WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.459 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We're plunging 00:00:02.459 --> 00:00:05.320 into, well, a really dense stack of source material 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:07.820 today. Yeah, a heavy one. We're looking to pull 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:11.359 out the key insights, the maybe uncomfortable 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:14.580 truths. Definitely uncomfortable. Today, it's 00:00:14.580 --> 00:00:17.980 a deep dive into the contradictions, the documented 00:00:17.980 --> 00:00:21.190 life of Theodore Robert Bundy. One of America's 00:00:21.190 --> 00:00:23.510 most infamous serial killers. Right. And our 00:00:23.510 --> 00:00:25.690 mission is not just about listing the crimes 00:00:25.690 --> 00:00:27.550 because, you know, many people know the basics. 00:00:27.789 --> 00:00:30.670 Sure. We're synthesizing everything, the biographies, 00:00:30.670 --> 00:00:34.289 psychiatric reports, police files, to really 00:00:34.289 --> 00:00:37.270 get at the psychological markers behind his spree. 00:00:37.590 --> 00:00:40.649 That period between, what, 74 and 78. Exactly. 00:00:40.670 --> 00:00:42.689 We're hunting for those moments, those connections 00:00:42.689 --> 00:00:44.950 that explain the disconnect because it's huge, 00:00:45.030 --> 00:00:47.549 isn't it? It's almost incomprehensible. The gap 00:00:47.549 --> 00:00:50.640 between the man he seemed to be. Charming, respectable, 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:54.399 and the, well, the sadistic reality. That disconnect, 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:56.640 it really is the core theme. It runs through 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:57.979 everything we've looked at. I mean, just look 00:00:57.979 --> 00:00:59.820 at the scope. Active maybe four years before 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:02.240 the final capture. Roughly, yeah. Executed in 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:06.260 89, age 42. And the numbers, they're staggering. 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:10.859 20 confirmed victims, 30 confessed, but suspected. 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:15.640 Over 36. Mostly young women, girls. Across the 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:18.980 Pacific Northwest, Utah, Colorado, Florida. It's 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:21.840 a wide net. And that juxtaposition you mentioned, 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:23.599 that's what we really need to unpack for you, 00:01:23.659 --> 00:01:25.659 the listener. Yeah, because here's this guy, 00:01:25.799 --> 00:01:28.719 an honor student, studied psychology, volunteered 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:31.019 for political campaigns. He was even on the Seattle 00:01:31.019 --> 00:01:33.579 Crime Prevention Advisory Committee. It's unbelievable. 00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:36.159 And Ann Rule, the biographer who actually knew 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:39.659 him. worked alongside him at a suicide hotline. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:42.319 Right, in Seattle. She described him, at least 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:45.739 in that context, as kind, solicitous, and empathetic. 00:01:46.219 --> 00:01:47.980 Empathetic, that's the word that jumps out. Someone 00:01:47.980 --> 00:01:50.040 you'd trust. Right, absolutely. But then you 00:01:50.040 --> 00:01:52.299 flip the coin, his own defense lawyer, Polly 00:01:52.299 --> 00:01:54.379 Nelson, who saw him at the end. What'd she say? 00:01:54.540 --> 00:01:56.260 Called him the very definition of heartless evil. 00:01:56.420 --> 00:01:59.519 Yeah. And Ann Rule, later, she called him a sadistic 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:01.620 sociopath. Someone who got pleasure not just 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:04.420 from sex, but from pain, from control. Exactly. 00:02:04.579 --> 00:02:07.379 It's a profile of performance. calculated performance 00:02:07.379 --> 00:02:10.979 he built that image brick by brick he even admitted 00:02:10.979 --> 00:02:13.280 it later didn't he said something like he was 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:15.819 the most cold -hearted son of a you'll ever meet 00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:18.900 he did which shows he knew he was aware of the 00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:22.099 void inside and that awareness that's crucial 00:02:22.099 --> 00:02:24.379 to understanding the manipulation okay let's 00:02:24.379 --> 00:02:26.240 unpack this then let's start right at the beginning 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:28.819 the foundation of all this deception his early 00:02:28.819 --> 00:02:31.080 life it seems like the template was set pretty 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:33.500 early on Well, what's really fascinating here 00:02:33.500 --> 00:02:35.960 is just how early that foundational deceit began. