Ted Bundy was born out of wedlock on November 24, 1946 to Eleanor ‘Louise’ Cowell. His paternal lineage is unknown but his Grandfather was ruled out as a contender thanks to a DNA test. Ted was born at The Elizabeth Lund Home for Unwed Mothers in Burlington, Vermont (also referred to as ‘Lizzie’s Home for Naughty Ladies’). Louise initially left her little boy behind but his Grandparents forced her to bring him home, and because their daughter was young and unmarried Samuel andEleanor planned to raise the child as their own. For the first five years of his life Ted lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 1950 Louise moved little Teddy across the United States to Tacoma, Washington, where she gave him the last name of Nelson and moved in with her Uncle Jack Cowell, a music professor at the nearby University of Puget Sound. In May of 1951 Louise married an army cook named Johnnie Bundy. The couple met at a church function and married shortly after. The couple went on to have 4 children together and Johnnie formally adopted Ted in 1951.
While Louise has said Ted’s father was a ‘sailor,’ true crime writer Ann Rule claimed that on the serial killer’s birth certificate an Air Force veteran named Lloyd Marshall was listed as his father. However, in the book ‘The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy,’ journalists Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth claim that a war veteran named Jack Worthington was his father. The truth of Ted’s fathers identity will most likely never be known.
When Ted was 21 years old he took a trip to the east coast, where he visited Burlington and obtained a copy of his birth certificate. It was then that he realized for certain he was an illegitimate child, a fact he didn’t take well. According to loved ones he was extremely bitter about the circumstances surrounding his birth and his parental lineage. He also resented Louise for keeping it a secret from him.
A copy of Teds birth certificate. Ted Bundy’s amended birth certificate. Note that this birth certificate was issued in 1951 after Louise married Johnny Bundy. The original document will remain sealed until 2045.Bundy as a small child.Bundy on a sled posing with a snowman.Little Teddy and Louise Bundy at the Jersey Shore.Little Teddy and his Grandfather at the Jersey Shore.Ted and his Grandfather.Little Ted.A young Ted posing at a Christmas tree.Bundy (far right) with some friends. Bundy with 2/4 of his step-siblings.Tucker Carlson or Ted Bundy? You decide.Bundy in elementary school.An adolescent Ted.Ted and Johnnie Bundy.Another shot of Ted at boy scout camp.Another shot of Ted at camp.Ted shooting a rifle at camp. Bundy on a rowboat.Ted in a group shot from elementary school, he is in the back row, third from the left. Photo courtesy of Tiffany Jean.Ted with his half brothers and sisters.A blurry shot of the Bundy siblings in B&W.The Bundy family, in color.Bundy’s senior picture.In May of 1951 Johnnie and Louise Bundy moved into this house at 1620 South Sheridan Avenue in Tacoma. It was the family’s first home and when they moved in Ted was only four years old. Before they moved in Louise and Ted lived at his great Uncle Jacks house at 1514 South Alder Street.I took this picture of the Bundy family’s second home on North Skyline in April 2022. It reminds me of a watercolor painting.This is the third and final house the Bundy family lived in, located at 3214 North 20th Street in Tacoma, WA; the family moved into the house in 1968. Johnny and Louise stayed here until the late 2000’s.
Dennis Lynn Rader was born on March 9, 1945 to William and Dorothea Rader in Pittsburg, KN. The parents of four boys, the Raders eventually settled down in Wichita, where William (a former Marine) worked for Kansas Gas Services and Dorthea was a homemaker and bookkeeper. Both parents worked long hours and paid little attention to their children; Dennis later described feeling particularly ignored by his mother and resented her for it. From an early age, he harbored sadistic sexual fantasies about voyeurism, autoerotic asphyxiation and cross-dressing and exhibited zoosadism by torturing and killing small animals. He liked to dress in women’s clothing and wear bindings around his arms and neck and masturbate while spying on his unknowing female neighbors. After he graduated from Wichita Heights High School, Rader enrolled in classes at Kansas Wesleyan University, only earning subpar grades; he dropped out after one year. He then joined the United States Air Force, serving from 1966 to 1970. After being discharged, Rader moved to Park City, where he got a position in the meat department of an IGA supermarket where his mother was employed as a bookkeeper.
