YouTube in a couple of years. ????

      • I don’t know where all the question marks came from! It was supposed to be a sad face!

        • I feel for you Fiz, I really mean that. I don’t have a DVR; I’m having my girlfriend DVR it for me and I hope to watch it at her place Monday. She loves hearing me talk about the obsession with this subject. I tell her thousands of other normal people get it, it’s just an interest. Not sure if she believes me. Actually, now that I think about it, let me see what I can do. If I can figure out if I can still capture this via antiquated technology (VCR, convert to digital, privately upload to YouTube, share the link), I’ll do so. Kind of a pay it forward thing. Because if I were you I know I know I’d feel the same. I’ll keep you posted. Now I have to dig my VCR out and hope I can set it to record at a specific time.

          • That’s so kind of you, Larry! Please don’t bother if it turns into a headache. I wouldn’t want to cause you problems. I don’t get on with technology!

    • Hi Larry!

      Yes, I’ll be a guest on Snapped: Notorious Ted Bundy on Sunday night! 🙂

  18. Wow. Just read through all 9 years. What a great group, I feel as though I know you all.

    I first was interested in TB when I saw the Deliberate Stranger–I then devoured everything there was to read on Bundy. This was back before all the confessions and execution– so many years later I’m roped in again with the new books, confession tapes etc.

    Pre-internet there were only brief news clips of TB (I don’t remember his trial) so awesome to see the courtroom footage, listen to the tapes etc.

    Kudos Kevin, for hosting and making this a great place for so long. Despite the occasional tiff, it’s much more civilized than most Internet forums.

    My favorite poster is Bart. I have appreciated his inquisitive mind, and his ability to see the humor in our obsession. I laughed out loud one night when he was gently scolded for speculating and then wrote a post about Bundy’s taste in music.

    My wife asked what I was reading that was so funny…and I had to tell her “oh, the Ted Bundy forum on the Executed Today website!”

    • Hi Sharpie!

      I think you’re probably one of a small number of folks who’ve read the entire 9 year thread! Lol!

      Yes, Bart was a funny and nice guy, and I remember more than once trying to reign in some of his wild speculations. But his posts were always interesting and welcome.

      It has been quite a ride. I never expected to be around more than a few days answering questions after the article came out. But the interest was certainly there, and while it sometimes slows to a trickle nowadays, it always seems to bounce back. So I guess we could be here for another 9 years!

      Thanks for your post, Sharpie.

      Take care… 🙂

  19. It’s my belief that many individuals including lots of the Bundy authors have more information on the complex relationship between Ted and Diana.

    The fact of the matter is that she was his personal attorney that ended up becoming some kind of lover to him. Whether that means they experienced fully physical intimacy with each other, can’t be said or out-ruled. But she knew the scope of his evil and she engaged him on a deeply personal level.

    Any author who would attempt to chronicle “Bundy’s Last Girlfriend” would be met with a swift libel lawsuit from the Weiner’s. Which, in my opinion, there was never more than innuendo about it peppered throughout all the books. It wasn’t something that could be proved and to claim it was to court outrage.

    What is hard for me to wrap my mind around is that this was a successful married woman, carrying on with a devil of a man whom she worked for. Very complex.

    • So true, Jack. Although I’ve never asked other Bundy authors about controversial things pertaining to some of the folks connected to the case that they’ve heard about, I can tell you that during my years of research, I’ve heard things straight from the investigators mouths about various players in this great drama, that I could never put to print, for to do so could cause trouble for me and the ones who told me. Of course, I’ve always considered this a shame as this info would be of interest to most folks, but that’s just the way it is.

