RESEARCH ON THE ORIGINS OF ALL FIGURES ASSOCIATED WITH BUNDY
"36"
The first number associated with Bundy is 36 murders. According to Dick Larsen's book, this figure was first released by the FBI when they placed Bundy on their Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List and announced he was being sought for questioning in 36 sex slayings. As explained by spokesman and chief agent John Reed of the Seattle FBI office on February 10, 1978, during a press conference, The FBI received that information from local police jurisdictions in the Western states. The FBI had gotten involved in the Bundy case at the request of various LEOs when Bundy became an interstate fugitive forty-three days earlier. - Bundy: The Deliberate StrangerFurther background provided by Ann Rule in The Stranger Beside Me diminishes 36, however: The FBI figure had included several unsolved cases pulled in from left field, including some in northern California - cases that the detectives who'd dogged his trail didn't believe had strong links to Ted.
In 1991, serial killer Gerard Schaefer, whose span of murders lasted from 1969-1973, gave an interview from Florida State Prison, and referenced the victim count of 36 attributed to Bundy. He claimed that Bundy, who had been incarcerated on death row with Schaefer, admitted to him that Schaefer's murders were an inspiration to him, and that, wanting to be "the best," Bundy was compelled to trump Schaefer's alleged number of 34. Concerned that Schaefer's victims included ones undiscovered and unaccounted for, Bundy aimed for 36 to ensure he bested Schaefer. (The statements of Schaefer, who claimed Bundy exclusively disclosed to him other details from his murders that no Bundy professionals were ever privy to, should be viewed through the lens of skepticism.)
"THREE DIGITS" AND "100"
The next figure linked with Bundy involves various connotations of the word "digit." The reference to Bundy's victim count possibly equaling numbers in the three digits transpired during his Pensacola/Tallahassee interrogations by Chapman, Patchen, and Bodiford. Norm Chapman introduced this conversation while testifying in a suppression hearing during the Chi Omega trial, but due to a faulty recording device used during the interrogations, did not play the source tape. Instead, Chapman testified only in outline to the content of the tape, which has resulted in multiple translations of the incident. (Note: Other intact recordings were played in court, some interview transcripts read, and still more discussions - those captured by a hidden, backup surveillance bug when Bundy requested the main recorder be turned off - were summarized, because of the bug tape failure. All interrogations were ultimately ruled inadmissible.) Here are those varying reports (1.a.-c.):1.) a.) From Winn & Merrill's Ted Bundy: The Killer Next Door (1979), dialogue between Pensacola P.D. Detective Norm Chapman and Bundy, in which "murders" are euphemistically referred to as "problems":
"Ted, I'm fixin' to leave [. . .]. I just want to know, you know, how big a case I've been working on. I just want to know how many problems you have, or how many times you have been involved in this problem?"
"I can't tell you."
"Ted, are we talking about two-digit figures or three-digit figures?"
"We're talking about three-digit figures."
"Are we talking about more than a hundred or less than two hundred?"
"I'm not answering any more questions."
1.) b.) From Richard W. Larsen's Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger (1980):
Again the surveillance tape recorder, operated by [Leon County Sheriff's Office Chief of Detectives Captain Jack] Poitinger, had failed during an intriguing question-answer session the detectives had one night with Bundy in the Tallahassee jail.
The detectives asked about the FBI reference to thirty-six unsolved cases of murder.
"We asked him . . . if that was an accurate figure, as far as he knew," Poitinger said later. "And he said the figure 'probably would be more correct in three digits.' " That would remain, perhaps forever, an enigmatic, disputable version of what really was said and meant. ("Ted was just playing with them," John Henry Browne, the Seattle lawyer, said later.)
Ironic statement from Browne who, decades later in 2016, would write his own book (The Devil's Defender: My Odyssey Through American Criminal Justice from Ted Bundy to the Kandahar Massacre) about his role as Bundy's Seattle public defender and make numerous media appearances claiming Bundy had also confided to him that he'd killed 100 people.
1.) c.) From Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me (1980):
According to the FBI information and several reporters who were deluging the Pensacola detectives with calls, they had caught a man suspected of thirty-six murders, a figure they found hard to believe. When Chapman asked him about that during the post-taping conversation, Ted had reportedly replied, "Add one digit to that and you'll have it."
What had he meant? Was he being sarcastic? Did he mean thirty-seven murders? Or, no, it couldn't be . . . did he mean a hundred or more murders?
Of Norm Chapman's incident summary and Bundy's alleged statement, Rule wrote, One must decide whether to believe police detectives or Ted Bundy as to their authenticity. I have been unable to substantiate through other sources if "add one digit and you'll have it" were indeed the words Chapman used during his testimony. (If anyone has access to the 15,000-page Chi Omega trial transcripts and can hunt through the Friday, July 6, 1979, proceedings, or if depositions in which similar testimony was recorded are available, this question could be answered.)
In the 1986 updated edition of her book containing a new chapter, Rule continued to speculate on Bundy's cryptic admission, Had there really been [. . .] a hundred and thirty-six victims, or, God help us, three hundred and sixty victims? Or had it been, for Ted, a game to play with his interrogators in Pensacola?
2.) It's possible the incident in question has been misreported in all the above accounts. The 1978 Pensacola interrogation transcripts, as made available in The Ted Bundy Research Group on Facebook, offer an alternative version and contradict the notions that Bundy himself introduced three-digit figures and that it occurred off-tape. In fact, the dialogue reveals, rather, that the investigators were the ones convinced of and pushing the three-digit narrative. What follows is an isolation and abridgement of a February 22, 1978, recorded interview segment (in Tallahassee) pertaining to Bundy's total murder victim count. While a separate, similar conversation certainly might have taken place off the record, as Chapman testified to, it is also possible that both Chapman and Patchen (who preceded Chapman on the witness stand) highlighted key points from the entirety of their February 15-22, 1978, interrogations of Bundy, not limiting their testimony merely to the few, individual interview dates presented in court. (The Winn & Merrill account matches most closely to the transcript, suggesting that either the authors and/or Chapman may have even referenced the transcript . . . and that no such separate conversation about three digits transpired.)