Rader married Paula Dietz on May 22, 1971, and the couple had two children: a son named Brian born in 1973, and a daughter named Kerri (Rawson) born in 1978. He attended Butler County Community College in El Dorado, and in 1973 earned an associate degree in Electronics Engineering Technology. He continued his education at Wichita State University, and in 1979 graduated with a BS in Administration of Justice. After getting his four year degree, Dennis briefly worked as an assembler for Coleman, an outdoor supply company. From 1974 to 1988 he was employed for the Wichita branch of ADT Security Services, where he installed security alarms in peoples homes. After being laid off from ADT, in 1989 Rader got a position as a census field operations supervisor for the 1990 federal census in the Wichita area. In May 1991, he became a compliance officer and dogcatcher for Park City. In this position, neighbors recalled him as being overzealous and extremely strict at times, and seemed to take special pleasure in bullying and harassing single women. One even complained that he killed her dog for no reason. Rader was also the president of Christ Lutheran Church and was a CubScout leader.
Although on the rare occasion Rader killed men and children (or attempted to anyways), he preferred to target women. His victims were often bound, sometimes with objects from their own homes, and he either suffocated them to death with a plastic bag or manually strangled them with a ligature. BTK also stole little mementos or keepsakes from his female victims, including underwear, their drivers licenses, and other personal items. In early 1974, Rader began his reign of terror with the Otero family: The morning of January 15, he cut the their phone line and entered their residence after little Joey opened the back door for the dog. He was expecting to only see Mrs. Otero home with two of her six children, but to his surprise the patriarch was home as well. Quickly, BTK drew his gun and told the terrified family that he was a wanted criminal and needed food, money and a getaway vehicle. He then took their lives, one by one: his victims were Joseph Sr. (38), Julie (33), Joseph Jr. (9), and Josephine (11). Rader put a plastic bag over Joseph Sr.’s head, suffocating him to death, then did the same to Joseph Jr. His beautiful wife, Julie was strangled to death on her bed… but he left his most horrifying act for last: he hung little Josie up by her neck with a rope, her body hanging from a pipe in the basement with her arms tied behind her back. Because he felt raping his victims would be make him unfaithful to his wife, Rader masterbated on the young child. Their bodies were discovered later that afternoon by the families three older children, who had been at school at the time of the killings. After he was arrested in 2005, BTK confessed to killing the four Otero’s and that he first targeted them two months before he took their lives, when he spotted Julie leaving to take her children to school and followed them.
Next was Kathryn Bright. Before he took her life, Rader had seen the twenty one year old enter her home and immediately pegged her as his next ‘project.’ On April 4, 1974, he let himself into her house from the porch door and hid in her bedroom. Bright arrived home around 2 PM but wasn’t alone: her brother Kevin (19) was with her. Just like with Joseph Otero Sr., Rader was not expecting this but quickly adapted: he came rushing out of the bedroom, gun drawn, pointing it right at both of them. He gave the siblings the same story he told the Oteros: that he was on the run and needed supplies. Rader then forced the two into a bedroom and ordered Kevin to tie up Kathryn’s hands and feet. When finished, he took Kevin into the other room and attempted to restrain him as well, but was unsuccessful: the two men began fighting, with Kevin getting very close to taking the weapon away from Rader. But BTK quickly regained control of the situation and shot Kevin in the head, twice. He then went back to Kathryn, who (like her brother) also put up quite the fight as he attempted to strangle her. He realized he wouldn’t be successful in his attempts and began stabbing her in the abdomen. As this was taking place, Kevin was able to escape: he ran a few blocks to his car and drove off in search of help. Sadly, despite multiple emergency surgeries and blood transfusions, Kathryn Doreen Bright succumbed to her injuries. Thankfully Kevin survived.