  20. Who was Diana Weiner and why was she involved in the Ted Bundy case? She was an attorney from Sarasota, Florida. She graduated from law school in 1984 and practiced law there with her husband. Nevin Weiner was a public defender in the Sarasota area before he moved into private practice. Nevin Weiner maintains a law firm in Sarasota and his wife is a partner in that firm to this day. The Weiner’s were social friends of Dr Art Norman in Sarasota
    In 1986, Art Norman invited Diana Weiner to assist him when he interviewed Ted Bundy on death row. Norman felt the presence of a good looking female would help “soften Ted up”. Diana was equal to the task and accompanied Norman in his session with the convicted killer. Her uniform of the day was described later as “very little, with nothing on underneath”. The attorney that handled the bulk of the work for Bundy’s appeal, Polly Nelson, put Diana Weiner on the visitor list and a 2 ½ year relationship started.
    Diana Weiner became Ted’s personal attorney, handling Ted’s prison disciplinary issues and other personal business not related to Ted’s appeal. Diana Weiner is the daughter of Messianic Rabbi. Her paternal grandfather was the victim of a political execution in Columbia over his refusal to convert to Catholicism. To say that she is an opponent of capital punishment is probably understating her personal beliefs.
    Diana Weiner made many trips from Sarasota to Raiford to visit Ted on the row. She had 70 visits with Bundy at FSP, many of them wearing her uniform of the day. Bob Keppel described her role as “Bundy’s lawyer, girlfriend/whatever”. Long dark hair, stunning figure, and well featured good looks went well with Diane’s new black Mercedes as she pulled into the prison parking lot for visitors. One can only imagine the jail house gossip on the row when Bundy spent time with his personal attorney.
    What kind of hanky panky went on between these two on the row? Who knows, although there were reports of Diana “flashing” Ted and another complaint about inappropriate back rubbing. There were many visits alone and a lot of stuff could have gone on with those two in the back. Eventually, prison administration put a stop to the solo visits, etc.
    Bundy’s appeal was handled by the law firm assigned that task. Polly Nelson and the brilliant Jim Coleman did all that work. Weiner and Ted worked on their own scheme to save Ted’s life. The “bones for time” scheme was hatched by TRB, but Weiner and Ted did all the work on that ill-fated scheme. “Bones for time” was fated to fail from its inception, but Ted had his zealot, Weiner assisting him every step of the way in implementing this silly ploy.
    Diana also drafted Ted’s last will, in which he willed all his possessions to Weiner. It wasn’t much, personal papers, $700 bucks and a few old ski mags (There was no mention of Ted’s wedding ring in the material I read). This was a final slap in the face to Carole Boone. The relationship with Diana and Ted’s admissions of guilt are the reasons that Carole refused to talk to Ted at the end. Even so, the Fla Attorney General sued for the “Ted” material a few months later. Nevin Weiner defended Diana against the State’s case. As a result of the lawsuit, Bundy’s papers were given to Fla and eventually Bob Keppel and King county.

    • Hi, KYGB, long time no see! I wonder if Diana would have been so touchy feely with TRB if she had heard his blood chilling “conjectures” to Mr Michaud and the last minute confessions to Bob Hayward and all the other law enforcement officers just before his execution. I wanted a shower using a wire brush to clean myself after reading them.

    • Great post, KYGB…

      Mike Fisher witnessed some shenanigans when he walked in to the interview room and saw her rubbing her hands Bundy all over the upper portion of Bundy’s body. I believe Matt Lindvall was with Mike and witnessed this as well. Stunning.

  21. i agree with you, Mr. Duffus. In 2 years of researching Bundy, i had asked the same question: Where’s all the porn? “the joy of sex”? a couple of playboys under the bed? bundy did speak of disposing of porn. but “porn addicts” tend to pile the stuff up. i’ve seen this several times over the years in people i’ve known.

    i don’t know the truth of TB and porn, but i think it’s been overblown. i do know that when it came time for him to try to explain his behavior to the world – and mainly to his mother, it worked great as an excuse: it’s because i was snatched by a powerful force that i couldn’t resist…

  22. I’ve been reading a book called Amongst the Lowest of the Dead which is quite interesting. Its a book about capital punishment but has a section on Bundy and it documents the last hours with a minister he selected to sit with him in the hours before his execution. It talks about his final hours and what they talked about etc. There are a few interesting tid bits about Diana Weiner – does anybody know what the actualy nature of his relationship was with her (if I am right he left everything to her including his wedding ring). It also mentions that Dr Ontow Lewis (also has a book with some bundy info) sat with him in his final day and apparently he asked that the notes from his meeting be passed to Carole Boone as a way of perhaps explaining some of the reasons he was what he was but Dr Lewis refused to part with her notes. I found that interesting as in some ways it would appear he had something in him that wasn’t all psychopath – I wouldn’t say conscience (we know he cant have one when he did what he did) but him needing to tell her something or explain would suggest that deep within him lay something that was human. If he was truly without remorse I wonder if he would have needed to do that. The book is definitley worth a read (you can get most of the excerpt bar a few pages free on google books)

    Lastly, I know the opinion of many is that he was fooling Dr Dobson in his last interview when he blames porn for his actions. I wanted to ask, is it possible this did have an impact on him (he was always responsible for his own actions of course) and did act as an accelerant?. As far back as Michaud and Aynesworth he talks about porn and detective magazines so I do believe they played a part in fuelling what was already a growing flame. Interestingly several other serial killers talk about the same detective magazines (a killer I forget his name but he was a cop and again killed a lot of women) read the same kind of magazines. I think Ed Kemper also mentioned this. There seem to be a lot of serial killers who were born in the 50s era who talk a lot about detective magazines yet by todays standards they are probably pretty tame. It’s just interesting to me folk are quite quick to dismiss the porn link and while I fully accept that doesn’t make them do what they did there is definitley some kind of link.

    • I do believe that pornography had an effect on Bundy.

      Did it CREATE the monster? No, of course not. Bundy became what he was via a number of factors that authors like Kevin Sullivan, Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth, Ann Rule, et al point out in their excellent works.