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:40.280 He was born Theodore Robert Cowell, 1946. And 00:02:40.280 --> 00:02:42.699 because of the stigma back then, illegitimacy 00:02:42.699 --> 00:02:45.599 in the 1940s. Right. A huge deal. So his maternal 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:48.620 grandparents, Samuel and Eleanor, they raised 00:02:48.620 --> 00:02:51.210 him in Philadelphia. But they posed as his parents. 00:02:51.449 --> 00:02:53.909 And his actual mother, Eleanor Louise Cowell, 00:02:53.969 --> 00:02:56.650 she was presented as his older sister. To him. 00:02:56.650 --> 00:02:59.110 To everyone. Imagine discovering that. He found 00:02:59.110 --> 00:03:01.469 out years later. Maybe saw his birth certificate. 00:03:01.689 --> 00:03:03.930 The one labeling him a bastard. Accounts vary 00:03:03.930 --> 00:03:06.710 on exactly when or how. But however he found 00:03:06.710 --> 00:03:09.710 out, the sources are pretty clear. This concealment 00:03:09.710 --> 00:03:11.789 messed with his head. It fueled this lifelong 00:03:11.789 --> 00:03:15.050 resentment towards his mother. Totally. A massive 00:03:15.050 --> 00:03:17.150 sense of betrayal. And she never told him who 00:03:17.150 --> 00:03:20.490 his biological father was, just listed as unknown, 00:03:20.789 --> 00:03:23.650 though some family members suspected. Maybe the 00:03:23.650 --> 00:03:25.610 grandfather. Samuel Cowell, yeah, he's another 00:03:25.610 --> 00:03:28.229 contradiction. He is. Because Bundy sometimes 00:03:28.229 --> 00:03:31.210 spoke warmly about him, said he identified with 00:03:31.210 --> 00:03:33.770 him, respected him. But other accounts, and even 00:03:33.770 --> 00:03:37.250 Bundy's own later confessions to lawyers, they 00:03:37.250 --> 00:03:39.889 paint a very different picture. A tyrannical 00:03:39.889 --> 00:03:42.479 bully. That's the phrase used. And we really 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:44.539 need to look closely at the source material on 00:03:44.539 --> 00:03:47.219 Samuel because it seems to echo in Bundy's later 00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:49.340 behavior, doesn't it? It really does. Family 00:03:49.340 --> 00:03:52.759 members describe Samuel as not just harsh, but 00:03:52.759 --> 00:03:55.580 like unpredictably violent. Beating his wife, 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:59.000 the dog, swinging cats by the tail. Yeah. And 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:01.580 throwing his own daughter, Louise, down the stairs 00:04:01.580 --> 00:04:04.419 for oversleeping. If Bundy spoke warmly of that 00:04:04.419 --> 00:04:07.120 guy, even while knowing about the rage. It suggests 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:10.150 maybe he admired that power. Or internalized 00:04:10.150 --> 00:04:13.229 it somehow, that control. Could be. Seeing that 00:04:13.229 --> 00:04:15.550 violence, especially aimed at women, so early 00:04:15.550 --> 00:04:18.009 on, it might have laid some groundwork for his 00:04:18.009 --> 00:04:20.829 own pathology, his need for domination. Which 00:04:20.829 --> 00:04:23.629 gives some context maybe for the unsettling behavior 00:04:23.629 --> 00:04:25.990 that started showing up in his youth after they 00:04:25.990 --> 00:04:28.029 moved to Tacoma. Oh yeah, those early warning 00:04:28.029 --> 00:04:31.529 signs. Like his aunt waking up. To find three 00:04:31.529 --> 00:04:33.829 -year -old Ted standing over her bed, surrounded 00:04:33.829 --> 00:04:37.709 by knives, just smiling, chilling. And neighbors 00:04:37.709 --> 00:04:41.009 in Tacoma. They remembered him as mean -spirited, 00:04:41.170 --> 00:04:43.810 animal cruelty. Hanging a cat, setting it on 00:04:43.810 --> 00:04:46.550 fire, building punji traps in the woods to hurt 00:04:46.550 --> 00:04:48.750 other kids. This wasn't just childhood mischief, 00:04:48.769 --> 00:04:52.350 was it? No, no. It feels targeted, premeditated 00:04:52.350 --> 00:04:55.910 cruelty. A clear lack of empathy, even then. 00:04:56.069 --> 00:04:58.170 But all the while, he's building this other persona, 00:04:58.449 --> 00:05:00.509 the respectable one. Goes back to the University 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:03.850 of Washington, studies Chinese psychology, gets 00:05:03.850 --> 00:05:06.250 honors. He really worked on that mask, and politics 00:05:06.250 --> 00:05:08.750 was a big part of it. Volunteering for Rockefeller. 00:05:08.829 --> 00:05:11.230 Working for Governor Dan Evans' campaign. Even 00:05:11.230 --> 00:05:13.329 shadowing the opponent. And getting appointed 00:05:13.329 --> 00:05:15.569 to the Seattle Crime Prevention Advisory Committee. 00:05:15.689 --> 00:05:17.930 Think about that. Deep inside the system. People 00:05:17.930 --> 00:05:21.470 described him as smart, aggressive, a believer 00:05:21.470 --> 00:05:24.810 in the system. It gave him cover. Complete trustworthiness, 00:05:24.850 --> 00:05:27.970 seemingly. Which brings us to, well, a really 00:05:27.970 --> 00:05:31.329 crucial personal moment. That defining breakup. 00:05:31.750 --> 00:05:35.529 Diane Edwards, 1968. He called her his only love. 00:05:35.689 --> 00:05:39.860 She dumped him. Why? Immaturity. Lack of ambition. 00:05:40.220 --> 00:05:42.560 That's what the sources say. And psychiatrist 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.959 Dorothea Lewis thought this rejection was maybe 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:48.600 the pivotal moment. A huge blow to his ego. He 00:05:48.600 --> 00:05:50.420 couldn't handle rejection, could he? He needed 00:05:50.420 --> 00:05:53.180 control. Always. So after that, he retreats. 