1989: Ted Bundy, psycho killer

Posted on by

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..

Possibly related executions:

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

  1. My equation with Schaefer was only the incarcerated life they shared. But the big difference between Lewis and Hagmaier (or any prisoner and Hagmaier) is that Hagmaier has absolutely no reason to distort the truth. In other words, why go seeking information from “shady” or criminal types, when there are plenty of living folks that can give you “the straights” about Ted? Why go to those, who, for the most part have lived their lives defrauding people (or worse!) ?

    It’s not that I’m impugning the words of Bobby Lewis, — I simply couldn’t care less to hear them.

  2. Hi Kevin,

    I am Robert from Malaysia,an avid true crime stories reader,with a keen interest in the Ted Bundy saga.Is there a chance of your book’The Bundy Murders’ being released here in Malaysia?

  3. Regarding Bobby Lewis in 1037: I knew Bobby from 1985 until his death in 2001. That’s a lot longer than most people I’ve known. Nevertheless, I agree that one does not simply take at face value anything a convict might say which is why, rather than just wondering about it, I have taken the trouble to verify his information. The end result is that, while his opinions were sometines incorrect, his factual knowledge has proven to be more accurate than even that of Bill Hagmaier. And he has been truthful. So, please, don’t impugn his reputation by equating him with Schaefer.

  4. “Ted Bendy” good luck to ya, pal. You won’t find many kindred spirits on this forum. Ted got what he deserved and is damned lucky he didn’t get pulled out of one of those county jails he was in and got his butt lynched!

    Jason, which one of the You Tube segemnts are you referring to? Better post the url, so i don’t get confused again

    Thanks for pointing that stuff out.

    it’s quite good.

  5. Ant–

    I must tell you, I’ve always enjoyed answering questions here, because we all share the same interest in Bundy and his crimes. And yes, stop back by as I’m sure we’ll be here for some time to come.

    Great speaking with you too, Anthony!

    Kevin

  6. Fiz–

    Of all the thousand plus comments which have been logged at this site, “Ted Bendy” may be the strangest of them all.

  7. Thanks very much for the reply Kevin i think it’s great you take time out to reply to so many posts. I will get myself a copy of The Riverman plus a copy of your book, not sure of it’s UK release as of yet but an interested read awaits non the less.

    Great speaking with you Kevin, i am going to keep and eye on this thread as i really enjoy reading other peoples views and questions on bundy

    Ant

  8. “Poor Soul”? What, as in poor of spirit ? I have yet to be convinced Bundy had a soul, even as he did not have a conscience! Don’t talk such twaddle!

  10. Surely not another book about Ted, how many more?
    Is it not time we let the poor soul rest in peace?

  12. Kevin –

    Thank you for enquring about the book. It looks like we shall we recieving the book as early as monday next week or wednesday the latest. I did check a couple of book stores today just to see if they did recieve any and they didnt.
    After watching some more segments of the ‘Countdown to the execution of Ted Bundy’ on youtube, I came across some previously never-before-seen photos of Ted Bundy in an office minutes before the verdict for the Kim Leach murder came in. One of the interviews shows Ted branishing his teeth right up-close in front of the camera. It was almost like he was showing off about the bite-marks he left of lisa levys buttocks. Very creepy picture indeed!!

  13. Jason–

    I spoke with the publisher this morning, and the shipment of books to the UK are in transit even as I write this. She didn’t say when they would arrive, but there aren’t any problems such as you were told by the clerk at the bookstore you visited. The UK distributor should have them very soon!

  14. Hi Anthony,

    First, thanks for the kind words about the book, and this unending thread which has become so popular over these many months. It just goes to show how much people are interested in Ted Bundy and those like him.

    Okay. If you pick up a copy of Bob Keppel’s book, “The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for The Green River Killer”, I think you’ll find some good info contained therein. Of course, I’ve spoken to Keppel numerous times over the phone, and we’ve exchanged a few e-mails too. However, most of my conversations with him were concerning his investigation of the Washington murders, and things about Bundy related to that. he may have said a few additional comments to me regarding Bundy and his conversations about the Green River killer, but I can’t recall offhand. The book, however, gives a good picture of what it was like for Keppel to be dealing with him about this.