Rader took a bit of a break until 1977: On March 17, he intended to go after a woman named Cheryl he had met at a bar, but lucky for her she was not home. Not wanting to wait, he decided it was time to murder again and quickly spotted his next victim in a neighborhood that he was walking through. When going down Hydraulic Street he came across a young boy named Steve Relford, who was walking home from the store with a can of soup. Rader pulled out a picture of his own wife and son and asked the five year old if he recognized them. The little boy shook his head no and continued on his walk home. After arriving, BTK knocked on the families door when Steve answered: Rader told him he was a detective, helping him gain entry to the house with no problems. He then turned off the TV and closed the blinds. Shirley Vian, home with her four children, came out of one of the rooms, confused as to who the strange man in her living room was. Once again drawing his weapon, BTK told the children to go into the bathroom, even going so far as to locking them inside. He told Shirley his plans but somehow was able to convince her that he wasn’t going to rape her, and tried to calm her down with a glass of water and and a cigarette. Rader then tied her up and strangled her to death with a rope. Semen was found left behind on her panties, which were discovered next to her body. During his allocution in court in 2005, BTK stated that the telephone rang, which spooked him and forced him to leave early. As a result, he left the children in the bathroom still screaming for their mother.
On April 28, 1979, Rader waited inside the home of 63-year-old Anna Williams, who lived in the 600 block of South Pinecrest in Wichita. He grew impatient and angry after sitting in her dark closet for hours, and when she failed to return home he left, taking with him several of her personal belongings (including one of her scarves and some jewelry). Williams was at a square dance that evening then stopped by her daughter’s house afterwards. When she arrived home at 11:00 PM she simply thought she had been the victim of a burglary. Rader then mailed her one of her scarves as well as a poem titled, “Oh, Anna, Why Didn’t You Appear” (he also sent it to a local news station in Wichita): ‘T’was a perfect plan of deviant pleasure so bold on that Spring nite’ … ‘be glad you weren’t here, because I was.’
It wasn’t long again before Rader once again felt the itch to kill. In December of 1977, he was already stalking and obsessed with his next target: 25 year old Nancy Fox. On December 8, BTK cut her phone line then broke into the back door of her modest duplex. He waited for her to arrive home from her job at a jewelry store, and since she lived alone he had no issues surprising her in her kitchen at gunpoint. Rader told Fox he had a sexual hangup and in order to get rid of it had to sexually assault her. He quickly tied her up, undressed himself and immediately began to strangle her. As he took her life, BTK told her who he really was and what he had done in the past. The next day on his way to work, he called the police and told them they would: ‘find a home-acide at 843 South Pershing. Nancy Fox.’ Rader then fled, leaving the phone receiver dangling. Law enforcement rushed to Nancy’s house and found her body, along with semen on a discarded nightgown lying next to her.
BTK went silent until 1985. By then, the 40 year old serial killer had gotten busy: his children were born and growing, and he was involved in his church. His next victim was his neighbor: 53 year old Marine Hedge. A widow, Hedge was described by the people in her life as a kind and gentle woman. On April 27, 1985, Rader was in the middle of a Boy Scout meeting when he announced that he had a headache and needed to leave to get medicine. He then walked to his car that was conveniently parked near a bowling alley. He went inside and bought a beer, which he purposely spilled all over himself and swished around in his mouth, which gave the people around him the impression that he had been drinking (he spit the beverage out). Dennis even went so far as to call a cab, instructing the driver to take him to Park City.
Once he got to his neighbors house, Rader saw her car and assumed she was home. Like his other victims, he cut her phone line and quietly let himself in the back door. He quickly realized that she wasn’t there and waited in her bedroom until he saw a car pull into the driveway. Mrs. Hedge and a male friend walked into her residence, and once again BTK was left waiting. He stayed in her bedroom closet until 1 AM, when her guest was gone and she was asleep. He then turned on the bathroom light and jumped on top of his victim, strangling her to death. When the act was completed, Rader dragged her body out of the house and put it in the trunk of her car. He then drove to his church, bringing her body inside and photographing it in multiple different poses. When finished, he put her body back in the trunk of the car and dumped it in a ditch on a dirt road not far from their respective homes.
Sweet, young twenty eight year old Vicki Wegerle was next on Rader’s radar. In September of 1986, Wegerle was a happily married mother of two, and had caught the serial killer’s eye (or ear, in this case) when he walked by her house one day and heard her play the piano. He thought he planned this murder out meticulously, dubbing it his ‘PJ’ project in the journal he kept. Before going into the family’s home, he made sure to cut the phone line (just like the others). At roughly 10 AM on September 16, Rader (who was dressed up as a telephone repairman) knocked on Wegerle’s door and she let him, for what I would think are obvious reasons. Once inside, he immediately pulled out his weapon and told her he was going to tie her up. As Dennis was attempting to push her into her bedroom the young mother began to put up a fight, causing him to get some cuts and scratches on his face and arms. He quickly reached for a rope and choked her to death. When finished, he took pictures of her body posed in different positions then left in the Wegerle’s car. As he was driving away, Vicki’s husband Bill pulled up and said that he saw his own car driving in the opposite direction of his home but couldn’t ID the driver. When he walked in his house, he saw his 2 year old son left unattended in the living room. Wegerle searched the house for his wife, eventually finding her on their bedroom floor behind their bed. Vicki was immediately rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead after a few hours. Reportedly, Rader did not harm the Wegerle’s son and authorities initially suspected Bill as the prime suspected in his wife’s murder.