Discussion regarding homicide quantity is covered on these numbered pages of the transcript: pgs. 177-202 (end of transcript); specifically, pgs. 177-184, pg. 187, pgs. 190-192, pgs. 197-199, and pg. 202. (If you are following along via the PDF, the pages break down as follows: pgs. 337-362 [end of transcript]; specifically, pgs. 337-344, pg. 347, pgs. 350-352, pgs. 357-359, and pg. 362.)
pgs. 177-178 of the transcript/pgs. 337-338 of the PDF:
Chapman: [. . . .] If a person was to estimate, this is something I've not even told you, Ted, I want, if you want us to get up and walk out of this room and never see you again it [sic] that's all you've got to say. And I want you to answer one question before I go. [. . . .] And it is certainly not anything that would incriminate you in any way. But I want to know for myself the magnitude of what we are handling. If a person, general speaking, was interested in about how many [fantasies] that you had, where the act officially took place or the act did take place or how ever you want to call it was completed all the way around, how many _____? Give or take any number you want. [. . . .] Tell me the magnitude of this case is, Ted, I have got to know. You have alluded to it many times. [. . . .] There is nothing that could be used in court, certainly the paper says 37. Who gives a shit.
[. . . .]
Chapman: [. . . .] And you were gonna tell me.
Bundy: I don't know.
pgs. 181-182 transcript/pgs. 341-342 PDF:
Chapman: [. . . .] There [sic] people speculate that you, that you had 37 of these fantisys [sic] and bullshit. You, yourself have told us _______ that that's not even scratching the top. [. . . .]
Bundy: I should not have said that - - - I - not an accurate figure.
[. . . .]
[Tallahassee P.D. Detective Don] Patchen: Before it's over, will you give it to us?
Bundy: You gis [sic] will known [sic]. It will be known.
Patchen: When, Ted?
Bundy: I don't know. Maybe it will not be known.
pgs. 190-191 transcript/pgs. 350-351 PDF:
Chapman: [. . . .] Give us a more or less. Just so we're in the ballpark, are we dealing with two digit numbers or three digit numbers? [. . . .]
Patchen: You said you gone tell us. [. . . .]
[. . . .]
Chapman: [. . . .] Two digits or three digits? Come on. Tell us, Ted. It is obviously a three digit number. Obviously. That's what we have felt all along. You told us all along it was a three digit number. It's a three digit number, isn't it, Ted? A simple yes or no.
Bundy: Ah, I'll just go back to my cell, I guess.
Chapman: [. . . .] It's worth my time to stay here [in Tallahassee] and work one more night for a three digit number. [. . . .]
pgs. 197-199 transcript/pgs. 357-359 PDF:
Chapman: [. . . .] Ted, tell me. It's a three digit number. (Pause) It's not a three digit number? Yes, it is a three digit number. Yes - - you - - Ted, you just told us it was a three digit number. True. We're going with a three digit number. You know it's a three digit number, Ted. Sure, it's a three digit number, [. . . .] it's not that hard to realize that it was a three digit number. And when you told me a three digit number, you (confirmed) [. . .]. We know it's over a hundred. We know for a fact, by your admission, there's **(53) bodies that've never been found. At least. At least fifty three bodies that've never been found. I knew I was dealing with something like this from day one. I knew it. I don't (doubt) there's many, many more than that. How many more are there, Ted? Huh?
Bundy: ________
Chapman: That's enough to make you stagger. [. . . .]
[. . . .]
Chapman: For me staying here tonight and finding out that one thing. That one thing is worth the whole trip.
**Note: Nowhere in the transcript does Bundy himself pitch the number 53 that Chapman mentions here. Chapman miscalculated that, if there were at least 100 victims attributable to Bundy, 37 of which had already been speculated by the FBI, that 53 still remained; however, by this logic and math, Chapman meant to say 63.
pg. 202 transcript/pg. 362 PDF:
[Leon County Sheriff's Office Detective Steve] Bodiford: 100 plus, was that the truth?
Bundy: I didn't _____
3.) That which was unspoken by Bundy on pg. 197 of the transcript/pg. 357 of the PDF during Chapman's statements (as highlighted above in red) was explained by Bundy a few years later in his interviews with Hugh Aynesworth, as transcribed in Michaud & Aynesworth's Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer (2000):
HA: How many people would this man kill? How many would you guess? Don't look at me that way. One digit or two? I'll hold up my fingers. I'll play (Norman) Chapman [. . .]. He even got three, didn't he?
TB: Well, he got to three. I was waiting until he got to four before I nodded.
HA: Did you nod at three?
TB: I nodded three. I thought that was outrageous enough. Uh, no, uh . . . what's the digit? Oh, it's . . . I don't know (sighs, pauses), uh . . .
The Michaud/Aynesworth coverage exposes that the convolution of the three-digit admission lore likely originated from a mere affirmative nod by Bundy during the Pensacola interrogations.
4.) Bundy continued to dismiss the theory of 100+ victims when privately questioned by Polly Nelson in 1988, as described in her book Defending the Devil: My Story as Ted Bundy's Last Lawyer (1994):
[. . . . When] I asked him about reports that he had killed over one hundred people, he actually chuckled and shook his head at the naivete of nonmurderers: "They have no idea what it takes to do one, what it takes out of you."
Nelson goes on to give us yet another collective figure proposed and linked to Bundy: I asked him if the figure of thirty-five, which I'd seen in other accounts, was correct. He paused, stared at me, and scanned his censor to decide whether to admit to such a detail [. . .].
He finally nodded and mumbled, "Yes."
5.) It's hard to know when the number of 100 first started getting tossed around, but it very likely was derived from the discussion of three digits. Otherwise, why not a more precise figure, like 76, or 93? Besides the other sources (like John Henry Browne) noted above, King County Detective cum Washington State Attorney General's Office Chief Criminal Investigator Bob Keppel has also ascribed to and perpetuated the notion of a three-digit kill count, expressing in several 1989 media appearances, "My feeling is [Bundy] has killed way over 100," though he doesn't make mention of this theory in his book.
Polly Nelson's book reveals that Dr. Art Norman, a forensic psychiatrist who interviewed Bundy from 1986 through 1987, offered his opinion to a news source on the date of Bundy's execution that the killer had claimed over 100 lives.
Homicides To Which Bundy Confessed To:
California: Confessed To 1 Homicide Case, Never Identified
Colorado:
Caryn Campbell 1-12-75---Located
Julie Cunningham 3-15-75
Denise Oliverson 4-6-75
Florida:
Margaret Bowman 1-15-78---Located
Lisa Levy 1-15-78---Located
Kimberly Leach 2-9-78---Located
Idaho:
Unknown Hitchhiker Early September 1974 [*]
Lynette [sic] Culver 5-6-75---Based On Bundy's Description Of Victim
Oregon:
Confessed To Two Homicides, Only One Identified
Roberta Parks 5-6-74---**
1.) Washington State. The following passages taken from pgs. 430-437 of Robert D. Keppel, Ph.D.'s The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer (1995), detail the introduction of the number 11 during Bundy and Keppel's Friday, January 20, 1989, debriefing:
pgs. 430-431:
[. . . . Keppel:] “Just so I can get an idea about timing as far as in the next hour, can we get some sort of feeling, if you can’t remember names, maybe timing or events or something that will give me an idea of how many people we need to talk about, so I can get an idea of the scope?"