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:56.339 Travels east, and the sources confirm he dives 00:05:56.339 --> 00:05:58.779 deep into violent pornography in New York. Not 00:05:58.779 --> 00:06:01.019 just casual stuff, more like nursing those wounds, 00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:03.980 right? Consuming narratives of domination. Exactly. 00:06:04.339 --> 00:06:07.100 But the story with Edwards isn't over. He starts 00:06:07.100 --> 00:06:09.959 dating Elizabeth Klupfer, Liz Kendall, in Seattle. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:12.800 But then, summer 73, he goes back to Edwards. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:15.800 She's successful now. Professional. And he pursues 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:17.720 her aggressively. Tells people she's his fiancé. 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.439 Makes plans. Pure performance. All designed to 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:22.060 get back control, wasn't it? Totally. Because 00:06:22.060 --> 00:06:25.339 then, bam, January 1974, he just cuts her off. 00:06:25.379 --> 00:06:27.259 Cold. When she finally got him on the phone, 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:29.000 he just said, I have no idea what you mean. Ice 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:32.360 cold. And his motive. He basically admitted it 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:34.660 later. I just wanted to prove to myself that 00:06:34.660 --> 00:06:36.720 I could have married her. Just proving he could. 00:06:36.860 --> 00:06:40.060 And the timing. The sources nail this down. The 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:42.579 disappearances of young women start right then. 00:06:43.220 --> 00:06:46.139 January 74. Almost exactly when he drops out 00:06:46.139 --> 00:06:48.279 of law school for good. Yeah. By April, he was 00:06:48.279 --> 00:06:50.899 out. So rejection by Edwards, failure at law 00:06:50.899 --> 00:06:53.839 school, another hit to the ego. It seems like 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:55.980 that pushed him completely. The facade just couldn't 00:06:55.980 --> 00:06:59.439 hold anymore. And the violence became his new 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:02.180 focus, his new ambition. Okay. Moving into part 00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:05.959 two, 1974. This is when the confirmed crime spree 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:09.639 really erupts. Washington, Oregon. And the violence 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:11.899 is immediate. It's profound. It's organized. 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:15.240 The first documented attack, January 4th, 74, 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:18.889 just after midnight. Karen Sparks, 18 years old. 00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:22.029 Yeah, UW student. Bludgeoned, sexually assaulted 00:07:22.029 --> 00:07:24.649 with a metal rod from her own bed frame. Horrific 00:07:24.649 --> 00:07:27.149 internal injuries. She survived somehow, but 00:07:27.149 --> 00:07:29.569 permanent brain damage, loss of vision, hearing. 00:07:29.850 --> 00:07:31.589 And it wasn't random street crime. It was an 00:07:31.589 --> 00:07:34.250 invasion into her own room. A targeted attack. 00:07:34.490 --> 00:07:37.269 Then a month later, February 1st, Linda Ann Healy, 00:07:37.430 --> 00:07:40.689 21, also bludgeoned in her basement room. And 00:07:40.689 --> 00:07:43.550 Healy's case is critical because it sets the 00:07:43.550 --> 00:07:46.420 pattern of taking the victim. He didn't leave 00:07:46.420 --> 00:07:48.779 her there. He bludgeoned her, dressed her, carried 00:07:48.779 --> 00:07:51.420 her away. And he later confessed he drove her 00:07:51.420 --> 00:07:53.959 somewhere, secluded, raped, and murdered her. 00:07:54.379 --> 00:07:56.500 This is the start of that possession idea we 00:07:56.500 --> 00:07:58.500 need to get back to. And it kicks off this spree. 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:02.279 Young, attractive, white college students, long, 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:05.120 dark hair parted in the middle. A look that resembled 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:07.399 both Edwards and Klupfer, didn't it? Definitely. 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:10.680 And it becomes almost monthly. Donna Gail Manson, 00:08:10.740 --> 00:08:14.300 Susan Rancourt. Roberta Kathleen Parks disappearing 00:08:14.300 --> 00:08:17.680 across Washington, Oregon. And the details. Yeah. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:20.250 They're chilling. Bundy acclaimed he burned Manson's 00:08:20.250 --> 00:08:22.790 skull in his girlfriend's fireplace, trying to 00:08:22.790 --> 00:08:25.110 get rid of every trace. Down to the last ash, 00:08:25.350 --> 00:08:28.089 he said, out of paranoia and cleanliness. Shows 00:08:28.089 --> 00:08:29.850 how meticulous he was trying to be, even early 00:08:29.850 --> 00:08:32.450 on. His method, his modus operandi, it quickly 00:08:32.450 --> 00:08:34.789 centered on exploiting kindness, right? Yeah, 00:08:34.789 --> 00:08:38.309 the props, the fake cast, the sling, crutches, 00:08:38.429 --> 00:08:40.769 appearing injured and needing help. Asking women 00:08:40.769 --> 00:08:42.830 to help carry books or ski boots to his car. 00:08:43.350 --> 00:08:46.690 Gaining sympathy. The car itself. That light 00:08:46.690 --> 00:08:49.529 brown or tan VW Beetle, it was part of the strategy 00:08:49.529 --> 00:08:52.429 too? Absolutely. Common car, looked harmless. 00:08:52.669 --> 00:08:54.850 And witnesses kept describing the color differently. 00:08:54.970 --> 00:08:58.570 Brown, tan, bronze, orange. Made it harder for 00:08:58.570 --> 00:09:00.870 police to track. And if the sympathy play didn't 00:09:00.870 --> 00:09:03.129 work? It switched to authority. Officer Roseland 00:09:03.129 --> 00:09:05.830 in Utah. Richard Burton, fire department in Florida. 00:09:06.029 --> 00:09:08.330 People tend to obey authority figures. But leak 00:09:08.330 --> 00:09:12.509 Sammamish, July 74. That felt like a huge escalation. 00:09:12.669 --> 00:09:16.070 Broad daylight, crowded park. Why take that risk? 00:09:16.330 --> 00:09:18.649 It seems like a test. Testing his own power, 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:21.049 his own invisibility cloak. He was so confident 00:09:21.049 --> 00:09:23.970 in that mask. Witnesses saw him clearly, white 00:09:23.970 --> 00:09:26.850 tennis outfit, arm in a sling, asking women for 00:09:26.850 --> 00:09:28.549 help with a sailboat that wasn't even there. 00:09:28.830 --> 00:09:31.929 Pure theater. And on that one afternoon, he abducted 00:09:31.929 --> 00:09:35.710 Janice Ott, 23. Then, maybe four hours later, 00:09:36.370 --> 00:09:39.690 Denise Naslin, 19, vanished from the same park. 00:09:39.909 --> 00:09:42.309 The brazenness shocked everyone. And the detail 00:09:42.309 --> 00:09:44.269 he later shared with the FBI's Bill Hagmeier. 00:09:44.859 --> 00:09:47.360 It's just depraved. He claimed Ott was still 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:49.419 alive when he came back with Naslund. Forced 00:09:49.419 --> 00:09:51.419 one to watch the assault and murder of the other. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:53.399 That's what he confessed. He tried to walk it 00:09:53.399 --> 00:09:56.259 back later, before the execution. But just the 00:09:56.259 --> 00:09:59.159 fact he said it, it points to this deep sadistic 00:09:59.159 --> 00:10:01.840 need for psychological torture, not just the 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:04.080 physical act. And the ultimate display of nerve. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.679 Jorkin Hawkins. UW Alley. Brightly lit. Police 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:11.899 swarmed the area right after she disappeared. 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:14.419 Yeah, they scoured it. But Bundy confessed he 00:10:14.419 --> 00:10:18.059 went back the next afternoon in daylight. And 00:10:18.059 --> 00:10:19.679 just calmly picked up her earrings and a shoe 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:21.799 that the police missed in the parking lot next 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:24.200 door. Detective Robert Keppel said it was so 00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:27.659 brazen that it astonishes police even today. 00:10:27.700 --> 00:10:30.799 Just total contempt for law enforcement, believing 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:32.820 he was smarter than all of them. Then, August 00:10:32.820 --> 00:10:35.799 74, he shifts geographically, moves to Salt Lake 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:38.480 City for law school. Another ambition. He was 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:40.480 excited about it, apparently, but then found 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:43.240 the first -year curriculum completely incomprehensible. 00:10:43.899 --> 00:10:46.720 Another failure. Another blow to the ego. And 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:48.440 that seems to just fuel the criminal side even 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:50.200 more, doesn't it? The killing just continues, 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:54.639 seamlessly. Utah, then Colorado, Idaho, same 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:58.620 victim profile. Young, white, attractive. Nancy 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:02.679 Wilcox, 16. Melissa Ann Smith, 17. She was the 00:11:02.679 --> 00:11:05.169 local police chief's daughter. Again, the risk 00:11:05.169 --> 00:11:08.750 -taking. Laura Ann Aim, 17. And the violence 00:11:08.750 --> 00:11:12.850 escalates. Beatings, rape, sodomy, strangulation 00:11:12.850 --> 00:11:15.429 with stockings. Which brings us to Carol Duranch, 00:11:15.570 --> 00:11:19.750 the first escapee. November 8, 1974. This was 00:11:19.750 --> 00:11:22.470 huge. Absolutely critical. He used the Officer 00:11:22.470 --> 00:11:24.950 Roseland fake cop routine at a mall in Murray, 00:11:25.070 --> 00:11:27.409 Utah. But she fought back when he tried to handcuff 00:11:27.409 --> 00:11:29.090 her. Yeah, her quick thinking was incredible. 