Ted Bundy: A Killer in the Archives

The Washington Confession in full, 1989, Part 1

The Washington confession to Bob Keppel, with Bill Hagmaier and Diana Weiner present. Corresponds to pages 1-17 of the transcript I posted earlier, in case you'd like to follow along. The first of four parts.

Bundy Timeline, 1946-1973

A detailed timeline of Bundy's life and yearly activities, created by the King County Police in 1975. 

A Conversation About the Riverman, 1984, Part 6

“My guess is, he’s doing a lot of driving… Doing a lot more driving than what’s necessary. My guess is he would be, if nothing else, be hunting for sites. Or going back to other places where he’s left bodies. But there’s a good chance he feels somewhat constrained. I mean, there’s no question, he could probably do one a day if he wanted to. You know, for the time being. Basically. There’s some times where he does do one a day! This is why I don’t think the guy has just stopp...

Colorado Arrest Warrant, 1978

The Colorado arrest warrant issued Feb 21, 1978, several days after Bundy's recapture in Florida. Includes a detailed timeline of the second escape.

Dr. Gadowski's Testimony, 1977

"Caryn and Allen had discussed a magazine that they were apparently looking at in the store, and I believe I had a copy of the magazine in the room, or a similar copy and Caryn volunteered to-- or told Allen that she would get the magazine, or one of us would get the magazine for him to look at, and I remember her asking me specifically if I would go to the room to get the magazine and it sounded somewhat silly to me to go all the way up there to get a magazine, so I said, "No. Why don't you ...

Sentencing, Feb 12, 1980

"Your Honor, how ludicrous, how fallacious, how ridiculous it is to assume that Andy Anderson is to be believed, that the abduction that occurred and the manner in which the state alleged that it occurred. How totally ridiculous that some person would drive a van and park it in the middle of a highway and start running around the Lake City Junior High School, looking tor someone to abduct and murder. How fallacious a proposition. And yet somebody bought it. The jury bought it. But I don't buy...

Charles Shearer, 1976

A particularly interesting interview transcript from Feb 19, 1976 with Chuck Shearer, Ted's neighbor at his Salt Lake City apartment in the Avenues. [The interview update is about halfway down the post.]

Shearer: ...I walked over to his apartment. It was right close to noon. I knocked on the door and the door was open, the door went open, you know, when I knocked. He was sitting on the couch and he told me to come on in. I went in and I said, “Ted, I got to ask you, I have ...

Surveillance, 1976

King County Police Report by Detective Roger Dunn on surveilling Ted while he was in Seattle in the winter of 1975-76:

I got two impressions as to why Bundy uses a tactic of parking the car and walking away:

a. He hoped that I would immobilize the operation of his car so he could scream 'harassment'.

b. He hoped that I would get out and follow him on foot so he could double back to the car and drive off without a tail…

My impressions of Bundy during the da...

A Conversation About the Riverman, 1984, Part 5

"Over the years I’ve had an opportunity I’m sure you’ve had, to read about cases where a man accused of mass murders had his belongings examined. Some of them had the effort, you know, newspaper articles on the wall and everything. The Riverman is not flamboyant in the way that the Son of Sam types are. I mean, he’s not trying to be sensational. He’s low-key, not only in the kind of victim he’s going after- and this is my own opinion- but not disposing of them in a way to arouse s...

Ted's Transcripts

Upon request, Ted's academic transcripts in full.

Letter to Bruce Lubeck and John O'Connell, 1978

"Lickity-split, cleaner-than-a-whistle, I vanished into thin air - freer than the birds! I had my chance. I knew what it would. take to remain free and I had rehearsed it a thousand times lying in a cell through hundreds of lonely nights. That night two months ago in Pensacola I wish those policeman's bullets had hit their mark as I ran blindly down the street. I didn't want anymore chances; I can't play the part.

I like you both very much, and I am deeply sorry that I have disappointed...

FBI Tapes, 1986-1989

Since the Darksider Press website run by Richard Duffus seems to have gone down, I'm reposting the FBI tapes featuring Ted and Bill Hagmaier here for those who haven't listened to them yet. Richard Duffus acquired them from the FBI.

Interview with Cheryl Thomas, Jan 31, 1978

Patchen: For the record, uh, Cheryl's mouth is wired so it's difficult to understand her at times. Um, she has two black eyes and complains of an injury to the ear, and she has a noticeable bruise on her left hand.

Thomas: [Mumble indiscernible]

Patchen: And her ears are bruised.

Thomas: My shoulder and my back of my head...

Patchen: Tell me about your keys that you lost, which keys they were and where you think you lost them or how you thought yo...

Seattle Times, 1979

A collection of Seattle Times clippings by Richard Larsen, who would later go on to write "The Deliberate Stranger." Primarily covers the Chi Omega trial.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/els6oe9e1t6e927/AABPjNO2wk3YsaNDViwCPQrga?dl=0 

A Conversation about the Riverman, 1984, Part 4

Bundy: “Why he would do something to one victim as opposed to another—sometimes it may be baffling, maybe even to him... I’d say that if he’s just raking stuff over some of them and burying others, that may be just the fact that he just happened to have a shovel in the car this time. And the other times he forgot it. I mean, you might say, ‘Well, this guy is more competent than that.’ Perhaps. But perhaps not. I think that the last thing that he’s thinking when he leaves the hou...