Last but not least, Dennis Rader’s tenth victim: sixty-two year old Dolores Davis. On January19, 1991, Rader was away chaperoning his son’s boy scout camping retreat but managed to sneak away in the middle of the night undetected. First, he went to his parents house to change into his ‘hit’ clothes and from there drove to the Baptist Church in Park City to ditch his car. He then took off on foot to Davis’ house, which was only a mile and a half away from his own residence. Rader waited outside until he was certain his victim was asleep then threw a cinder block through the glass door at the back of the house, which immediately woke her up. He gave her his well-rehearsed story: that he was on the run, needed resources and was going to restrain her. Rader then tied her up in the bedroom and strangled her to death with a pair of pantyhose. When he was finished, BTK put her body in the trunk of her own car and kept it there while he took care of obligations, saying that ‘I really had a commitment I needed to go to, so I moved her to one spot, I took her out of her car… this gets complicated, then the stuff I had, clothes, guns, whatever, I took that to another spot in her car, dumped that off.’ Later that day, he eventually ‘dropped off’ her remains under the Jester Creek Bridge near Sedgwick County then drove back to Davis’ house, making sure to wipe her car down before leaving to go back to the church. BTK then changed back into his Scout uniform and snuck back into camp. The next night he went back to her body and took photographs of it. Her remains were found on February 1, 1991 at West 117th Street North and North Meridian Street in Park City.
Thirteen years passed after Dennis Rader killed Dolores Davis. Irritated that he wasn’t receiving any media attention for his hard work, he resumed sending law enforcement and the media taunting correspondence in 2004. Included in the detailed letters were mementos from his previous crimes, including pictures he took of his victims and a drivers license. On February 25, 2005 the serial killer was finally arrested after a floppy disk he sent to a Kansas TV station was traced to a computer at his church, leading to his arrest and subsequent guilty plea. After Rader was arrested, investigators uncovered a treasure trove of information, including his personal journals, notebooks, and an unpublished manuscript. In these texts he documented all of his crimes as well as his darkest fantasies. After her husband was caught, Paula Rader was granted an ‘emergency divorce,’ which waived the typical 60-day waiting period. There are typically only two real justifications for an emergency divorce petition in Kansas: immediate need of support or domestic violence. For a few years after the arrest was made Kerri said she wrote to her father but eventually ceased all communication with him. She said where she has forgiven him she still struggles to come to terms with him being the BTK killer, saying she had a typical childhood and they were a ‘normal American family.’ On August 18, 2005, 60-year-old Rader received 10 consecutive life sentences with the possibility of parole after 175 years. As of September 2023 Dennis Rader is housed at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.
After he was arrested, BTK told law enforcement that was stalking his next intended victim and had been planning to kill her in October 2004. Mary Capps worked under Rader in the Compliance Department for Park City, and despite being subjected to six and a half years of mental abuse and bullying by him she is thankful that he was caught before he took her life. After discovering who the man that had caused her to suffer really was, Capps developed a terrible case of PTSD and after struggling for years is now fully recovered and has written a book about her experience titled: ‘My Boss was the BTK Killer.’ In it, she talks about an incident when Rader trapped her in her office: ‘he just kept moving toward me. I said ‘Dennis, open the door.’ Finally he reached over, opened the door, and with a complete change of personality he walked to his desk and sat down and acted like nothing happened.’