00:11:29.190 --> 00:11:31.529 He messed up, managed to get both cuffs on the 00:11:31.529 --> 00:11:33.990 same wrist. She broke free from the car. A huge 00:11:33.990 --> 00:11:35.990 break for the police because of the handcuffs. 00:11:36.110 --> 00:11:38.789 Exactly. Physical evidence and, crucially, a 00:11:38.789 --> 00:11:41.210 key that matched those cuffs. Found near where 00:11:41.210 --> 00:11:43.889 Dilber and Kent, 17, disappeared later that same 00:11:43.889 --> 00:11:46.710 night. Wow. Same night. So that key linked him 00:11:46.710 --> 00:11:48.929 physically to both an attempted abduction and 00:11:48.929 --> 00:11:51.250 a disappearance. A tiny piece of metal, but it 00:11:51.250 --> 00:11:53.190 was a start. After Kent, he heads to Colorado, 00:11:53.389 --> 00:11:56.860 Idaho. Karen Campbell at a resort. Julie Cunningham, 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:59.240 lured with the crutches routine. And Lynette 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:02.360 Culver, just 12 years old, abducted during her 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:04.639 lunch break from junior high, drowned in a hotel 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:08.539 bathtub. The geographical range, the pace, it 00:12:08.539 --> 00:12:10.519 shows this escalating compulsion he couldn't 00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:13.519 stop. Okay, part three, arrest, the escapes, 00:12:13.779 --> 00:12:18.120 and that final horrifying spree. This phase really 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:20.620 highlights his arrogance, doesn't it? His belief 00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:23.100 he could outsmart the system. Right up to the 00:12:23.100 --> 00:12:27.820 end. The first arrest, August 16, 1975. Granger, 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:31.480 Utah. Late at night. Officer Bob Hayward spots 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:34.039 the VW cruising a neighborhood, pulls him over. 00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:37.460 And Bundy bolts. High -speed chase. That immediate 00:12:37.460 --> 00:12:39.940 flight screams guilt. Hayward also noticed the 00:12:39.940 --> 00:12:42.580 passenger seat was gone from the VW, made space. 00:12:43.149 --> 00:12:44.970 for carrying victims. And the stuff they found 00:12:44.970 --> 00:12:47.149 in the car, Bundy tried to explain it away, but 00:12:47.149 --> 00:12:49.190 come on. Yeah, the burglary tools excuse didn't 00:12:49.190 --> 00:12:51.570 wash. Yeah. Ski mask, pantyhose mask, crowbar, 00:12:51.690 --> 00:12:53.730 handcuffs, trash bags, rope, ice pick. Those 00:12:53.730 --> 00:12:56.169 are predator tools for constraint, control, disposal. 00:12:56.570 --> 00:12:58.809 But maybe the most crucial information came from 00:12:58.809 --> 00:13:01.830 someone close to him. Elizabeth Cluffer. Liz. 00:13:02.190 --> 00:13:05.210 Despite being terrified, she'd reported him multiple 00:13:05.210 --> 00:13:07.710 times. Detailing all the weird stuff. Crutches 00:13:07.710 --> 00:13:10.029 that appeared and disappeared. Surgical gloves. 00:13:10.230 --> 00:13:13.059 A meat cleaver he never used for cooking. Plaster 00:13:13.059 --> 00:13:15.919 of Paris. Yeah, maybe for making casts. And that 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:19.779 detail about his obsession with her hair. Long, 00:13:19.779 --> 00:13:23.620 dark, middle part. Just like the victims. Chilling. 00:13:23.899 --> 00:13:26.320 She even said she woke up sometimes finding him 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:28.840 looking at her body with a flashlight. And when 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:32.039 she confronted him about stolen items, he threatened 00:13:32.039 --> 00:13:34.220 to break her neck. Just how fast that charm could 00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:37.139 vanish. Turned to pure menace. Then came the 00:13:37.139 --> 00:13:41.200 scientific breakthrough. That impounded VW. Forensics 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:43.080 went over it with a fine -tooth comb. And found 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:46.580 hairs? Hairs. Microscopically indistinguishable 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:49.840 from three victims. Karen Campbell, Melissa Smith, 00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:52.539 and Carol Duranch, the woman who escaped. Three 00:13:52.539 --> 00:13:54.980 different vindoms who never met. Hairs in one 00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:58.580 car. The FBI expert called it a coincidence of 00:13:58.580 --> 00:14:01.340 mind -boggling rarity. Circumstantial, yeah, 00:14:01.419 --> 00:14:03.679 but incredibly powerful scientific evidence. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:05.740 Still, he only got convicted initially for the 00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:09.080 Duranch kidnapping. one to 15 years, then extradited 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:11.200 to Colorado for the Karen Campbell murder charge. 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:12.860 And that's when the escapes happen. It's just 00:14:12.860 --> 00:14:14.940 astonishing. He acts as his own lawyer, right, 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:18.460 in Aspen, June 77. Yeah, gets himself unshackled 00:14:18.460 --> 00:14:20.320 to work in the law library, sees an open window. 