      But I refuse to dismiss porn as at least a minor contributing factor out of hand as some (primarily porn industry activists) have. Some of these people point to several acts Bundy did as a small child, saying this occurred before he discovered porn. These people forget that as a small child he WAS exposed to porn – his grandfather Sam Cowell’s “private” stash that Ted knew about.

      • Hey Brad..

        Had Bundy been like most boys, teens, and young adults, he would have been thinking sex only. But it was his mixing violence with his fantasies that really gave him a thrill. But even behind this mixture of sex and violence towards women, leading all the way to murder, we still have a big question mark as to why Bundy became the diabolical killer he ultimately became. And for that, I don’t think we will ever find an answer. One of the great mysteries, as it were. 🙂

          • Where’s the porn?

            Any theory that hard core pornography had an effect on Bundy’s development as a serial killer is predicated on the assumption that Bundy actually had used hard core pornography. Other that the fetid whirlwind of words passing through Bundy’s lying lips, there is no evidence to support that assumption:

            His mother reported that “all she ever saw of pornography were a couple of Playboys under the bed.”

            His girl friend, never mentioned that Bundy had used pornography. She had once even gone through his most personal files.

            Police officers who had stopped him on three random occasions reported finding nothing more than cheerleader magazines.

            Fellow prisoner Bobby Lewis asked author Sondra London, “If Bundy loved pornography so much, how come in the ten years I saw him on a day in, day out basis, I never ever once saw him with pornography in his hand?

            Rapist and murderer Richard Daniel Starrett, who had, like Bundy, cited the influence of pornography on his crimes, at least had the credibility of having been found to be in possession of “935 books and magazines … that depicted nudity and sexual violence … 116 posters depicting bondage, violence, or sex, 18 calendars depicting sex or violence, and books on sex crimes, as well as dozens of hardcore videos.”

            Bundy spoke out of both sides of his mouth about detective magazines. Regardless what he said to Michaud and Aynesworth, in a January 1977 letter to Ann Rule he expressed his disdain for detective magazines.

            Without evidence, this line of thinking is nothing more than one conjecture built upon another.

  23. If you bothered to read the hundreds of pages where bundy explains what he did and why he did it(and i understand he lied a lot) things are very clear.Your mistake is intermingling your personal experiences with that of a vicious killer who had tenuous knowledge of due to a relationship with another convict.Very niave.There is no doubt why ted killed who he killed.If you want to tell a story.tell it as it is and tell it well.It has nothing to do with you personally.By the way those sketches are fakes too

    • One more thing.When ted was arrested in78 they found cheerleader magazines in his car.Its on the evidence list for all to see.You can stare at a dime all day long,Richard,but it will always be a dime,never a quarter.

    • I have bothered to read all of that and a whole lot more. Did you ever think that, if he lied a lot, things cannot possibly be “very clear.”

      My personal involvement came at Bundy’s behest. He was seeking someone who could understand him, someone of a similar age and background. He wanted to find someone with whom he could explore his true feelings and someone who, for the rest of us, could articulate those feelings.

      If my connection with Bundy was tenuous perhaps you can explain why I have letters in his handwriting, some of his family photographs, and photographs of his other art. You also have to explain how I could have known about souvenir photographs, buried bodies, and the medallion he was wearing during his interview with Dobson. You also have to explain who, besides Ted, knew that he had at least once disguised his handwriting. You also have to explain how the “fisherman story” was leaked, That’s just some of it.

      If, as you say, you know why Ted killed who he killed, why don’t you let everyone else know? I’m sure there are still families and friends who are looking for that information.

      I am telling the story as it is – not as others want it to be. One knows one has found the truth when nobody, including myself, likes it.

      If the sketches were faked, who did it? Here’s a hint. Bobby could not draw that well. That means you’re saddled with a conspiracy theory. I’ll give you some help. The co-conspirator is a lefty He has to be a prison guard even though any guard found to be in cahoots with Bobby would lose his job. He had to be an artist. He had to be willing to fork over cash to frame one of the pieces of art. And the sole purpose of this conspiracy was to fool me into buying art worth ten dollars apiece for ten dollars apiece. Dumb!

      Regarding the cheerleader magazines, give me a break!

  24. Richard i bought your book and read it with great interest..I think we can agree that ted bundy was unique in many ways.However we have a man who killed30-50 women within a general stereotype.He engaged in necrophiliac practices with their dead and rotting corpses on multiple ocassions.Plus he had normal so to speak sexual relations with women.You never spoke to bundy personally.Your theory such as it is backed by nothing but a personal agenda of your own

    • If you learned but one thing from the Bundy case it should be never to trust appearances. You overlook the fact that, gays are inexorably encumbered by a pervasive social condemnation. This affects how and if they express their true sexuality. Some openly act on their feelings regardless; some act in the shadows to avoid social condemnation; some slip on the guise of being straight. They seek not only to avoid social condemnation but also to receive society’s affirmation. They may marry and rear children. They may never act on their true feelings. They appear to others to be straight.