Of Norm Chapman's incident summary and Bundy's alleged statement, Rule wrote, One must decide whether to believe police detectives or Ted Bundy as to their authenticity. I have been unable to substantiate through other sources if "add one digit and you'll have it" were indeed the words Chapman used during his testimony. (If anyone has access to the 15,000-page Chi Omega trial transcripts and can hunt through the Friday, July 6, 1979, proceedings, or if depositions in which similar testimony was recorded are available, this question could be answered.)
In the 1986 updated edition of her book containing a new chapter, Rule continued to speculate on Bundy's cryptic admission, Had there really been [. . .] a hundred and thirty-six victims, or, God help us, three hundred and sixty victims? Or had it been, for Ted, a game to play with his interrogators in Pensacola?
2.) It's possible the incident in question has been misreported in all the above accounts. The 1978 Pensacola interrogation transcripts, as made available in The Ted Bundy Research Group on Facebook, offer an alternative version and contradict the notions that Bundy himself introduced three-digit figures and that it occurred off-tape. In fact, the dialogue reveals, rather, that the investigators were the ones convinced of and pushing the three-digit narrative. What follows is an isolation and abridgement of a February 22, 1978, recorded interview segment (in Tallahassee) pertaining to Bundy's total murder victim count. While a separate, similar conversation certainly might have taken place off the record, as Chapman testified to, it is also possible that both Chapman and Patchen (who preceded Chapman on the witness stand) highlighted key points from the entirety of their February 15-22, 1978, interrogations of Bundy, not limiting their testimony merely to the few, individual interview dates presented in court. (The Winn & Merrill account matches most closely to the transcript, suggesting that either the authors and/or Chapman may have even referenced the transcript . . . and that no such separate conversation about three digits transpired.)
Discussion regarding homicide quantity is covered on these numbered pages of the transcript: pgs. 177-202 (end of transcript); specifically, pgs. 177-184, pg. 187, pgs. 190-192, pgs. 197-199, and pg. 202. (If you are following along via the PDF, the pages break down as follows: pgs. 337-362 [end of transcript]; specifically, pgs. 337-344, pg. 347, pgs. 350-352, pgs. 357-359, and pg. 362.)
pgs. 177-178 of the transcript/pgs. 337-338 of the PDF:
Chapman: [. . . .] If a person was to estimate, this is something I've not even told you, Ted, I want, if you want us to get up and walk out of this room and never see you again it [sic] that's all you've got to say. And I want you to answer one question before I go. [. . . .] And it is certainly not anything that would incriminate you in any way. But I want to know for myself the magnitude of what we are handling. If a person, general speaking, was interested in about how many [fantasies] that you had, where the act officially took place or the act did take place or how ever you want to call it was completed all the way around, how many _____? Give or take any number you want. [. . . .] Tell me the magnitude of this case is, Ted, I have got to know. You have alluded to it many times. [. . . .] There is nothing that could be used in court, certainly the paper says 37. Who gives a shit.
[. . . .]
Chapman: [. . . .] And you were gonna tell me.
Bundy: I don't know.
pgs. 181-182 transcript/pgs. 341-342 PDF:
Chapman: [. . . .] There [sic] people speculate that you, that you had 37 of these fantisys [sic] and bullshit. You, yourself have told us _______ that that's not even scratching the top. [. . . .]
Bundy: I should not have said that - - - I - not an accurate figure.
[. . . .]
[Tallahassee P.D. Detective Don] Patchen: Before it's over, will you give it to us?
Bundy: You gis [sic] will known [sic]. It will be known.
Patchen: When, Ted?
Bundy: I don't know. Maybe it will not be known.
pgs. 190-191 transcript/pgs. 350-351 PDF:
Chapman: [. . . .] Give us a more or less. Just so we're in the ballpark, are we dealing with two digit numbers or three digit numbers? [. . . .]
Patchen: You said you gone tell us. [. . . .]
[. . . .]
Chapman: [. . . .] Two digits or three digits? Come on. Tell us, Ted. It is obviously a three digit number. Obviously. That's what we have felt all along. You told us all along it was a three digit number. It's a three digit number, isn't it, Ted? A simple yes or no.
Bundy: Ah, I'll just go back to my cell, I guess.
Chapman: [. . . .] It's worth my time to stay here [in Tallahassee] and work one more night for a three digit number. [. . . .]
pgs. 197-199 transcript/pgs. 357-359 PDF:
Chapman: [. . . .] Ted, tell me. It's a three digit number. (Pause) It's not a three digit number? Yes, it is a three digit number. Yes - - you - - Ted, you just told us it was a three digit number. True. We're going with a three digit number. You know it's a three digit number, Ted. Sure, it's a three digit number, [. . . .] it's not that hard to realize that it was a three digit number. And when you told me a three digit number, you (confirmed) [. . .]. We know it's over a hundred. We know for a fact, by your admission, there's **(53) bodies that've never been found. At least. At least fifty three bodies that've never been found. I knew I was dealing with something like this from day one. I knew it. I don't (doubt) there's many, many more than that. How many more are there, Ted? Huh?
Bundy: ________
Chapman: That's enough to make you stagger. [. . . .]
[. . . .]
Chapman: For me staying here tonight and finding out that one thing. That one thing is worth the whole trip.
**Note: Nowhere in the transcript does Bundy himself pitch the number 53 that Chapman mentions here. Chapman miscalculated that, if there were at least 100 victims attributable to Bundy, 37 of which had already been speculated by the FBI, that 53 still remained; however, by this logic and math, Chapman meant to say 63.
pg. 202 transcript/pg. 362 PDF:
[Leon County Sheriff's Office Detective Steve] Bodiford: 100 plus, was that the truth?
Bundy: I didn't _____
3.) That which was unspoken by Bundy on pg. 197 of the transcript/pg. 357 of the PDF during Chapman's statements (as highlighted above in red) was explained by Bundy a few years later in his interviews with Hugh Aynesworth, as transcribed in Michaud & Aynesworth's Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer (2000):
HA: How many people would this man kill? How many would you guess? Don't look at me that way. One digit or two? I'll hold up my fingers. I'll play (Norman) Chapman [. . .]. He even got three, didn't he?
TB: Well, he got to three. I was waiting until he got to four before I nodded.
HA: Did you nod at three?
TB: I nodded three. I thought that was outrageous enough. Uh, no, uh . . . what's the digit? Oh, it's . . . I don't know (sighs, pauses), uh . . .