00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:24.559 And just jumps, second story, 30 feet. Lands, 00:14:24.659 --> 00:14:28.340 injures his ankle, but gets away. Hikes for six 00:14:28.340 --> 00:14:30.779 days, stealing stuff, before they catch him again. 00:14:30.980 --> 00:14:32.500 And the maps they found in the car he stole, 00:14:32.679 --> 00:14:34.919 prosecution maps marking where Campbell's body 00:14:34.919 --> 00:14:38.110 was found. That suggests planning, right? Not 00:14:38.110 --> 00:14:40.250 just an impulsive leap. Absolutely calculated. 00:14:40.649 --> 00:14:44.190 But the second escape, December 77, Garfield 00:14:44.190 --> 00:14:47.470 County Jail. Even more audacious. How did he 00:14:47.470 --> 00:14:49.929 manage that one? Got a hacksaw blade smuggled 00:14:49.929 --> 00:14:52.769 in. Probably by visitors, maybe Carol Ann Boone, 00:14:52.889 --> 00:14:55.090 who fiercely believed he was innocent. And he 00:14:55.090 --> 00:14:58.070 just sawed his way out. Over weeks, meticulously 00:14:58.070 --> 00:15:01.450 cut a hole in his cell ceiling. Then, the night 00:15:01.450 --> 00:15:03.710 of December 30th. He made a dummy in his bed. 00:15:03.929 --> 00:15:06.440 With books and files under a blanket. Climbed 00:15:06.440 --> 00:15:08.679 into the crawl space, broke into an empty apartment 00:15:08.679 --> 00:15:11.080 belonging to the chief jailer. Put on the jailer's 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:13.840 clothes, a suit and tie. Yep, another disguise, 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:16.500 using authority again, and just walked out the 00:15:16.500 --> 00:15:19.500 front door, free for 47 days. That escape, that 00:15:19.500 --> 00:15:21.820 ego boost, it led straight to Florida, didn't 00:15:21.820 --> 00:15:24.820 it? The final spree. Directly, he lands in Tallahassee. 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:27.600 Yeah. And within a week, the Chi Omega attack. 00:15:28.539 --> 00:15:31.039 FSU sorority house. This one felt different, 00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:34.659 more impulsive, faster. Terrifyingly efficient. 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:37.879 Less than 15 minutes, they think. Slipped in 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:39.799 through a faulty back door. Attacked Margaret 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:42.960 Bowman first. Bludgeoned. Garotted her with pantyhose. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:45.559 Then Lisa Levy. An incredibly violent assault. 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:48.820 Bludgeoning, strangling, biting. Sexual assault 00:15:48.820 --> 00:15:51.500 with a hair spray bottle. Just brutal. Two other 00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:54.379 women survived, thank God. Kathy Kleiner. Karen 00:15:54.379 --> 00:15:58.200 Chandler. Severe injuries. Broken jaws. And then 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:01.200 he walks eight blocks away. Attacks Cheryl Thomas 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:04.919 in her duplex. Fractured skull. Jaw. Permanent 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:07.259 deafness all in one night. Completely unhinged 00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:09.340 but still methodical in the violence. And his 00:16:09.340 --> 00:16:12.820 final known victim, three weeks later, Kimberly 00:16:12.820 --> 00:16:15.440 Leach, 12 years old, abducted from her junior 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.100 high. A shift to a child victim, that felt like 00:16:18.100 --> 00:16:20.379 another awful threshold crossed. Her remains 00:16:20.379 --> 00:16:23.700 found seven weeks later, mummified, raped, throat 00:16:23.700 --> 00:16:26.159 cut, mutilated. His run finally ended three days 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:28.200 after Leach vanished near the Alabama border, 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:31.159 driving another stolen VW. And when they caught 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:35.090 him. Found stolen IDs, credit cards, and that 00:16:35.090 --> 00:16:36.850 Richard Burton fire department disguise he'd 00:16:36.850 --> 00:16:39.409 used. His alleged words to the officer, I wish 00:16:39.409 --> 00:16:42.830 you had killed me. He knew the game was up. Which 00:16:42.830 --> 00:16:46.309 brings us to part four. The pathology. The endgame. 00:16:46.909 --> 00:16:49.330 Trying to manipulate the system one last time. 00:16:49.490 --> 00:16:52.269 The trials were massive media events. G -Omega, 00:16:52.389 --> 00:16:55.350 1979 first televised murder trial, nationally. 00:16:55.730 --> 00:16:59.350 And Bundy. He alienated his own lawyers. Insisted 00:16:59.350 --> 00:17:02.009 on running his own defense, mostly. Total grandiose 00:17:02.009 --> 00:17:04.190 delusion about his legal skills, right? Polly 00:17:04.190 --> 00:17:06.529 Nelson said he sabotaged the entire defense effort. 00:17:06.750 --> 00:17:08.630 He even turned down a plea deal at the last second. 