      People “cannot be expected to see or suspect ‘repressed homosexuality,’ especially if the symptoms are manifested in the form of males becoming ultra masculine and violent, and/or if they are having sex with as many females as possible.” [“The Homosexuality Factor in Social Violence” by Pierre J Tremblay]

      Do you know of anyone who was known to have engaged in disguise? Here’s a hint: His fellow prisoners called him a “master of disguise.”

      I see that you consider someone who harbors a “well-masked anger toward women” [Carlisle], murders them, and engages in necrophiliac practices with their corpses to be a normal heterosexual. How sad!

      Of course I never spoke with Bundy personally. We corresponded. I’ve published those letters.

      Regarding a “personal agenda,” you’re just throwing words around. They sound good but lack any substance. Be specific. What agenda? Are you trying to say I arranged for these murders so that I could later connect with the killer and say “I told you so?”

  25. On Tuesday I posted a brief comment presenting certain facts and my resulting conclusion in a discussion on Sullivan’s Facebook page. The comment was both appropriate and relevant to the subject, Ted Bundy’s interview with James Dobson.

    Sullivan’s response was to immediately block my access to his page and to remove my comment. He has the right to do that. It is his page.

    The exercising of a right comes with consequences. I believe that, in this instance, Sullivan’s actions undermine his integrity as an author. He has demonstrated that, if he has the power to do so, he will not hesitate to conceal facts he does not want his readers to know and suppress points of view he does not want his readers to discuss.

    One has to trust those who offer to educate or enlighten us. Those who engage in concealment or censorship do not deserve that trust. One can only wonder what else they are hiding.

    • I’m not hiding facts, Richard. You’ve trashed the last three books I’ve written and we’re not friends. Friends don’t trash their friends books. They don’t have to agree with them, but they don’t trash them, giving each one one star! And to be honest, I thought I had unfriended you after you trashed my second book, and I was surprised when your comment showed up. What would you do, Richard, if you’d have written three books and I trashed them? Open your eyes and see this for what it is.

      • “I thought I had unfriended you after you trashed my second book, and I was surprised when your comment showed up.”

        So you made a mistake. Deal with it as it is. Don’t cover it up. This is not the first time you’ve done that. That you also removed facts from the thread will persistently suggest that you had an ulterior motive.”

        “What would you do, Richard, if you’d have written three books and I trashed them?”

        What would you do if you had been invited by a forum moderator to discuss your book and you were instead met with a fusillade of unfounded personal attacks? I am not delusional, I am not touched in the head, and I am not so stupid that a poorly educated prisoner can play me. You were right. I did not like that one.

        You unfriended me, it wasn’t the other way around. This is personal for you, not for me. I have reviewed you books harshly but honestly.

        In my first review I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I overlooked you tendency to speculate, particularly about the escapes.

        My review of your second book cited your failure to accept new evidence. You limited your evidence to what you found in your original research. You ignored statements from bona-fide witnesses and other new evidence that came up later. You can’t write history with an eraser. So I demonstrated that, fully researched, what you called a rabbit trail turned out to be a roadway that ran to the end of Bundy’s life. There’s nothing personal in criticizing you for that.

        You third book would have been a three-star except for your overstating the scope of your work and violating your own rule about speculation. You should have left the Hagen stuff out. Again that is a legitimate criticism. It is not personal.

        I was astonished by your Gainesville story. You well knew of my involvement with the killer but did not even seek my advice. Any good researcher of this case would know that officials and others in Gainesville feel, “that talking about [the killer] glorified him somehow … and it’s painful for the family members who survived the loss of their loved ones.” That means that authors should refer to the killer only as a “deranged drifter” and ignore his back-story. Bobby and I expended a lot of effort fighting for these families so, of course, I had to chew you out for your bull-in-a-china-shop approach.

        I think you should open your eyes.

        • Damn, aren´t you a pedantic little ****
          Nobody in his right mind would let someone who has already trashed 2 of his books, and thus clearly has a personal agenda, stay friended in FB, just for him to do some more thrashing. If you didn´t like the first book, review it and don´t buy another one. If you buy 3 (Three!!) books and you trash them all its clear that you are just a pathetic little person stalking the writer. For him to defriend you and delete your (no doubt very negative, if not slanderous) comment isn´t a sign of it “being personal”, thats all in your, seemingly paranoid, mind. Its a sound decision. You on the other hand clearly have a personal problem with the writer, hence the stalking on FB and now here.

          The last paragraph of your comment doesn´t even warrant an response, you seem to consider yourself in charge of what other people can and cannot write about?