    While reading about folks like Gerard Schaefer and Bobby Lewis may prove interesting, I wouldn’t place a great deal of trust in what they say. They have there own motives for connecting themselves to Bundy, so no matter what information they provide, we are left to wonder about the truthfulness of their remarks. Personally, I’ve never been interested in “cell-mate” testimony, if you will.

    Thanks for the questions, Anthony!

    Take care,

    Kevin

  15. Hi Kevin,

    I would just like to thank you for your time and efforts spent making this book possible plus taking the time out to answering questions people ask you on Bundy. I myself stumbled across this site searching for more information than what i already know about him plus other serial killers. I have read books and watched documentary’s on him and just had a quick question as to how much of an insight Bundy had into helping Bob Keppel profile
    Gary Ridgeway aka The Green River Killer? Plus I watched a documentary about Gerard Schaefer and in one iinterview he mentions phone conversations he had with Ted Bundy i wondered if they are true because Schaefer was a liar and never commited to his murders. Just wondering if you could shed any light in to these two topics.

    Take care

    Anthony

  16. Hi Courtney–

    I’ll contact him and have him send you my email address. Then fire away!

    Kevin

  17. Kevin,

    How do i get your email address? You said contact the headsman? How do I do that? lol thanks!

  18. Jason–

    I’ll call the publisher tomorrow and ask them about the UK release date. I’ll post here as soon as I know something.

    I can only say that I found nothing in the official record to absolutely connect Bundy to Cherly Thomas prior to the attack.. However, he was continually hunting (on that night) in a geographically small area of Tallahassee, looking into windows, etc, so there is always a chance it was a “return” visit. Even so, this is still speculation.

    Take care,

    Kevin

  19. Vidor–

    In the Time-Life series of serial killers, there is information about Hagmaire’s dealings with Bundy, and how the confirmation came forth at that time of that which investigators feared was true: Bundy admitted keeping Ott alive and that she and Nausland did see each other on that day. And that, of course, goes hand-in-hand with the M&A interviews. Bundy had the utmost respect for Bill Hagmaier, and considered him a friend. And according to what Bill told me, (and we had several long conversations) ted communicated to his mother his friendship with Bill, and she made it a point of keeping in contact with him for many years after her son’s execution. As such, I personally wouldn’t put a lot of stock in what Bundy told Nelson about this particular matter, as I just don’t believe he would have, for any reasons, told Hagmaier a lie, while telling Nelson (or any other attorney) the truth.

  20. “I am completely baffled as to why some people still think Ted killed Ott before returning for Naslund.”

    That would be me. Here are my reasons: we know Bundy lied to police. We know Bundy lied to M&A. But he had nothing to gain by lying to Polly Nelson, especially since the confession he made to her about Lake Sam came the day before he was executed. You can believe source A, source B or source C, but when in doubt I put my trust in his statements to Nelson, who was his lawyer, not a member of law enforcement and not looking to make a buck off of him (while he was alive, anyway). Combine that with the fact that it would have been hellaciously risky to leave Janice Ott alive and out of his presence–Occam’s Razor certainly votes for him having killed her before heading back to the lake.

    BTW, where is the reference saying that Bundy told Hagmaier that he had the girls alive together? AFAIK there is very little on record anywhere as to what Bundy told Hagmaier.

  21. Kevin –
    Thanks for the info. I went to one of the leading bookstores in the UK called waterstones and asked whether they would have your book avaliable for tomorrow. The lady at the desk stated that although it says that the publication date is 15/09/09, the date of the delivery of the book was withdrawn. She even suggested it may have been for legal reasons on your part LOL. I think i will stick to my order with Amazon.co.uk which states the book will take about 7 days to arrive.
    That reminds me of what we spoke about before as to whether or not Bundy had any knowledge of Cheryl Thomas prior to the attack. This reinforces my idea that he did because if he didnt, i am sure he would of ‘deposited’ his semen in the Chi Omega house. I believe Bundy had knowledge of Cheryl Thomas and her residence before he entered the Chi O. It is possible he stumbled across her resisdence before or after entering Sherrods. Or maybe even day prior to the attack. I just dont believe he would have been able to locate a rooming house, randomly and stumble across the girls that were inside without knowing beforehand.