The Michaud/Aynesworth coverage exposes that the convolution of the three-digit admission lore likely originated from a mere affirmative nod by Bundy during the Pensacola interrogations.
4.) Bundy continued to dismiss the theory of 100+ victims when privately questioned by Polly Nelson in 1988, as described in her book Defending the Devil: My Story as Ted Bundy's Last Lawyer (1994):
[. . . . When] I asked him about reports that he had killed over one hundred people, he actually chuckled and shook his head at the naivete of nonmurderers: "They have no idea what it takes to do one, what it takes out of you."
Nelson goes on to give us yet another collective figure proposed and linked to Bundy: I asked him if the figure of thirty-five, which I'd seen in other accounts, was correct. He paused, stared at me, and scanned his censor to decide whether to admit to such a detail [. . .].
He finally nodded and mumbled, "Yes."
5.) It's hard to know when the number of 100 first started getting tossed around, but it very likely was derived from the discussion of three digits. Otherwise, why not a more precise figure, like 76, or 93? Besides the other sources (like John Henry Browne) noted above, King County Detective cum Washington State Attorney General's Office Chief Criminal Investigator Bob Keppel has also ascribed to and perpetuated the notion of a three-digit kill count, expressing in several 1989 media appearances, "My feeling is [Bundy] has killed way over 100," though he doesn't make mention of this theory in his book.
Polly Nelson's book reveals that Dr. Art Norman, a forensic psychiatrist who interviewed Bundy from 1986 through 1987, offered his opinion to a news source on the date of Bundy's execution that the killer had claimed over 100 lives.
"30"
Lastly, we have the official number of 30, as amassed during Bundy's January 1989 pre-execution confessions to investigators and finalized by the March 1989 Multi-Agency Investigative Team Conference, which was attended by all lead law enforcement officials involved in Bundy's multi-state homicides, as well as FBI specialists. The findings of this conference were published in the 1992 Multi-Agency Investigative Team Report, available throughout the Bundy social media community. The comprehensive list of Bundy's victims is outlined on pg. 12 of the Report/pg. 14 of the PDF. Here is a duplication of that list:Homicides To Which Bundy Confessed To:
California: Confessed To 1 Homicide Case, Never Identified
Colorado:
Caryn Campbell 1-12-75---Located
Julie Cunningham 3-15-75
Denise Oliverson 4-6-75
Florida:
Margaret Bowman 1-15-78---Located
Lisa Levy 1-15-78---Located
Kimberly Leach 2-9-78---Located
Idaho:
Unknown Hitchhiker Early September 1974 [*]
Lynette [sic] Culver 5-6-75---Based On Bundy's Description Of Victim
Oregon:
Confessed To Two Homicides, Only One Identified
Roberta Parks 5-6-74---**
Utah: Confessed To Eight Homicides, Only Five Identified
Nancy Wilcox 1-2-74
Melissa Smith 10-18-74---Located
Laura Aime 10-31-74---Located
Nancy Wilcox 1-2-74
Melissa Smith 10-18-74---Located
Laura Aime 10-31-74---Located
Debra Kent 11-8-74
Susan Curtis 6-27-75
Washington: Confessed To Eleven Homicide Cases, Only Eight Identified
Lynda Healy 1-31-74---Located
Donna Manson 3-12-74
Susan Rancourt 4-17-74---Located
Roberta Parks 5-6-74---**
Brenda Ball 6-1-74---Located
Georgeann [sic] Hawkins 6-12-74
Janice Ott 7-14-74---Located
Denise Naslund 7-14-74---Located
** Abducted From Oregon, Located In Washington
[* Update: Based on information provided during Bundy's interview with Idaho investigators, as well as his gas receipts, this date was determined as 9-2-74. Though this date is not noted in the above victim list, the Multi-Agency Investigative Team Report does recognize the Idaho hitchhiker murder in its timeline of Bundy's recorded activities.]
So, according to the Report, the equation is:
CA (1) + CO (3) + FL (3) + ID (2) + OR (2) + UT (8) + WA (11) = 30
However, there is a major error in the calculation: Roberta Kathleen "Kathy" Parks is counted twice, both in the Oregon and Washington lists! History has attributed 30 murders to Bundy based on a miscalculation of what amounts to 29 victims. Bundy did confess to having killed 2 in Oregon, but it was never clarified whether he was including Parks in his own Oregon vs. Washington sums, nor was the disparity addressed by him or investigators.
There are further problems with the victim list, which are developed within the provided context of some of Bundy's final interviews with authorities. (Excluded are his conversations with Colorado and Idaho, as the cases attributed to Bundy in those states are not disputed.)
Lynda Healy 1-31-74---Located
Donna Manson 3-12-74
Susan Rancourt 4-17-74---Located
Roberta Parks 5-6-74---**
Brenda Ball 6-1-74---Located
Georgeann [sic] Hawkins 6-12-74
Janice Ott 7-14-74---Located
Denise Naslund 7-14-74---Located
** Abducted From Oregon, Located In Washington
[* Update: Based on information provided during Bundy's interview with Idaho investigators, as well as his gas receipts, this date was determined as 9-2-74. Though this date is not noted in the above victim list, the Multi-Agency Investigative Team Report does recognize the Idaho hitchhiker murder in its timeline of Bundy's recorded activities.]
So, according to the Report, the equation is:
CA (1) + CO (3) + FL (3) + ID (2) + OR (2) + UT (8) + WA (11) = 30
However, there is a major error in the calculation: Roberta Kathleen "Kathy" Parks is counted twice, both in the Oregon and Washington lists! History has attributed 30 murders to Bundy based on a miscalculation of what amounts to 29 victims. Bundy did confess to having killed 2 in Oregon, but it was never clarified whether he was including Parks in his own Oregon vs. Washington sums, nor was the disparity addressed by him or investigators.
There are further problems with the victim list, which are developed within the provided context of some of Bundy's final interviews with authorities. (Excluded are his conversations with Colorado and Idaho, as the cases attributed to Bundy in those states are not disputed.)
1.) Washington State. The following passages taken from pgs. 430-437 of Robert D. Keppel, Ph.D.'s The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer (1995), detail the introduction of the number 11 during Bundy and Keppel's Friday, January 20, 1989, debriefing:
pgs. 430-431:
[. . . . Keppel:] “Just so I can get an idea about timing as far as in the next hour, can we get some sort of feeling, if you can’t remember names, maybe timing or events or something that will give me an idea of how many people we need to talk about, so I can get an idea of the scope?"
Obligingly, Ted said, "Uh huh. Let’s see. Yeah. In Washington?"
"Right."
"Yeah."