          Maybe open your eyes yourself, and consider a visit to someone with whom to talk through your personal problems instead of roaming the internet to leave bad reviews of writers you´ve already thrashed twice before, but who´s books you apparently keep buying.

          • Making but one single post when invited by a thread that appeared in one’s own newsfeed is not stalking you on Facebook.

            Posting in a public forum is not stalking you.

            Making a factual post is neither negative nor slanderous.

            Removing a factual post under a pretense is concealment.

            Giving advice is not being in charge of what other people can and cannot write about.

            Criticizing authors who cover subjects about which one is knowlegeable is not indicitive of a personal agenda.

            Calling one delusional or touched in the head is being personal.

            Saying one has a personal problem with you or that one is enveloped in abject bitterness toward you is being personal.

            Calling one a pedantic little **** is being personal.

            Saying that one is so naive that one was played by a poorly educated prisoner is being personal.

            Calling one paranoid is being personal.

            You must be taking to the man in the mirror.

  26. Hi Kevin,

    I’ve followed this thread for quite some time now. I’ve read all 3 of your Bundy books and thought it was time to reach out to you and thank you for your efforts and praise your works as I’ve been interested in Bundy for quite a while.

    I’m sure if I thought about it, I’d have a million questions but they seem to have mostly been answered here.

    I wish you the best, and thank you again!

    • Thank you, Antony for the kind words about my books! It’s always good to hear nice things. 🙂

      Btw: I’m just now seeing your post, and that’s why I’m so late getting back to you.

      Take care,

      Kevin

  27. Kevin,
    I’m just about done with Dielenberg’s book. In the book, there is a 2015 interview where Bob Hayward states that he drove fast to Brock Street and saw (as he would soon learn) Ted sitting in his VW in front of a house where two teenaged girls were staying up late because their parents (friends of Bob) were out of town.
    Is there any indication that Bundy knew they were alone and intended to attack them, or did he just happen to stop to smoke a joint near that house then “rabbited” when Hayward appeared out of nowhere?

    • Hey Bob…

      I’m just now seeing this so sorry for the delay in getting back with you.

      I’ve heard the stories of the girls, but personally, I don’t place a lot of stock in them. Bundy was absolutely searching for a victim that night, as he had the passenger seat removed and laying on the backseat. His murder kit was out with the contents spilling out. He was ready for action, as it were. He lied, of course, and later denied that he was hunting for a victim.

      All that said, I believe he was lost and tired, and that he fired up another joint. Hayward, who was coming home, and whose neighborhood had experienced a rash of burglaries, was determined to check the VW out. That’s what I believe happened, and despite the other stories, I went with that for The Bundy Murders.

  28. Hello everybody!

    Just wanted to ask if anyone came across the transcripts of the Utah confession tape. English is not my mother language and with that quality I am only able to discern maybe half of it or less. So transcripts would help a lot. Doesn anyone know where to find them? Google doesn’t help much.

    • Kevin,
      This is an email test.
      I sent an email to you on 28 February, 2018 and have not received an acknowledgement.
      This seems highly irregular to me, based on our past correspondence when you normally responded promptly.
      Have you received my messages? I’m trying to determine if my computer is functioning properly.
      Are you on vacation, are you ill? What’s the story?

      Bob

      • Hey Bob. No, I never received your email. Send it to me again, and I’ll get back with you!

    • Hi Maria,

      I’m just now seeing this!

      You know, I don’t believe any transcripts currently exist for Bundy’s Utah confession. Dennis Couch, who has had the tape since the interview, released it a year or two ago, and I hope at some point, someone takes the initiative and creates the transcript. 🙂

  29. Kevin,
    I’m just about done with Dielenberg’s book. In the book, there is a 2015 interview where Bob Hayward states that he drove fast to Brock Street and saw (as he would soon learn) Ted sitting in his VW in front of a house where two teenaged girls were staying up late because their parents (friends of Bob) were out of town.
    Is there any indication that Bundy knew they were alone and intended to attack them, or did he just happen to stop to smoke a joint near that house then “rabbited” when Hayward appeared out of nowhere?

      • I’ve also wondered about this. As usual, a place where there’s two girls alone… with Bundy nearby… is too coincidental for me. Highly possible he’d been stalking them, like he had with the Dunwoody St girl (Cheryl Thomas?) in Florida in ’78. I always believed he was casing the place out, unsure as to how many people were actually in the home which is why he still hadnt had any luck by 2am (or whatever time it was when he ‘rabbited’). No proof at all of course, just what I think.

    • One thing that is evident from watching that 2015 drive along with Bob Hayward, is that a few things he says during that interview don’t quite line up with the record. This is not unusual for folks who are talking about events four decades after the fact. Mistakes are made, and you have to figure this out as best as possible. I have no personal info on the “girls” as he mentioned, so who knows?! Bundy was hunting that night; that’s a certainty. But when Hayward spotted him I don’t think he was casing a house because of some girls. I think he was sitting there trying to figure out his way home and was smoking a joint.