  22. Jason–

    The “stain”: I can only tell you investigators believe it was deposited by her attacker; i.e. Bundy. As such, I am sure they ruled out a boyfriend as being a possibility rather quickly. I also personally believe, that Bundy, having been “robbed” of committing this murder (and being in a state of arousal, however high) would not have departed without doing this. it all just makes sense to me, given the evidence.

  23. hi Jason–

    I hope you (and all my UK friends) get the book tomorrow! You all have been very patient, and I know that some on this site are being silent about the book till you all have a chance to read it too.

    Something interesting: Sales for the book in the UK apparently exploded over the weekend, based on the ratings found at Amazon.UK, as it went to #3 in the category for serial killer books, to #20 later Saturday afternoon, and back to the #4 spot soon after this. So that’s cool!

  24. Andy–

    Bundy did admit to killing at least one woman in CA, and yes, I believe there are others. Indeed, I have a missing persons report of a lady apparently suspected of being abducted after leaving a university (Stanford?) library one evening. And believe me, it has Bundy’s MO all over it, in my opinion. However, I don’t believe Ted is responsible for the other homicide you mention.

    take care,

    Kevin

  25. Hopefully the book will be published in the UK tomorrow but based on what Kevin said about the book being printed in the US, it is likely that Fiz, Claire, myself and any other UK posters may have to wait another week. I am going to check the leading bookstores tomorrow anyway just in case.

    With reference to the Cheryl Thomas attack, did she ever state that the stain could have come from a boyfriend of hers or something? If she did not have intercourse with a male any time prior to the attack then it would be safe to say that it is very probable that the stain came from Bundy.

  26. Arlis Perry was the woman killed in the church. Two other women were strangled in 1973-74 at Stanford. Ted went to school down there. The womans name in North Carolina was alice burges or burgess

  27. There were several women killed at or near standford university in 193. One was killed in a church withan ice pick. I do remember ted visited a girlfriend in california and wonder if he could of possibly been involved in these murders. Aloso his escape time frame fits in with the unsolved murder of alice burgess in north carolina in late 1977. He may have been traveling down to Florida and stopped at a bar where MS Burgess, a mother of three was last seen.

  28. Sorry about the above glitch!

    Now, don’t laugh, but I don’t have a copy of my book before me as I write this, so I hope I can provide the answer you need. Yes, I have spoken to Bill Hagmaier about Bundy’s preferred method of killing women during the sexual act, and I’ve incorporated this info, as well as all things pertinent from the police investigative files, to describe the murders committed by Bundy.

    Take care,

    Kevin

  29. Vidor–

    The stain left on the bed was very fresh, according to investigators, and, apparently, through the course of the investigation, it was determined that whoever attacked Cheryl Thomas was the source of said stain. It is also conclusive, in my opinion, that Bundy was interrupted in his attack, and most certainly, (because he deposited the “stain” on her bed) he would have had to disrobed to at least this degree to obtain the sexual release before departing.

    Now, don’t laugh, but I don’t have a copy of my book before me as I write this, so I hope I can provide the answer you need. Yes, I have spoken to Bill Hagmaier about Bundy’s preferred method of killing women during the sexual act, and I’ve incorporated this info, as well as

    No, to my knowledge, Bundy never spoke of this in any great detail; and yes, part

  30. MR Proper–

    Has there ever been a book published which is well-received by everyone? Of course not. Thus far (and at this site alone) I’ve had extremely nice things said about TBM, and also some, well, not-so nice. This sort of thing is to be expected, and I’m not at all bothered by your honesty. In life, you, we, all of us, cannot please everybody. That’s just the nature of the beast.

    And of course, thanks for the positive comments too!