"We’ve got the one from Oregon up there, and that’s our case too."
"Well, let’s see. I think it’s—I think it’ll be eleven."
Shocked at Ted’s answer, I wanted clarification. "Eleven altogether?"
"Yeah."
[. . . .]
Keppel: "Give me an idea of which ones you’re talking about."
[. . . .] The original number of Ted cases known to law enforcement authorities was 8, not 11 as Ted had just announced. [. . . .]
He nervously continued, "Well, I could—give you probably most of the names, or some names and some locations."
"All right." I eagerly awaited the information.
pg. 432:
Keppel: "[. . . .] So I know about those eight. And you’re talking about three others. How far back in time? You got January seventy-four through July of seventy-four. Are there more within that time frame that I don’t know about in the state of Washington?"
"Yes, there are," Ted proclaimed. [. . . .]
pgs. 436-437:
Keppel: "Okay, ’cause the order of things are kind of like Healy, Manson, Rancourt, Ball, Hawkins, Ott, and Naslund. That’s eight [counting Sparks]. Plus Parks is nine. Are you counting her [Sparks] as one of your eleven?”
“No. No. She’s not in that. See, I didn’t—that’s not one. No,” Ted exclaimed, leaving the living victim out of his count.
“So now you’re talking about probably three others that I am not familiar with?” I asked [. . .].
“Yup. Yeah,” Ted said with assurance.
“Are they in King County jurisdiction?” I asked, attempting to narrow the scope.
“Well, let’s see. Ummm . . . one is and the others aren’t. That’s the way it is. Yeah,” he said [. . .].
The Bundy-Keppel interview resumed on Sunday, January 22, 1989 (following Bundy's interview with Utah Detective Dennis Couch, which is covered below), and the subject of numbers picked up again, per pgs. 443-446 of the book. The proceeding passages invalidate the total of 11 victims associated with Washington State:
pgs. 443-444:
[. . . .] Since Ted had broached the subject previously, I wanted him to focus on the three Ted murders I didn’t know about, so I said, "Okay, you mentioned the eight before and you gave me three more. And I don’t know what three you’re talking about. Can you help me a little bit with those?"
"Right."
"Yeah."
"We’ve got the one from Oregon up there, and that’s our case too."
"Well, let’s see. I think it’s—I think it’ll be eleven."
Shocked at Ted’s answer, I wanted clarification. "Eleven altogether?"
"Yeah."
[. . . .]
Keppel: "Give me an idea of which ones you’re talking about."
[. . . .] The original number of Ted cases known to law enforcement authorities was 8, not 11 as Ted had just announced. [. . . .]
He nervously continued, "Well, I could—give you probably most of the names, or some names and some locations."
"All right." I eagerly awaited the information.
pg. 432:
Keppel: "[. . . .] So I know about those eight. And you’re talking about three others. How far back in time? You got January seventy-four through July of seventy-four. Are there more within that time frame that I don’t know about in the state of Washington?"
"Yes, there are," Ted proclaimed. [. . . .]
pgs. 436-437:
Keppel: "Okay, ’cause the order of things are kind of like Healy, Manson, Rancourt, Ball, Hawkins, Ott, and Naslund. That’s eight [counting Sparks]. Plus Parks is nine. Are you counting her [Sparks] as one of your eleven?”
“No. No. She’s not in that. See, I didn’t—that’s not one. No,” Ted exclaimed, leaving the living victim out of his count.
“So now you’re talking about probably three others that I am not familiar with?” I asked [. . .].
“Yup. Yeah,” Ted said with assurance.
“Are they in King County jurisdiction?” I asked, attempting to narrow the scope.
“Well, let’s see. Ummm . . . one is and the others aren’t. That’s the way it is. Yeah,” he said [. . .].
The Bundy-Keppel interview resumed on Sunday, January 22, 1989 (following Bundy's interview with Utah Detective Dennis Couch, which is covered below), and the subject of numbers picked up again, per pgs. 443-446 of the book. The proceeding passages invalidate the total of 11 victims associated with Washington State:
pgs. 443-444:
[. . . .] Since Ted had broached the subject previously, I wanted him to focus on the three Ted murders I didn’t know about, so I said, "Okay, you mentioned the eight before and you gave me three more. And I don’t know what three you’re talking about. Can you help me a little bit with those?"
"Which three? I was trying to figure that out myself," answered Ted, honestly trying to remember.
"And what did you come up with?" I asked.
"This is what I came up with. It was an earlier one. Nineteen seventy-three," Ted admitted.
Bundy outlined the murder of an unidentified, undiscovered Tumwater, WA hitchhiker.
pg. 446:
[. . . .] He tried to explain his mix-up with the number of Washington victims. "Okay, the other two I don’t know, Bob. I was thinking about it. You know, you threw out a number and I think what happened is a number lodged in my head, and you said eight. I thought eleven. You know, we didn’t sit down and say, okay, one is --------, two is -------, three is ---------, four is . . ." Ted complained. Funny, he wouldn’t previously talk about numbers, and now that’s what he was complaining about. [. . . .] "For some reason I’d been thinking—I hadn’t really stopped myself and for some reason I was thinking the number in Washington was eleven. I don’t know how many individuals," Ted finally said. Even though the transcripts and tape were made available to the FBI and the news media, everyone still says that Ted admitted to murdering 11 in Washington State, but in reality, he withdrew his estimate. He claimed not to remember how many individuals he had killed. He withdrew his estimate of 11 because he and I both knew that he had murdered a lot more women in Washington state than 11. (Keppel's last sentence is debatable.)
The Tumwater hitchhiker was the last Washington victim Bundy could account for in this final interview with Keppel (having already denied his involvement in other murders Keppel had specifically questioned him about two days earlier, on Friday), which should have brought the state's total to 9, not 11.
2.) Utah. The victims attributed to Bundy in Utah via the Multi-Agency Investigative Team Report total 8. Below is the portion of Bundy's Sunday, January 22, 1989, interview addressing Utah numbers, transcribed from the YouTube video "Ted Bundy Interview Utah Confession Full, Remastered" on Peter Masterson's channel. It should be noted that Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department Detective Dennis Couch approached the interview with knowledge of 5 Utah cases (2 confirmed homicides, 3 suspected homicides) and was primarily concerned with discussing those 3 of the 5 in which girls were still missing, one of whom was Nancy Baird. However, due to Bundy's denial to Couch of any culpability in the Baird murder, the final Utah victim list per the Multi-Agency Investigative Team Report excluded Baird, but instead included Susan Curtis, whom Bundy confessed to killing two days later on the morning of his execution. Utah authorities had not connected Bundy to the disappearance of Susan Curtis until his confession, and she was not discussed during the Couch interview.