      • Really?? That’s what HE told the court. Dressed in dark clothing, with the passenger seat in the back, and his murder kit with him, suggests he might’ve been doing anything other than figuring out how to get home.

        • Hey Cory…

          Again, I’m just now seeing this!

          Yes, he absolutely had been hunting that night, and I cover this in The Bundy Murders. But I think by 2:00 am., he was tiring and getting high and just wanted to go home.

  30. One last report from Northern Kentucky…

    On Saturday, March 3, props from “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile” will be sold from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at a warehouse at 706 York St., Newport, KY. The props include vintage clothing and a wide variety of things associated with the filming will be sold. The movie now ends the shooting that was done in Northern Kentucky.

  31. Just a quick question for you Kevin-in all the books I have read on Bundy there are conflicting reports about Ted being left at the home where he was born-the Burlington place…do you know whether she left there with Ted when she had him or did she leave him there alone and return for him a few months later? I would guess that she left with him because it is spoken of as a birth place for unwed mothers and not an adoption agency, however, maybe they did have mothers who were able to leave their babies there for adoption to be handled as well?
    Thanks in advance,

    Judy

    • Hi Judy…

      I don’t believe I was able to conclusively determine if she left him for a time or not. I believe I mention both scenarios in The Bundy Murders, and that’s about it. There are a few areas like this pertaining to his early life, where a bit of a question remains, and that’s unfortunate. At the time, having a definitive answer one way or another wasn’t all that important to me so I didn’t spend a lot of time on it. I hope this helps. 🙂

      • Just wondered out of curiosity if you had ever found this bit of information. Thanks for replying.

        • You know, I knew that if I spent some real time investigating, I could absolutely discover the truth. But the issue was this: In writing The Bundy Murders, it was a 2 1/2 year marathon -nights, weekends, with little spare time – of exhaustive research, interviewing, and writing. And so, it was in my view, imperative to cut away anything I deemed not important enough to pursue. He was a baby, and while I understand bonding, I didn’t think that, even if she left him, it was a contributing factor to what happened. So I quickly passed by it. 🙂

          • Kevin: there just ain’t no way one person can ferret out every detail on TB. I have been worrying over this question ever since I started researching and I feel like I’ve got a definitive answer now, but did this affect Bundy and help him to turn out the way he did? Only God knows the answer to that. I think it did contribute, but it’s just my opinion. and opinions are like belly buttons, everybody’s got one and everybody’s is different.

          • As to causes of psychopathy, generally abused and neglected children who develop ASPD display less premeditated and cold crimes and more rage filled, violent ones. The higher the (psychopathy) personality scores, the more genetic influences are to blame. Here’s an interesting study if you haven’t read it yet. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2242349/

          • That initial bonding process between an infant and its mother that develops over the first three months of its life is so crucial and important to the development of the baby – it’s where a human first learns love, nurture and emotion. Bundy was deprived of this at this crucial juncture at the beginning of his life. While this doesn’t make everyone a ‘serial killer’, I firmly believe this was the ‘seed’ on which all his abnormal ‘festering of the mind’ watered the seed (by that I mean whatever antisocial and violent things he witnessed in his grandfathers home from there on). He always said he didn’t understand normal human emotions, but he certainly was drawn to terrorising of females early. While I totally get Kevin not wanting to get bogged down in all this, to a psychiatrist these beginnings are very telling.

    • I’ve been trying to find a definitive answer to this question. Like a lot of things about TB, it’s hard to absolutely pin down. Myra MacPherson was a journalist who spoke with Louise Bundy and Louise’s sisters and wrote an article for the May 1989 Vanity Fair issue. MacPherson wrote: “For 2 months, Ted was left at the home, without his mother, as the Cowells seriously debated whether to give him up for adoption.” then MacPhersons writes “It was her father, Louise says, who wanted her to keep the boy.”

      so the way that’s phrased tells me that the story came from Louise herself. and yes, the home was an adoption agency.

      • Thanks for replying. So it would seem he was left there. Just one more thing in a long list of things that a lot of people think are reasons why Ted became what he became. I’m not sure what I believe when it comes to why he was the way he was, all i know for sure is he was pure evil and apparently NOT AT ALL NORMAL…

        • I don’t think he was ever normal. he was a psychopath and I am not an expert, but from what I’ve read, p-paths are p-paths from the time they’re born. Louise always insisted that he was normal until he left her home. maybe he did seem normal to her, who grew up in a home parented by two mentally ill people.

  32. Hello Kevin and Everyone who still supports this “Idea Fest.”

    I can’t express the joy and intellectual satisfaction I have received since the day when, out of the blue, I discovered this discussion, this treasure trove, this encyclopedia of information. Kevin I trust you intend to support and nurture this fond of knowledge and forum of free and open expression. I truly believe that, while there is probably not much left out there to learn about Bundy, there are still many amateur detectives who have not read the books and may have interesting insights on the case.