On August 23, 2023, the Associated Press reported that Dennis Rader was being investigated for five additional murders in Oklahoma and Missouri. Authorities discovered ‘possible trophies’ from victims after a search at his former Kansas property for evidence (the house was torn down in 2007). At this time, only two of the five names have been released: Cynthia Kinney and Shawna Garber. There is a third case from 1983 out of Hayes,KN that BTK is now being investigated for (he referred to the victim as ‘PJ Prairie’) as well as a fourth in Kansas he called ‘Project Bell.’ Lastly, he is being looked into for an unsolved violent crime in OK, known as ‘Oklahoma Case #2.’ As of September 2023 no additional details have been released related to these three victims. These five investigations are part of a bigger attempt to help solve additional cold cases that may possibly be linked to BTK.
On June 23, 1976, 16-year-old Cynthia ‘Cyndi’ Dawn Kinney was last seen leaving her aunt and uncle’s laundromat in Osage, Oklahoma. Witnesses said the popular young cheerleader left the Osage Laundromat at 9:30 AM and got into a faded beige 1965 Plymouth Belvedere with two other people in it (statements seem to vary as to whether they were two men, a man and a woman, or ‘two women in their twenties’); she was last seen wearing a peach-colored blouse and blue jeans. After Kinney vanished, her purse and drink were found left behind at the laundromat as well as a half-eaten donut. Cynthia was born on January 18, 1960 and had brown hair and brown eyes; at the time she was murdered she was about to go into her junioryear of high school, stood at 5’1”tall and weighed a mere 97 pounds. After she disappeared, there were several reported sightings of Cynthia: one said she was seen traveling around southern Kansas with a religious group. Another claimed she had been with Hobart Green just minutes before she disappeared (this was not reported until 1991). In 1986, Hobart pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his baby son and is also a suspect in the 1961 disappearance of his ex-wife, Maxine. Her body has never been found and Green has never been charged in her disappearance, however the couple’s then twelve year old daughter claims that she saw her father kill her mother then bury her body. Law enforcement never commented on whether or not they have verified that Green was in fact with Kinney on the day of her disappearance, or if he’s considered a suspect in her case.
In 2023, Osage Sheriff Eddie Virden announced that Rader was named as a prime suspect in Kinney’s disappearance after it was determined that he was present at a Boy Scout event in the area at the time she was last seen. He had also used the phrase ‘PJ bad laundry day’ in his personal journal, referring to a brunette as ‘the target’ and that he would ‘watch the nearby Laundry Mat for possible victim’ (I’ve also seen it referred to as PJ ‘Bad Wash Day’). Also, across the street from the laundromat a bank was having new ADT alarms put in and Rader worked as an installer for the company at the time. He insists he had nothing to do with her 1976 disappearance and shared with Fox News Digital that investigators from the Osage County Sheriff’s Office have visited him twice so far at the El Dorado Correctional Facility concerning the cold case, saying: ‘Sheriff from Oklahoma … is pursuing a case against me … regarding a missing girl on June 23, 1976. Her name is Cynthia Dawn Kinney, presumed a kidnapped and missing case. I signed the Miranda on Friday. Yet to be arrested.’ He even attempted to give investigators an alibi, and that ‘the sheriff has what I call complete lack of solid evidence.’ Rader’s daughter Kerri Rawson stated that she feels Kinney’s abduction doesn’t fit the pattern of her father’s crimes and that he is most likely telling the truth about his lack of involvement in her disappearance. Sheriff Virden refused to comment on the case as it is still an active investigation and would not discuss what made law enforcement look at Rader after all this time, commenting that ‘an investigation is an investigation; sometimes they go places. There may be some things that we felt like we need to look into, and we’re following up on those.’