    Kevin

  31. Vidor: I agree 100% with your review. I really, really hate to be this harsh about the work of such a nice guy, but Kevin should have enlisted the help of a more experienced writer to go through the book before publication. It is well researched, insightful (more so than some of the others, I thought) and contains several “new” tidbits of information, but it does suffer from too many misspelt words, inappropriately used words, repetetive sentences and – as you pointed out – corny and laboured metaphors. English isn’t my first language, but even I found this distracting, and I was already a tiny bit miffed about the price. I was also a bit disappointed by the fact that it’s really just another retelling of the story, with nothing much to distinguish it from the existing canon. I was under the impression that it was going to examine the murders themselves, from planning stage to aftermath, in particular detail. While this is the case with a couple of the murders, I constantly found myself supplementing the narrative with pertinent information from memory to complete the picture. Given the chosen title, I was surprised at the amount of space given to recounting other, well-publicised parts of the story, such as the investigation and the trials. For these reasons, I’d hesitate to recommend TBM to someone who just wanted to read one book on Bundy, but for Bundy buffs, it’s already on the curriculum.
    Sorry, Kevin, but you said you preferred honesty… Please don’t get mad 🙂 Plus, I can also honestly say that I think your book has contributed to furthering our understanding of Bundy, which is more than I would say about some of the others.

    A couple of things recent post I’d like to comment on while I’m at it: I am completely baffled as to why some people still think Ted killed Ott before returning for Naslund. Here are some reasons why:
    – he described killing one in front of the other to M&A.
    – he described the same scenario to Hagmaier.
    – not killing one while the other watched would – in Ted’s mind – be a shamefully wasted opportunity, as the extreme fear caused in the victim that was forced to watch would be a supreme turn-on, as Kevin notes in his book.
    – him lying about the murders to make them more horrific simply doesn’t seem plausible to me.
    – for what it’s worth, worthless, pathetic, scumbag Gerard Schaefer talked to Bundy in prison, and has subsequently claimed that the Lake Sam murders were inspired by articles on Schafer’s own crimes that Ted read in his beloved detective magazines. The way GS tells it, it was more or less an homage. Incidentally, Schafer also said that Ted told him his “grand total” was 36, and that Ted was most anxious to find out if Schafer had “done” more than the 34 he was suspected of. Ted wanted to be the best, and the thought that “Gerry” might have him beat didn’t sit well with him at all.
    – he had just plucked a young girl from a huge crowd, in front of lots of witnesses, even using his own name. When Bundy was in this “godlike” state, feeling invincible, untouchable, the percieved risk of leaving a battered, semi- or unconscious Ott at his secure location for half an hour or so would be negligible. Kevin also covers this phenomenonvery well in his book.
    (It is true that Ted denied the M&A version when making his confessions to Polly Nelson, claiming he had deliberately changed certain details in his “speculations” in order to maintain some sort of “plausible deniability”. However, it is more likely that he wanted to soften the blow for his lady lawyer, who was holding his hand, buying him little gifts, and generally shaping up to be another useful female he could manipulate into viewing him as human. As opposed to delighting in the revulsion of hardened crime writers and investigators, as he was when talking to M&A.)

    Wilcox murder: one of the YouTube clips actually features him (from M&A’s tape) describing this scene. Chilling stuff. I’d only heard one extract from the TOLW tapes before, a few seconds of the Brenda Ball story (in the doc “Crime Stories”, if I’m not mistaken), and it’d be very interesting to hear more. Anybody have a “line” on those tapes?

    Cheryl Thomas: that “particular way” of rape referred to was described (though not too explicitly) by Hagmaier in the documentary “Natural Porn Killer”, and was by most accounts something he sought to accomplish with most of his victims. It was something Ted admitted to enjoying “a great deal”, according to BH.

    Well, enough of my yakkin’. All the best to you, Kevin; I sincerely wish you success with this and all future projects, and I feel terrible for picking on your writing.

  32. That would mean that it can not be substantiated unless Bundy himself confessed that he did it himself.

  33. The books go into detail on the secretor/nonsecretor business–IIRC the key was that the test wasn’t necessarily conclusive.

  34. Vidor –
    It was my belief that the stain left on Cheryl Thomas’s bed came from someone other than Bundy. I may not be 100% accurate here but i believe i read in one of the books on Bundy that the semen stain was tested and it came out as a non-secretor and Bundy was in fact a secretor. I think it was in the Only Living Witness where it stated that it was the only piece of evidence that was in Bundy’s favour.