1:02:30
Couch: That's my first and foremost reason for being here, for those three girls [Kent, Wilcox, and Baird] that're missing and . . .
Bundy: And some more.
Couch: From Utah?
Bundy: Yeah.
1:24:05
Couch: How many in Utah are we talking about?
Bundy: I'm trying to count . . . We talked about . . . Did we talk about that?
Couch: No . . . mm-mm. I mean, I mentioned a figure and you said it was more than that.
Bundy: That was . . . yeah . . . that's what I felt like, it was more.
Hagmaier: [indiscernible question]
Couch: Five.
Bundy: Yeah.
Couch: Well, I mentioned the fact there was three missing and you said it was more than that.
Bundy: Oh yeah.
Couch: How many more?
Bundy: Two.
Bundy outlined the murder of an unidentified, undiscovered Tumwater, WA hitchhiker.
pg. 446:
[. . . .] He tried to explain his mix-up with the number of Washington victims. "Okay, the other two I don’t know, Bob. I was thinking about it. You know, you threw out a number and I think what happened is a number lodged in my head, and you said eight. I thought eleven. You know, we didn’t sit down and say, okay, one is --------, two is -------, three is ---------, four is . . ." Ted complained. Funny, he wouldn’t previously talk about numbers, and now that’s what he was complaining about. [. . . .] "For some reason I’d been thinking—I hadn’t really stopped myself and for some reason I was thinking the number in Washington was eleven. I don’t know how many individuals," Ted finally said. Even though the transcripts and tape were made available to the FBI and the news media, everyone still says that Ted admitted to murdering 11 in Washington State, but in reality, he withdrew his estimate. He claimed not to remember how many individuals he had killed. He withdrew his estimate of 11 because he and I both knew that he had murdered a lot more women in Washington state than 11. (Keppel's last sentence is debatable.)
The Tumwater hitchhiker was the last Washington victim Bundy could account for in this final interview with Keppel (having already denied his involvement in other murders Keppel had specifically questioned him about two days earlier, on Friday), which should have brought the state's total to 9, not 11.
2.) Utah. The victims attributed to Bundy in Utah via the Multi-Agency Investigative Team Report total 8. Below is the portion of Bundy's Sunday, January 22, 1989, interview addressing Utah numbers, transcribed from the YouTube video "Ted Bundy Interview Utah Confession Full, Remastered" on Peter Masterson's channel. It should be noted that Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department Detective Dennis Couch approached the interview with knowledge of 5 Utah cases (2 confirmed homicides, 3 suspected homicides) and was primarily concerned with discussing those 3 of the 5 in which girls were still missing, one of whom was Nancy Baird. However, due to Bundy's denial to Couch of any culpability in the Baird murder, the final Utah victim list per the Multi-Agency Investigative Team Report excluded Baird, but instead included Susan Curtis, whom Bundy confessed to killing two days later on the morning of his execution. Utah authorities had not connected Bundy to the disappearance of Susan Curtis until his confession, and she was not discussed during the Couch interview.
1:02:30
Couch: That's my first and foremost reason for being here, for those three girls [Kent, Wilcox, and Baird] that're missing and . . .
Bundy: And some more.
Couch: From Utah?
Bundy: Yeah.
1:24:05
Couch: How many in Utah are we talking about?
Bundy: I'm trying to count . . . We talked about . . . Did we talk about that?
Couch: No . . . mm-mm. I mean, I mentioned a figure and you said it was more than that.
Bundy: That was . . . yeah . . . that's what I felt like, it was more.
Hagmaier: [indiscernible question]
Couch: Five.
Bundy: Yeah.
Couch: Well, I mentioned the fact there was three missing and you said it was more than that.
Bundy: Oh yeah.
Couch: How many more?
Bundy: Two.
Couch: Anything about those two you could tell me?
Bundy: One was a teenage girl. I don't remember her name. I don't know who it was. It could've been one of these [girls in the photos], but I don't know which one she was. No, I don't think it was. I don't know the name. [indiscernible]
Couch: Would you like to talk to me again if we have any more time between now and . . .
Bundy: Well, yeah, we need to talk again if we have time. Maybe get some better maps, if you can. And I need some sleep, my mind is just, uh . . .
[. . . .]
Bundy: I'm not bullshitting you about . . . my mind . . . after a few of these, my mind just seizes up. I just can't say anymore, in some way. [. . . .]
By the 1:24:05 marker in the interview, Bundy was fading rapidly, not nearly as alert or lucid, and taking much longer pauses between answers. He had also seemingly fallen asleep for several minutes prior and had begun confusing the victims' names and murders. Is it possible Bundy was not intentionally being vague, but rather that he was confusing the number of girls still missing (5) with his total Utah homicides? Significantly, the conversation (albeit, imprecise and ambiguous) reveals that Bundy stated 2 more unidentified were missing in addition to the presumed 3; that accounts for 5 missing. Adding Smith and Aime, whose bodies had been previously discovered, and the Utah murders would total 7, not 8.
However, the official total for Utah was not determined from the Couch interview; indeed, Bundy acknowledged responsibility to Couch for only Kent and Wilcox. Rather, Salt Lake County Sheriff Pete Hayward clarified at a January 24, 1989, press conference that Bundy, subsequent to his interview with Couch, made a comment to one of the other investigators [likely Hagmaier] that there were eight homicides here in the state of Utah. We do not not know who those other four victims [in addition to Wilcox, Kent, Smith, and Aime] might be. [. . . .] We did this morning receive information just prior to the execution that Bundy had given the name, uh, the location of a fifth victim [Susan Curtis] to the investigator from the Governor's Office in Florida, and they are forwarding that up to us immediately. (The video "Ted Bundy Execution Press Conference with SLCSD Sheriff, Pete Hayward (1-25-89)" [misdated] is available courtesy of Captain Borax's YouTube channel.)
3.) Following his Sunday night, January 22, 1989, interrogations with Couch and Keppel, a mentally fatigued Bundy then confirmed the number of 30 homicides during his next interview with FBI Special Agent Bill Hagmaier. This was to be his final conversation with law enforcement, his execution taking place two days later. The portion of that interview with Bundy's reference to 30 has been transcribed below from the audio recording provided by Richard A. Duffus, which is available for listening on Duffus's DarksiderPress.com website, under "Hagmaier/Bundy Interviews," as "Tape 9 (1989)."
Hagmaier: Just for sake of giving the scope of your involvement and your obvious expertise in speaking from your own experiences and obviously those of others who have shared secrets, if I can use that term, with you . . . you've been involved in . . . we talked about this a few months earlier . . . how many homicides?