00:17:08.849 --> 00:17:11.789 Guilty to three murders for 75 years. Couldn't 00:17:11.789 --> 00:17:14.269 do it. Couldn't admit guilt publicly. The mask 00:17:14.269 --> 00:17:16.690 had to stay on. But the evidence was too strong, 00:17:16.769 --> 00:17:19.369 especially the bite marks. On Lisa Levy's body, 00:17:19.549 --> 00:17:21.849 forensic odontologists matched them perfectly 00:17:21.849 --> 00:17:24.549 to Bundy's teeth. A landmark case for bite mark 00:17:24.549 --> 00:17:27.660 evidence. Convicted. Two death sentences for 00:17:27.660 --> 00:17:30.079 Chi Omega. And then the Leach trial in 1980, 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:32.799 the penalty phase. He pulls another stunt. The 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:36.180 marriage on the stand. To Carol Ann Boone. She's 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:37.839 testifying as a character witness. He suddenly 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:40.700 proposes, then declares them married under some 00:17:40.700 --> 00:17:43.460 obscure Florida law about declarations in court. 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:45.720 So what does all that tell us? The law school, 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:49.119 the politics, the marriage. It was all just performance. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:52.119 All performance. Yeah. All about control, validation, 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:55.759 not love, not career, just feeding the narcissism. 00:17:55.980 --> 00:17:57.759 The psychological assessments tried to figure 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:00.720 him out. Early on, maybe bipolar. Multiple personality 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.000 disorder. Yeah, Lewis considered it. Witnesses 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:05.160 talked about his chameleon -like ability, how 00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:07.700 he seemed to physically change. One prison official 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:10.279 even mentioned an odor when he shifted. But the 00:18:10.279 --> 00:18:13.099 consensus landed on antisocial personality disorder, 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:17.680 ASPD, and extreme psychopathy. Off the charts, 00:18:17.740 --> 00:18:20.480 really. Scored 39 out of 40 on the hair psychopathy 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:23.500 checklist, the PCLR. That's near perfect. Indicating 00:18:23.500 --> 00:18:26.559 what? Complete lack of empathy. Guilt. Total 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:29.220 absence of emotional capacity, deep manipulation, 00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:32.640 pathological lying, top -tier psychopath. He 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:35.579 showed zero remorse. Famously said, guilt doesn't 00:18:35.579 --> 00:18:37.619 solve anything. I guess I am in the unviable 00:18:37.619 --> 00:18:40.079 position of not having to deal with guilt. People 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:42.420 were just objects to him. Things to be used, 00:18:42.539 --> 00:18:44.619 controlled. Which leads to the darkest part. 00:18:44.779 --> 00:18:48.160 What he told Hagmeier about possession. Necrophilia. 00:18:48.339 --> 00:18:50.920 He explained murder evolved into total possession. 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:53.900 The victim becomes a part of you, he said. You 00:18:53.900 --> 00:18:55.880 two are forever one. The place you kill them 00:18:55.880 --> 00:18:59.660 becomes sacred. The ultimate act was taking the 00:18:59.660 --> 00:19:02.440 life and then the physical possession of the 00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:05.559 remains. And the post -mortem rituals, revisiting 00:19:05.559 --> 00:19:08.740 the bodies multiple times, performing sexual 00:19:08.740 --> 00:19:11.460 acts until decomposition stopped him. Applying 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:14.019 makeup to Melissa Smith's face, washing Laura 00:19:14.019 --> 00:19:17.680 Ann Ames' hair. Yeah. His chilling, quote, if 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:20.359 you've got time, they can be anything you want 00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:23.509 them to be. Complete objectification. Total control 00:19:23.509 --> 00:19:26.529 even after death. And the decapitations. He confessed 00:19:26.529 --> 00:19:29.069 to about 12. The ultimate trophy, he suggested. 00:19:29.529 --> 00:19:32.769 Retaining control. Getting rid of evidence. He 00:19:32.769 --> 00:19:34.890 admitted keeping severed heads, maybe the four 00:19:34.890 --> 00:19:36.569 from Taylor Mountain, in his apartment for a 00:19:36.569 --> 00:19:39.349 while. Taking Polaroid photos because he saw 00:19:39.349 --> 00:19:41.730 the murders as accomplishments, work he didn't 00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:44.250 want to forget. Exactly. Documentation of his 00:19:44.250 --> 00:19:47.690 successes. As the end neared, death row. He tried 00:19:47.690 --> 00:19:49.950 one last manipulation, didn't he? The bones for 00:19:49.950 --> 00:19:52.599 time scheme. Yeah. Execution date set for January 00:19:52.599 --> 00:19:55.660 89. He starts dribbling out confessions. Incomplete 00:19:55.660 --> 00:19:58.539 info about where victims were buried, like Susan 00:19:58.539 --> 00:20:01.980 Curtis, hoping to trade details for a stay. Authorities 00:20:01.980 --> 00:20:03.819 saw right through it, though. Governor Martinez 00:20:03.819 --> 00:20:06.660 called it despicable. Detective Lindvall said 00:20:06.660 --> 00:20:09.759 it perfectly captured his personality. Confess 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:12.180 for time versus keep the secret. Always about 00:20:12.180 --> 00:20:16.259 control. His very last TV interview. James Dobson. 