    Kevin hang in there, you are doing a great job and, I have some interesting (at least to me) visuals and ideas to share with the group.

    Bob

    • Hi Bob,

      Yes, I’m still at the helm, and can you (and everyone!) believe we’ve just entered the 9th year of this thread?!!!!!
      Unbelievable!

      And yes, I plan on being here another 9 years if it goes that long!

      • Kevin, I’ve been lurking for 10 years, posted 1 or 2 questions, bought every one of your books, religiously still stop by here every few weeks. Larry G says….let’s keep it going! And thank you for everything you’ve done for so long!

        • Thank you, Larry G! I really do appreciate the kind words. And thanks for being a faithful lurker lol! I know you’re not the only one. I look forward to “chairing” this discussion for many more years, and I’m glad you’ll be sticking with us. 🙂

  33. Wow. I just heard that Jim Parsons who plays Sheldon on the Big Bang theory is going to play in the new Ted Bundy movie! Apparently he is going to play the role of Larry Simpson, the prosecutor in Florida. Will be interesting to see him in a role that is serious.

      • You’re welcome. I usually don’t watch the more recent t.v. series, I am old school and like to watch reruns of reruns of reruns from the seventies and eighties shows lol, but The Big Bang Theory is one of my exceptions.

          • Wow, I can’t wait to see the movie. It might just turn out to be the best one yet with the great list of actors they already have. James Hetfield being in it is a surprise as well. Saw him in concert with Guns and Roses years ago in 1992, Metallica opened for them. I am no longer a fan of that kind of music, but it will be interesting to see if he can act.

  34. Kevin, is there any reason why Mike Fisher doesn’t appear (identified) in any photographs? Among the plethora of Bundy books, many detectives from Keppel to Thompson to Dunn to Chapman are presented in photos. Mike is like the comedian from the eighties with the paper bag over his head: the unknown comic. I’m asking because over the years, I’ve seen numerous photographs of Bundy in custody in Colorado and among them he’s always presented with a short looking man with big glasses and a bigger mustache. I’ve always suspected that this was Fisher, as the lawman looks like he isn’t about to let Bundy out of his sight for a second. What is confusing is that in one of the photographs (the famous one taken the day he leapt out of court) this same officer is wearing blues, which could also mean to me he might just be a deputy of some sort. In other photos, such as the one I’m offering below, he is wearing a south-western button-down. So how about it? Is this the Fish? And, if so, do you know any reason why Fisher never presented himself for photography in the many years and books that were written about this case?

    https://www.denverpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ap17102780363926.jpg?w=620

    http://storage.torontosun.com/v1/dynamic_resize/sws_path/suns-prod-images/1297944787370_ORIGINAL.jpg?size=520x

    • Hi Jack…

      That’s an excellent question, and one I’ve never been asked before!

      There is a really good picture of Mike in the the first edition of The Only Living Witness. It’s the hard copy, and he’s sitting at his desk. There’s also a good pic of Jerry Thompson standing and either making copies, or standing at a file drawer.

      I had the same thought when I first saw that pic you posted (years ago), but that’s not Mike, as it appears that’s the uniform-type shirt that the guy behind him is wearing as well. I took a pic of that staircase when I was in the courthouse in 2015 and it hasn’t changed a bit.

      You’re correct – there aren’t enough pics of Mike out there. The same goes for Jerry Thompson.

  35. Hi All!

    What follows is from my new book, Through an Unlocked Door…

    “Before ascending the wooden steps, Rolling, already dressed all in black, pulled out a brown ski mask and slipped it over his face. He then put on gloves, all the while keeping his eyes on #113. Inside, Sonja and Christina were fast asleep, Christina on the first-floor sofa and Sonja upstairs. It was now 3:00 a.m. Very quietly Rolling climbed the steps and retrieved from his bag a screwdriver and a penlight. After trying to pry open the door, he discovered the door was unlocked.”

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07961Z5HH

  36. News on the Bundy Movie beat……

    Actor Zac Efron will start shooting a thriller movie called “Extremely Wicked, Shocking Evil And Vile” which is about the late serial killer Ted Bundy’s life but from the view of his former date Elizabeth Kloepfer.
    The movie will start shooting in the Northern Kentucky area as well as in Cincinnati Ohio this month.
    Efron will play the role of the late Ted Bunday and Lily Collins will play the role of Elizabeth Kloepfer.

    Filming is being done as we speak in the Covington suburb of Elsmere KY.

    Maybe they will use Rev Kev Sullivan in some capacity!

    • Hey KYGB!

      I have been noticing for some time now, quite an uptick in my Bundy books being sold in the Cincinnati area. Methinks something is up lol!