Bundy: Well . . . we went over this a little bit earlier . . . and, uh . . . oh, we came up with thirty. I mean, we added that up . . . It's late at night, like you said, but I think that's a fairly close figure.
Hagmaier: Okay. Without trying to pick your brain too much and under the duress that you've been in, your obvious circumstance and the late hour, would you just try to summarize what states they were in and what periods of time, before we can move into more academic things?
Bundy: Well . . . I just really will summarize it, uh . . . California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Florida, between nineteen seventy-three and nineteen seventy-eight.
Bill Hagmaier, who attended all of Bundy's pre-execution interviews with investigators, was responsible for itemizing and compiling the victim count throughout Bundy's final weekend. He undoubtedly referenced his notes in his last meeting with Bundy to refresh Bundy's waning memory of his own statements about numbers, and they jointly arrived at the tally of 30. But in examining the three interviews with Keppel, Couch, and Hagmaier, we can deduce that Bundy's recollections are controvertible. Described by both Keppel and Couch as exhausted, Bundy waffled with his answers, offered no basis for some of the extra victims he introduced other than "I was thinking/I felt like it was more," and eventually conceded that he just didn't know. Perhaps Bundy provided more conclusive, less confused information to Hagmaier that affirmed some of these tallies, and researchers are not privy to such information; but he still could qualify 30 only as "a fairly close figure." These circumstances must be considered when determining acceptance of the victim count officially and historically assigned to Ted Bundy as 30.
4.) Though the Report does not recognize the mathematical error/oversight of what should be 29 rather than 30 victims, nor the Washington State discrepancy of 11 vs. 8 (or, 9), it does acknowledge: Of the homicides examined at the BUNDY Multi-Agency Investigative Team Conference, BUNDY claims responsibility for thirty. As a result of information provided by BUNDY and an independent verification of that information by investigators, it was possible to associate BUNDY with twenty cases. And, indeed, only 20 victims are identified in the Report. (Note: though Parks is counted twice in the total of 30, she is only counted once in the 20 identified.)
Adding to the base number of 20 confirmed homicides attributed to Bundy are only 2 other cases which he discussed during his final weekend: the Idaho hitchhiker and the Tumwater, WA hitchhiker. These 2 are excluded from the 20 since neither Bundy nor law enforcement could identify the victims. Bundy provided no information on the remaining 7 cases (remember, Parks was counted twice, so the total is 29, not 30). Hypothetically subtracting Parks from the Washington total, rather than the Oregon total, those undisclosed 7 break down as: CA (1), OR (1), UT (3), WA (2). If we discount all the undisclosed ones, the victim total is now at 22. Including both the unnamed CA and OR cases, which are the most likely of the unconfirmed ones to have some recall validity due to Bundy's lower estimates in those states, the victim total would stand at 24.
(To clarify, the WA list would be: the Tumwater hitchhiker, Healy, Manson, Rancourt, Ball, Hawkins, Ott, Naslund = 8. Earlier, I had noted that the recounting of Washington based on Bundy's final conversation with Keppel should be 9 [not 11], but that's because Parks was included by both Bundy and Keppel. Hypothetically without Parks, the WA total of victims Bundy accounted for would be 8 - including the Tumwater hitchhiker - plus the undisclosed 2 he later rescinded, would have equaled 10, not 11.)
Bundy: One was a teenage girl. I don't remember her name. I don't know who it was. It could've been one of these [girls in the photos], but I don't know which one she was. No, I don't think it was. I don't know the name. [indiscernible]
Couch: Would you like to talk to me again if we have any more time between now and . . .
Bundy: Well, yeah, we need to talk again if we have time. Maybe get some better maps, if you can. And I need some sleep, my mind is just, uh . . .
[. . . .]
Bundy: I'm not bullshitting you about . . . my mind . . . after a few of these, my mind just seizes up. I just can't say anymore, in some way. [. . . .]
By the 1:24:05 marker in the interview, Bundy was fading rapidly, not nearly as alert or lucid, and taking much longer pauses between answers. He had also seemingly fallen asleep for several minutes prior and had begun confusing the victims' names and murders. Is it possible Bundy was not intentionally being vague, but rather that he was confusing the number of girls still missing (5) with his total Utah homicides? Significantly, the conversation (albeit, imprecise and ambiguous) reveals that Bundy stated 2 more unidentified were missing in addition to the presumed 3; that accounts for 5 missing. Adding Smith and Aime, whose bodies had been previously discovered, and the Utah murders would total 7, not 8.
However, the official total for Utah was not determined from the Couch interview; indeed, Bundy acknowledged responsibility to Couch for only Kent and Wilcox. Rather, Salt Lake County Sheriff Pete Hayward clarified at a January 24, 1989, press conference that Bundy, subsequent to his interview with Couch, made a comment to one of the other investigators [likely Hagmaier] that there were eight homicides here in the state of Utah. We do not not know who those other four victims [in addition to Wilcox, Kent, Smith, and Aime] might be. [. . . .] We did this morning receive information just prior to the execution that Bundy had given the name, uh, the location of a fifth victim [Susan Curtis] to the investigator from the Governor's Office in Florida, and they are forwarding that up to us immediately. (The video "Ted Bundy Execution Press Conference with SLCSD Sheriff, Pete Hayward (1-25-89)" [misdated] is available courtesy of Captain Borax's YouTube channel.)
3.) Following his Sunday night, January 22, 1989, interrogations with Couch and Keppel, a mentally fatigued Bundy then confirmed the number of 30 homicides during his next interview with FBI Special Agent Bill Hagmaier. This was to be his final conversation with law enforcement, his execution taking place two days later. The portion of that interview with Bundy's reference to 30 has been transcribed below from the audio recording provided by Richard A. Duffus, which is available for listening on Duffus's DarksiderPress.com website, under "Hagmaier/Bundy Interviews," as "Tape 9 (1989)."
Hagmaier: Just for sake of giving the scope of your involvement and your obvious expertise in speaking from your own experiences and obviously those of others who have shared secrets, if I can use that term, with you . . . you've been involved in . . . we talked about this a few months earlier . . . how many homicides?
Bundy: Well . . . we went over this a little bit earlier . . . and, uh . . . oh, we came up with thirty. I mean, we added that up . . . It's late at night, like you said, but I think that's a fairly close figure.
Hagmaier: Okay. Without trying to pick your brain too much and under the duress that you've been in, your obvious circumstance and the late hour, would you just try to summarize what states they were in and what periods of time, before we can move into more academic things?
Bundy: Well . . . I just really will summarize it, uh . . . California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Florida, between nineteen seventy-three and nineteen seventy-eight.