  35. I did have a question. Kevin presumes that the stain left on Cheryl Thomas’ bed was left by Bundy masturbating. Is that a guess, or did Ted eventually admit that the stain was his? IIRC the books left it as an open question whether the stain was his or Thomas had had a male friend over in the recent past.

    Kevin also describes that Bundy was going to rape Thomas in a particular way that I won’t describe in this thread. That was another telling detail that I’d never seen before. Confessed to Hagmaier?

  37. Finished.

    I won’t unsay anything I said about the prose. “The Only Living Witness” remains the best book in the Bundy canon. But it appears to be very well researched, contains info not found in the other books, and is a must-read for Bundy buffs like us.

  39. Fiz–

    Have the Headsman pass your email address along to me. I will then send you the link to my site; all courtesy of my daughter who helped her dear old dad with it, lol! God help my PC ignorance!

  41. Kevin, there are 14 Kevin M.Sullivan’s on Facebook!!!! Which one are you? If the webmaster wants to give my email address to Kevin s/he can and maybe we could do it that way?

  42. I didn’t notice in the credits, but it appeared to me the ’02 “Bundy” movie was in part based on the “Phantom Prince”. Hence they got use of the “heel click” photo

  43. Vidor,

    I could be mistaken here, but I was under the impression that the photo of Bundy on the edge of the woods (he loved the woods!) jumping and kicking, belongs to Liz Kendall.

  44. Richard–

    Whatever you locate in an archives will probably have an ok to reproduce. However, each one is different, just as each state is different. So, whatever you might want to use, check with each archives, and they will give you the needed info concerning what you’d like to use, and what stipulations might be involved with such use, etc.

  45. “How does one find out if something is copyrighted?”

    There are about a billion different rules to copyright law–just about everything published in this country b/f 1923 isn’t copyrighted, and much of what was published after is, but some isn’t, and I couldn’t begin to explain it. The Ted Bundy photos held at the Florida Memory Project are, along with all other photos there, free for use according to FL state law.

    I’ve wondered specifically about pictures taken of Bundy by private individuals b/f he became a public figure–that shot of him washing dishes with a blond woman, that shot of him jumping and kicking his heels so prominently shown in the “Ted Bundy” movie. No idea how to determine their copyright status.

  46. Vidor–

    King County Archives is really the place to go. Washington State is to be commended on the care they’ve taken to collect and house the Bundy case material. Utah, on the other hand, could care less, and officially, has almost nothing left; even the trial transcripts of the Carol DaRonch case were destroyed after 9 years. This is standard procedure there, no matter how infamous the case might be. If it wasn’t for the retired detectives holding on to their stuff (as Jerry Thompson does) the researcher would be up caca creek without the proverbial paddle! I certainly don’t envy researchers in Utah 50 years from now trying to learn of Bundy, LOL!

  48. “Check “Conversations with a Killer”, starting at p. 140. He identifies the girl as Wilcox.”

    I stand corrected–been a while since I read that one.

    As for the pictures, it’s not my website but Wikipedia; I found the Florida Memory Project and posted the same picture of Levy and Bowman that you include in your book. I was hoping there was a way to post copyright-free pictures of, oh, Janice Ott, or maybe Ted Bundy before he was outed as a murder suspect. Maybe I’ll look into contacting King County as you did; thanks for explaining.

  49. Vidor,

    Check “Conversations with a Killer”, starting at p. 140. He identifies the girl as Wilcox.

    The pics are from the King County Archives, and many have been digitized and otherwise restored over the years. Unlike the Associated Press, which wanted to charge me $225.00 for the use of one picture in the book, I obtained some 20 photos from King Co. for about $5.00, and sent to me on disk. As far as permissions, I had to obtain “non-exclusive world rights” for the publisher, and that was simple enough to do. so for anything you want to do at your site, just check with them.

  50. Courtney–

    I’m set up as Kevin Sullivan, (this was accomplished by someone else, lol!) but I’d normally go a s Kevin M. S…

Comments are closed.