282
DaRonch escaped capture and
went to the police. She described
her attacker as a fairly good-looking
man driving a VW and wearing a
smart pair of shiny shoes.
Luckily, Detective Jerry
Thompson, who was investigating
the disappearances of several girls
in the area, matched the
appearance of the man booked by
Hayward in Salt Lake City with thedescription that Carol DaRonch had
given of her kidnapper in Murray
the previous year.
A subsequent police search of
Bundy’s apartment found evidence
that he had visited several of the
towns from which girls had
disappeared. When his car was
examined, strands of the girls’ hair
implicated Bundy further. When
DaRonch identified Bundy in aTED BUNDY
line-up, he was arrested for
kidnapping and assault. Detectives
suspected him of murder but
needed hard evidence.
This came when hairs from
murder victim Caryn Campbell
were found in his car. On 30 June
1976, Bundy was placed in Utah
State Prison, Colorado. In October,
he was charged with Campbell’s
murder and taken to Pitkin County
Courthouse in Aspen for trial.Escaping justice
Taking advantage of his law
studies, Bundy served as his
own lawyer. During a break in
proceedings, he was granted
permission to use the court’s law
library. Left on his own, Bundy
jumped out of a library window and
made a run for Aspen Mountain.
For six days, Bundy roamed hiking
trails and campsites until police
discovered the fugitive in a stolen
car. Bundy was placed in Garfield
County jail, Colorado.
His second escape involved
months of preparation: Bundy got
hold of the prison’s floorplan and a
hacksaw from fellow prisoners, cut
through the ceiling of his cell, and
lost enough weight to squeeze
through the gap. After practising
his escape route several times,
Bundy broke out of prison on
30 December 1977. He stole cars,
hitchhiked, boarded planes, and
travelled by train to Tallahassee,
Florida, where he rented a room
near Florida State University. A
week after he arrived in town,
Bundy crept into Chi OmegaPoliceman Off-duty
firemanStudent
“Chris
Hagen”Student
“Kenneth
Misner”Bundy took pleasure in dressing up
and assuming other identities, and
would flick through local telephone
directories for inspiration. With the aid
of various hairstyles, fake moustaches
and moles, glasses, and clothes, Bundy
developed a range of alter egos.276-283_Ted_Bundy.indd 282 13/12/2016 10:10
283
During Bundy’s trial, Nita Jane
Neary said she saw Bundy leaving the
Chi Omega sorority house at Florida
State University on the morning two
students were murdered.sorority house late one night and
attacked four young women, killing
two of them. He then attacked a
fifth woman in a nearby apartment.
A couple of weeks later, Bundy
abducted 12-year-old Kimberly
Diane Leach from in front of her
school. Her body was later found
in a pigsty. Within a week of her
disappearance, Bundy was arrested
for driving a stolen vehicle.
Witnesses placed him at the sorority
house and at Kimberly’s school.
There was also physical evidence
that linked him to the murders.
Convicted of all three murders,
Bundy was sentenced to death.Death row
For nine years and six months
Bundy corresponded from Florida’s
death row with dozens of people,
including Beverly Burr, the mother
of Ann. He married a loyal friend,Carole Boone, and became a father- they reportedly bribed a guard to
look the other way. He “consulted”
with police about other serial
killers, and cooperated with authors
writing about him.
SERIAL KILLERS
Several appeals for new trials and
for a stay of execution were denied.
In his last days on death row,
Bundy confessed to 36 murders
that he was suspected of, and gave
details of others that had not
previously been associated with
him, linking him to some 50
murders in all. However, a court-
appointed psychiatrist put the
number of victims at around 100,
and Bundy himself told Dr Ronald
Holmes that he had committed 300
murders across 10 states. Bundy
offered to give more details about
other missing women if his
execution was postponed for a
few months, but Florida Governor
Bob Martinez refused to “negotiate
with a killer”.
On the evening of 24 January
1989, 42-year-old Ted Bundy died
in the electric chair. The answer to
why he killed so many women may
be deduced from one of the last
explanations that he gave: “I just
liked to kill. I wanted to kill.” ■Interviews with killers
Scientists researching criminal
pathologies, investigators
hoping for a lead, and journalists
out for a sensational scoop have
all been granted permission
to conduct interviews with
serial killers in prison. As a
consequence, hundreds of
hours of interview footage
exists, much of it now available
on the internet.
However, the study of these
interviews does not necessarily
offer many insights into the
mind of a serial killer. Givena chance to present themselves
and their behaviour to the public
outside the prison walls, serial
killers are theatrical, often
playing up to the interviewers’
desire to gain an understanding
of their subjects and to be
shocked by them. From Ted
Bundy’s cold pretence of
remorse, to Charles Manson’s
wilfully insane diatribes, and
Jeffrey Dahmer’s astonishingly
candid responses, the
performances of these men
make a convincing psychological
portrait of a serial killer seem
increasingly elusive.276-283_Ted_Bundy.indd 283 13/12/2016 11:24