DaRonch Trial-Related Transcripts

The full transcript of the 1976 Carol DaRonch trial, as well as the court transcript from Thompson's lineup affidavit, the transcript of the Oct. 2, 1975 lineup itself, and an excerpt from the preliminary hearing transcript.

Diagnostic Study, 1976

This report was written in addition to the presentence report by the same Utah investigator, Don Hull, during Bundy's 90-day evaluation phase. 

Some of it is similar to the presentence report, but what I found most interesting was the defendant's statement:

"...No fact seems to have had more incriminating significance to the prosecution in the kidnapping case and...

More Taylor Mtn bone confusion...

I just came across another strange twist in the Taylor Mountain long bone story. If you read my previous post about Taylor Mountain, and the fact that there were indeed victims' leg bones found at the site identified by DNA in 2008, you'll recall that I speculated that those  were accidentally misidentified as animal bones by criminalist Kay Sweeney.

Recently I found these notes in the archives. Apparently the leg bones were identified as such by Keppel himself in his initial hand...

Bundy Deposes Dr. Wood

Ted directly and graphically questions Dr. Thomas Wood, the coroner who autopsied Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman, on November 14, 1978. He frequently asks the doctor to point out the victims' injuries on their autopsy photographs, and describe in vivid detail the injuries to their genitals.

Nita Neary, Part 3

The final portion of the interview with Nita Neary, after she is brought out of her hypnosis:

What did you think when you saw him?

Neary: I thought we had a burglar, but I never suspected anything as bad as… what happened. So when I got my roommate up, I was asking her, should we call the police? I thought she’d know if someone did have a guy up there. I don’t know why I didn’t think anything about the club… And as we were talking about it out in the hall, that’s when ...

Life on Death Row

An enlightening news clipping dated 12/27/87 describing Ted's daily life on Death Row, with an especially interesting portion about Carole Boone's visitation in 1987. She definitely visited him that year, several times, unlike what is commonly reported that she stopped visiting after 1986. 

I've also included Ted's daily activity log in prison, 1979-1987.

"Memories that Will Not Die"

I found this very interesting article recently, written right before the execution in 1989. The journalist tracked down the surviving Chi Omega sisters for interviews about that terrible night in 1978, and what life was like for them afterwards.
Really moving and emotional stuff.

Other Girlfriends Update

Updated the Other Girlfriends blog post to include some newly discovered reports on Utah girlfriends Leslie Knudson, Anne Swensen, and especially Margith Maughan. Anne Swensen has a new correct name spelling and photo (the last one was incorrect!). Margith has some particularly interesting (juicy) tidbits on Ted. Including:

"Numerous times Ted would be hiding in front of her car, and all of a sudden he would jump up and scare her. He knew this scared her extremely, but did it anyway. H...

Florida Memo, 1989

A post-execution memo to the Attorney General of Florida, March 1989. Summarizes the known info on the Bundy case, with occasional errors and assumptions not supported by evidence. Let me know what you find interesting, or what you noticed he got wrong.

"Bundy was sensitive to law enforcement operations and attempted to prevent police agencies from connecting his crimes. For this reason, he tried to avoid leaving victims in a manner where the body would be easily found and identified. B...

A Conversation about the Riverman, 1984, Part 3

"This guy obviously thought that dumping bodies in the river was a good way to get rid of bodies. And sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. And as anyone who's searched for people who've fallen in the river knows that oftentimes bodies just disappear in rivers, under the right conditions. And I think he found out the hard way that these didn't..." 

Dawn Kraut, 1975

Near the end of 1975, the Bundys had bailed Ted out of the Salt Lake County Jail and back to Washington. By then Bundy was a hot topic of local conversation, after the shocking news of his Utah arrest for the Carol DaRonch kidnapping hit the papers in early October. While in Seattle, Ted spent most of his time socializing and at least intimated that he was preparing for trial by studying at the University of Washington. King County Police now considered him their lead suspect, and were watchi...

Ted's Juvenile Record?

Excerpts from Keppel's Notes; Dec. 11, 1975

0840 hrs:

Anonymous Caller Tip:
Ted was arrested as a juvenile in Pierce County (burglary). Expunged, but [arrest?] card still exists. The man who arrested him still works there- [Remann] Hall, Juvenile Dept.

Will be back up if he (?) has three weeks clear.

0850 hrs:

Called Detective Collins at Tacoma Police Dept. He will check on Bundy’s juvenile record.

1015 hrs:

Detective Collins ca...

Dorothy Lewis' Testimony, 1987

In late October 1987, US District Judge Kendall Sharp held a competency hearing to determine whether Ted Bundy was legally competent at the time of his 1980 trial for the murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach. Ted Bundy’s lawyer, Jim Coleman, argued that Bundy had a serious psychiatric illness that prevented him from making competent legal decisions in his own defense. As evidence of Bundy’s mental disorder, Coleman offered the expert testimony of Dr. Dorothy Lewis at the hearing. This is ...

Jim and Jan; July 13, 1974

July 13, 1974

Dearest Jim,
Hello! Here I sit supping on the delicious fruits of summer- in other words, I am sitting in the gorgeous warm sunshine on our front porch. After a week of such disgusting wet weather it has cleared off and is glorious. Hon, I am sorry I did not get to call you last night. I went into the city about 5pm, had dinner at a marvelous little Japanese 'hole in the wall' down in the International District with some friends then went to the Seattle Center Playhou...

Next victim case file?

Which victim should I focus on for the next case file? (please choose only one)