  37. Speaking of the victims: some guy on Reddit is claiming Donna Manson was a distant relative of Charles? I’d never heard that before and was wondering if there might be anything to it.

    • I’ve heard that, and I don’t think there’s any thing to it. It’s no doubt one of the many millions of unfounded rumors that plague the Internet.

  38. one thing i’ve wished for while researching TB is for someone to just haul off and knock the hell out of him. really hard. what can i say, i’m a hillbilly.

    i think Mr. Parmenter would have been up to the task. alas.

    (this was supposed to go with the video below)

  39. For Kevin:

    I just finished watching the Showtime documentary series “Cold Blooded – The Clutter Family Murders”, and was struck by how badly misrepresented the Clutter family was in Truman Capote’s book “In Cold Blood” and the movie (1967) and TV miniseries (1997) that were based on the book. It never ceases to amaze me how in so many true crime books, the victims are seemingly pushed into the background.

    What does this have to do with Ted Bundy? Basically my point is that the same goes for him and his victims. By design, of course, to report on the crimes, the focus should be on the perp. And Bundy is, by himself, a fascinating case study is criminal psychopathy. But what about his victims? I hate that they are so often portrayed (not by you in any of your books, of course, but by society at large) as little more than “Bundy’s Women”. They were not BUNDY’S WOMEN, they were individual distinct human beings, with lives, loves, cares, families of their own and should be viewed as such.

    I know you said that you are through with doing books on Bundy, but maybe you could consider doing one about one or a couple of his victims. Tell their life stories, before Bundy. Or maybe suggest the topic to a fellow author. Maybe pick the victims (seemingly) most talked about, such as Georgeann Hawkins, Denise Naslund and/or Melissa Smith.

    Please don’t take this rant as somehow a criticism of your work. It certainly isn’t. I’ve enjoyed your books. I just think it’s time these women and girls had their stories fully told.

    What do you think?

    • Hey Brad,

      No, I don’t think you’re being critical of me or my work. And you’re not the first to suggest a greater look into the lives of the victims. When I was writing The Bundy Murders, I purposely added lots of info on them (where possible), and a good number of folks who’ve read the book recognize this.

      Again, after 3 books and over 600 pages, I have finished my writing on Bundy, the victims and the case. I still do documentaries, radio shows and podcasts, and that’s fine, but there won’t be any more Bundy books from me. And as to suggesting others writers look into it, that’s not what writers do.

      Perhaps one day someone will write a book about the victims, but that might prove problematic. Numerous friends of the victims won’t talk, even today. Getting enough NEW info to fill a book would be difficult indeed. For the foreseeable future, the occasional article or blog with turn up something – just as I have new, never-before published testimonies from those who knew Bundy in all three of my books. But outside of that, I don’t expect very much to come forth. Maybe i’m wrong, but we’ll see.

      Oh, and one more thing: If Bill Hagmaier ever writes that book we talked about once, I’ll be the first in line to get it lol!

      Take care!

      • Man, i hope Hagmaier does write a book! and i would like to hear something from diana weiner.

        those are two people with very unique POV’s.

          • Agreed. All Weiner does is perpetuate the Ted mythology. Of all the women attracted to Ted in their weird way, she’s by far the most irresponsible and unethical. In the position she held and the power she wielded, she should have had her head screwed on and not given into his charms. She’s part of the minority that excuses what he did.

          • Yes, I’ve heard the stories directly from the investigators who dealt with her, and they are eyebrow raising lol! Of course, I never put any of these things into print.

            I do find it interesting that Bundy left everything to her after his execution, and yet, Bob Keppel ended up with most if not ll of it. I can’t recall now all the particulars of that situation.

      • Writing anything of substance about Bundy’s victims is impossible – thy were all taken long before they’d really achieved anything in life – how much can you write about someone from the ages of 12 to 26? It’s a sad truth, but true nonetheless.

    • i agree that there ought to be more said about the young women victimized by TB, but there just isn’t much way to do more than has already been done. as a writer working on a TB project, i would love to say more about them, but the only way that i can think of would be to try to talk to families and people who knew them. And i am not willing to bother those people. they are sick, i’m sure, of anything pertaining to TB.

      the only thing i’ve thought of is to try to intelligently speculate on the lives they might have lived. i have also written some about the times in which they lived, that aftermath of the 60’s that was still in the air in the early 70’s.

    • I agree that famous murderers’ victims are often overlooked and it’s a crying shame.

      I saw a wonderful article on the 50th anniversary of Richard Speck’s mass murder of those nurses, and it was all about the nurses’ lives instead of their deaths and Richard Speck’s actions.

      The reporter found old photos of them and interviewed family members and presented each person, a promising young woman, a life snuffed out, and it was really beautiful. The article really did a great job but the victims’ families shouldn’t have had to wait 50 years for it.

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