00:20:16.759 --> 00:20:19.559 the conservative psychologist. And Bundy played 00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:21.819 him perfectly. Blamed everything on pornography, 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:24.980 violent media, said it corrupted him. A total 00:20:24.980 --> 00:20:27.599 calculated move, right? Catering to Dobson's 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:30.500 agenda. Absolutely. He told investigators before 00:20:30.500 --> 00:20:33.259 that porn played only a minor role. This was 00:20:33.259 --> 00:20:35.680 just a final attempt to shift blame, deflect 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:39.140 responsibility. January 24th, 1989. Execution 00:20:39.140 --> 00:20:41.559 by electric chair. His final words were just 00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:43.880 normal sounding. Jim and Fred, I'd like you to 00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:46.210 give my love to my family and friends. to his 00:20:46.210 --> 00:20:49.230 lawyer and minister. Then cremated, ashes scattered 00:20:49.230 --> 00:20:51.849 in the Cascades as he requested. Even his apology 00:20:51.849 --> 00:20:54.170 to his mother felt evasive. A part of me was 00:20:54.170 --> 00:20:56.650 hidden all the time. The lie followed him right 00:20:56.650 --> 00:20:59.950 to the end. But the full toll? We still don't 00:20:59.950 --> 00:21:02.650 really know, do we? He confessed to 30 across 00:21:02.650 --> 00:21:05.569 seven states. Washington, Utah, Colorado, Florida, 00:21:05.670 --> 00:21:08.269 Oregon, Idaho, California. But he loved playing 00:21:08.269 --> 00:21:10.789 games with a number. Told the FBI, add one digit 00:21:10.789 --> 00:21:13.599 to 36 and you'll have it. His lawyer claimed 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:16.480 Bundy privately admitted to over 100, left it 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:19.519 ambiguous. And those lingering cold cases, the 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:21.619 ones he said he'd never talk about. Because they 00:21:21.619 --> 00:21:24.359 were too close to home, involved family, or the 00:21:24.359 --> 00:21:26.619 victims were very young. Which points back to 00:21:26.619 --> 00:21:30.240 Ann Marie Burr, age 8, Tacoma, 1961. Bundy was 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:33.119 14. Delivered papers nearby. Fits all the criteria 00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:36.400 Keppel mentioned. DNA on old evidence was inconclusive, 00:21:36.539 --> 00:21:39.470 but circumstantially. It's very unsettling. A 00:21:39.470 --> 00:21:41.289 crime possibly committed when he was just a kid. 00:21:41.430 --> 00:21:43.910 And Vermont, 1971, he confessed to killing someone 00:21:43.910 --> 00:21:46.269 there while researching his birth. The Rita Kern 00:21:46.269 --> 00:21:49.170 case nearby was solved recently with DNA pointing 00:21:49.170 --> 00:21:51.609 to a neighbor. Which means, who is the other 00:21:51.609 --> 00:21:53.569 victim Bendy admitted to killing in Vermont? 00:21:53.950 --> 00:21:56.390 Another unknown. He was just so good at avoiding 00:21:56.390 --> 00:21:58.970 detection. Organized, understood police work, 00:21:59.130 --> 00:22:01.970 avoided guns, never left fingerprints at a scene. 00:22:02.609 --> 00:22:05.960 Astonishing. changed his look constantly. That 00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:08.700 chameleon -like ability Judge Hansen mentioned, 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:11.500 the perfect monster hiding in plain sight. It 00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:13.220 really does all come back to that contradiction, 00:22:13.500 --> 00:22:16.420 the mask, the narcissism. He complained people 00:22:16.420 --> 00:22:19.299 saw him in incriminating places. Because he truly 00:22:19.299 --> 00:22:23.039 believed America to be a place where everyone 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:26.779 is invisible except to themselves. He thought 00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:30.059 his performance was flawless. Which leaves us 00:22:30.059 --> 00:22:32.019 with a really disturbing final thought, doesn't 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:34.299 it, for you, the listener, to consider. If someone 00:22:34.299 --> 00:22:37.700 like Bundy, charismatic, smart, described as 00:22:37.700 --> 00:22:40.940 empathetic, can hide such profound evil, believing 00:22:40.940 --> 00:22:44.259 he's totally unseen, what does that say? How 00:22:44.259 --> 00:22:46.160 do we spot the monsters when they wear that perfect 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:49.119 mask, the mask of complete, utter normalcy? Yeah, 00:22:49.180 --> 00:22:51.339 a chilling question to think about long after 00:22:51.339 --> 00:22:51.859 we're done here.