Bill Hagmaier, who attended all of Bundy's pre-execution interviews with investigators, was responsible for itemizing and compiling the victim count throughout Bundy's final weekend. He undoubtedly referenced his notes in his last meeting with Bundy to refresh Bundy's waning memory of his own statements about numbers, and they jointly arrived at the tally of 30. But in examining the three interviews with Keppel, Couch, and Hagmaier, we can deduce that Bundy's recollections are controvertible. Described by both Keppel and Couch as exhausted, Bundy waffled with his answers, offered no basis for some of the extra victims he introduced other than "I was thinking/I felt like it was more," and eventually conceded that he just didn't know. Perhaps Bundy provided more conclusive, less confused information to Hagmaier that affirmed some of these tallies, and researchers are not privy to such information; but he still could qualify 30 only as "a fairly close figure." These circumstances must be considered when determining acceptance of the victim count officially and historically assigned to Ted Bundy as 30.
4.) Though the Report does not recognize the mathematical error/oversight of what should be 29 rather than 30 victims, nor the Washington State discrepancy of 11 vs. 8 (or, 9), it does acknowledge: Of the homicides examined at the BUNDY Multi-Agency Investigative Team Conference, BUNDY claims responsibility for thirty. As a result of information provided by BUNDY and an independent verification of that information by investigators, it was possible to associate BUNDY with twenty cases. And, indeed, only 20 victims are identified in the Report. (Note: though Parks is counted twice in the total of 30, she is only counted once in the 20 identified.)
Adding to the base number of 20 confirmed homicides attributed to Bundy are only 2 other cases which he discussed during his final weekend: the Idaho hitchhiker and the Tumwater, WA hitchhiker. These 2 are excluded from the 20 since neither Bundy nor law enforcement could identify the victims. Bundy provided no information on the remaining 7 cases (remember, Parks was counted twice, so the total is 29, not 30). Hypothetically subtracting Parks from the Washington total, rather than the Oregon total, those undisclosed 7 break down as: CA (1), OR (1), UT (3), WA (2). If we discount all the undisclosed ones, the victim total is now at 22. Including both the unnamed CA and OR cases, which are the most likely of the unconfirmed ones to have some recall validity due to Bundy's lower estimates in those states, the victim total would stand at 24.
(To clarify, the WA list would be: the Tumwater hitchhiker, Healy, Manson, Rancourt, Ball, Hawkins, Ott, Naslund = 8. Earlier, I had noted that the recounting of Washington based on Bundy's final conversation with Keppel should be 9 [not 11], but that's because Parks was included by both Bundy and Keppel. Hypothetically without Parks, the WA total of victims Bundy accounted for would be 8 - including the Tumwater hitchhiker - plus the undisclosed 2 he later rescinded, would have equaled 10, not 11.)
Continuing the theme of dismantling the victim count, Part Two of this article will theorize that murders attributed to Bundy, even at the admitted-to 30, are generally estimated too numerously. Coming soon.
Copyright © (2020) Cynthia Walker. All Rights Reserved.
Excellent analysis of this issue. This issue is a reminder of how even extremely intelligent/competent people (e.g., Bob Keppel) can sometimes abandon critical thought. The big problem in coming up with an accurate victim count is that Bundy was a serial fabricator who would pick his spots (e.g., murder of Georgeann Hawkins)in regards to truth telling. Unfortunately, he would only tell the truth to a certain point, and then he would insert the tag line, "I can't talk about that right now." IMO, there are several unsolved cases that fit Bundy to a tee and if he is responsible for those murders, the 30 figure would have more heft. One of the unsolved cases was the 1975 murder of Shelley Robertson. She lived in Colorado, she was murdered a month after Bundy murdered Susan Curtis, and gas receipts put Bundy in the area where she lived and where her body was found. I'm looking forward to reading Part II.
ReplyDeleteWas Ted Bundy such a fool as to fill up the car at the scene of the crime? "That's not like him. And also put a cross on the crime scene in a tourist booklet and keep it at home. I don't believe the cops.
DeleteHello, first Anonymous in this thread! I apologize it has taken me 1.5 years to reply to the thoughtful comment you left (thank you, BTW!). Yes, Bundy's tendency to shut down mid-description of his crimes was frustrating. Not only with his signature, "I can't talk about that right now," but also, "We'll get to that one day," knowing full well there wouldn't be a "one day." Some of his reasons for doing so I will cover in Part 2 of this topic, if I ever get around to it!
DeleteI did a little research on Shelley Robertson to provide a proper response to your theory. There isn't much out there on her case, is there? The initial element that causes doubt about her potential as a Bundy victim was the mine shift her body was discovered in. I'm not at all familiar with the topography of Berthoud Falls, CO, but it seems a very specific, hidden location for a dump site (i.e., one a more locally familiar killer would use). Bundy's three confirmed CO victims were dumped rather haphazardly (with Cunningham later being buried).
Further researching, there's conflicting info. on Robertson's disappearance date. Most sites list 6/29/75, but one notes 7/1/75. Bundy abducted Susan Curtis on 6/27/75 (a mere few days earlier); so if he also killed Robertson, that would be the shortest turn-around time between assaults in his history (excluding the two double attacks of Lake Sam and 11/8/74 DaRonch/Kent, and Chi O). Absolutely possible, though.
Also, Bundy's timeline places him in Utah in school on 6/30/75 and at both work and school on 7/1/75. If Robertson did disappear 7/1/75, these events exclude Bundy. If she disappeared 6/29/75, the time frame's a little close to make the eight hour drive, but certainly doable. (His timeline from murdering Caryn Campbell In Snowmass, CO to calling his girlfriend from Salt Lake City was also quick work; about a 11-hour gap.) Making the drive within the needed time is feasible; I'd have to more carefully scrutinize his history to determine if there were other out-of-state murders from which he psychologically/functionally rebound quickly enough to attend school (or work) the following day.
Another critical piece of the puzzle is Bundy had no receipts placing him in Colorado anytime during the summer of 1975. He always could have bought gas with cash, though.
Thanks again for your comment!
Hello, second Unknown! Thank you for your comment, as well, and my sincerest apologies for not replying more promptly. I assume you're being facetious about Bundy "filling up the car at the scene of the crime"? LOL.
DeleteInteresting theory you noted that investigators may not have been truthful about the X marked on the Wildwood Inn inside the ski pamphlet. It's always been baffling why both that evidence, as well as the flyer for "The Redhead" play, were both so conspicuously viewable in Bundy's apartment. After all, just prior to this discovery, Bundy had waived his right to consent to search when he was being interviewed at the Salt Lake City precinct. Essentially inviting detectives over with incriminating evidence laying around - not too bright, Ted.