Shawna Beth Garber was born on March 1, 1968 in Missouri and most likely disappeared on October 31, 1990 from Topeka, KN (although I’ve read conflicting reports saying she may have disappeared on November3). Before she was positively ID’d, Garber was referred to as ‘Grace Doe.’ At the time she disappeared, 22 year old Garber had wavy, shoulder length brown hair that may have appeared to have a red tint in the sun. She possessed a slim build and had several fillings despite being a ‘well-cared for orthodontic patient with excellent occlusion teeth.’ Shawna was last seen wearing a stone-washed Levi denim jacket, a large white T-shirt, Lee blue jeans with the cuffs rolled to the tops of her shoes, socks, and white size 7.5 hi-top tennis sneakers. Garber was found murdered in McDonald County, Missouri on December 2, 1990. Her bound, decomposing remains were found in a remote area by an abandoned farm house in some weeds on Oscar Talley Road. She was strangled about two months before her remains were found and was found hogtied with six different types of material, including nylon rope, lead rope, coaxial cable, telephone cable, parachute cord and clothesline. Because of the way she was bound (with both hands behind the back and tied to one leg with a shoelace), it is believed that she was also sexually assaulted, and it’s believed the parachute cord was military issued because it was not commercially available in 1990. A single blond hair that did not belong to the victim was found on the body, and law enforcement strongly suspect she may have been murdered at or near the location where her remains were found based on an eyewitness that said she heard a woman scream in that same area on Halloween night at roughly the same time frame that the victim is believed to have been killed. Garber was identified in 2021 with the help of Othram, Inc, which is an American company that specializes in forensic genetic genealogy to resolve unsolved murders, disappearances, and identification of unidentified decedents or murder victims. For decades, Garbers older brother Rob Ringwald had no idea what happened to his sister. They were put into foster care when he was seven and she was five, and a year later would be the last time he’d ever see her. Ringwald said that Shawna was born two days before his second birthday, and ‘growing up without her, there was always just a hole in my life that I couldn’t fill.’ When Ringwald turned 18 he started looking for her, and when he got married his new bride made it her life’s mission to find her: ‘’something she could do that would help me and help the other members of our family. We thought it’d be nice for our kids to know their aunt.’ On finding out his sister went unidentified for so long, Ringwald said: ‘it was devastating. just to find out that she’d been sitting in a box for 30 years.’ In 2023, authorities announced that BTK was the prime suspect in Garber’s murder due to photographic evidence found in one of his journals which tied him to the crime scene.
Additionally, there is a third case from 1983 out of Hayes, KN that Rader is now being investigated for (he referred to the victim as ‘PJ Prairie’) as well as a fourth in Kansas called ‘Project Bell.’ Lastly, he is being investigated for an unsolved violent crime in OK, known as ‘Oklahoma case #2.’ At this time no additional information has been released related to these three victims, and the five investigations are part of a bigger attempt to solve cold cases that may possibly be linked to BTK.
As of September 2023, what investigators found on BTK’s property remains unannounced, however in April 2023 that released a statement that they found a ‘pantyhose ligature’ on the same land.
A young Dennis Rader.Dennis Rader.A young BTK.Dennis Rader.Dennis Rader.Dennis and Paula Rader holding one of their children.Dennis and Kerri.Kerri Rader.The former residence of Dennis Rader, located at 6220 Independence Street in Park City, Kansas. The house has since been torn down.Investigators recently dug up the site of Rader’s former home in Park City. Photo courtesy of KSNW.Investigators recently dug up the site of Rader’s former home. Photo courtesy of KSNW.A composite sketch of the BTK suspect.BTK’s handwritten symbol.The payphone where BTK called law enforcement to inform them of Nancy Fox’s death. A portion of one of BTK’s letters to media. In February 1978, he sent a two-page letter to KAKE-TV, claiming responsibility for the recent string of murders in Kansas, including Fox and Vian. Portions of BTK’s first letter to the media in 1977.Raders correspondence from prison.In 2004, Rader left a package for the police department in Wichita that included Nancy Fox’s drivers license and a Barbie doll with its hands and feet bound with a plastic bag wrapped around its head. In December 2004, a viewer of KAKE-TV called the station to report an unusual package in a local park. They recovered a box containing a bound Barbie doll made to symbolize the murder of Josephine Otero with a drainage pipe as well as Nancy Fox’s driver’s license. On January 25, 2005, KAKE-TV received a postcard from BTK with the address of the location of this cereal box. Inside the box was a note asking, ‘can I communicate with Floppy disk and not be traced to a computer. Be honest.’ If so, Rader asked that they to run a message in the local newspaper saying, ‘Rex, it will be OK.’In 2005, Rader placed this cereal box with the words ‘Bomb’ and ‘BTK’ into the bed of a pickup truck at Home Depot. The owner of the truck didn’t give the random box much thought when he tossed it into the garbage, but Rader was hoping it would bring chaos and panic to the community. In a letter to police, he told them about the cryptic cereal box, and with that tip, investigators eventually found the marked Special K box, which contained important information about BTK’s victims. A cereal box left by BTK.The floppy disk that got BTK caught: on this disk that Rader sent to Wichita’s KSAS-TV, investigators were able to retrieve metadata from a deleted document that helped tie him to the murders. Some evidence found at BTK’s property. Rader eventually told detectives intimate details about his ‘hidey holes,’ where they could find evidence in scattered throughout Wichita.A layout of the crime scenes across Kansas. Photo courtesy of The Wichita Eagle.A list of confirmed BTK victims with details surrounding their death. Screen grab courtesy of Wikipedia.The Otero family.The Otero family.The Oteros.Ropes binding the Otero’s venetian blind cord.Joseph Otero.Joseph Otero.Joseph Otero.A crime scene picture of Joseph Otero Sr. Rader put a bag over his head and used a cord as a ligature to strangle him.Joseph Otero.Joseph Otero Jr.Joseph Otero Jr.A crime scene picture of Joseph Otero Jr. Rader put a bag over his head and used a cord as a ligature to take his life.A crime scene picture of Joseph Otero Jr.Josephine Otero.BTK saved the worst for 11 year old Josephine, who was found hanging in the family’s basement from an overhead pipe, bound and partially nude. Her small body had been hung by the neck, with her feet hovering just a fraction of an inch off of the floor; this most likely would have lengthened the amount of time it took for her to die. Seminal fluid was found at the scene around Josie’s body which suggests her killer masturbated while she was hanging. Josie Otero.Eleven year old Josie Otero’s hands tied behind her back.A b&w ofJosie Otero’s feet.Josie Otero’s bound feet.Julia Maria Otero. About the Otero murders, Rader said in court: ‘first of all, Mr. Otero was strangled, a bag put over his head and strangled. And then I thought he was going down. Then I went over and strangled Mrs. Otero, and I thought she was down. Then I strangled Josephine, thought she was down, and they I went over to Junior and put the bag on his head. After that, Mrs. Otero woke back up, and you know, she was pretty upset, what’s going on? So I came back and at that point in time I strangled her with a death strangle at that time.’Julie Otero. What a beautiful woman.The murder scene of Julie Otero. Rader later told investigators that he held the family at gunpoint, tied them up and killed them off one by one. Julie Otero.The body of one of the Otero family members being removed from their house in 1974.Charlie Otero, who is currently 64 years old.Kathryn Doreen Bright.Kathryn Bright.A picture from the Kathryn Bright crime scene.Stab wounds to Kathryn’s front torso.Stab wounds to Kathryn’s back torso.Kevin Bright, who managed to survive BTK’s attack. Because of his serious injuries, Bright did not learn about his sister’s fate until several days later. During his victim impact statement in 2005, he said that his only regret was that the gun didn’t go off when he pulled the trigger.A crime scene photograph of gun shot wounds to the face and head of Kevin Bright.Kathryn and Kevin Bright’s sister.Shirley Ruth Vian Relford.Vian.Shirley Vian.A crime scene picture of Shirley Vian, Raders sixth victim.A crime scene picture of Shirley Vian.Law enforcement bringing Shirley Vian out of her house.Shirly Vian’s bathroom, where her three young children were kept during her murder.Shirley Vians son Steve Relford with Charlie Otero on the show ‘I Survived BTK.’Shirley Vians son Steve Relford.Nancy Jo Fox’s sophomore picture from the 1968 South High School yearbook.Nancy Jo Fox’s junior picture from the 1969 South High School yearbook.Nancy Jo Fox’s senior picture from the 1970 South High School yearbook.Nancy Fox.Nancy Jo Fox.Nancy Fox, post-mortem.Nancy Jo Fox, post-mortem.Nancy Jo Fox, post-mortem.Marine Wallace Hedge.Marine Hedge.Marine Wallace Hedge.Marine Wallace Hedge.Rader killed his neighbor Marine Hedge on April 27, 1985. Marine Hedge was a widow that lived on the same block as Rader in Park City for over 30 years.Hedge’s final resting place.A drawing of Hedge’s home BTK drew while planning his attack. Since they were neighbors, her house had a similar layout the Rader family’s home. Dolores Earline Johnson Davis.Dolores Davis’s cat.A crime scene picture of the cut phone line at the home of Dolores Davis.A crime scene picture from the murder of Dolores Davis.The remains of Dolores Davis.An autopsy picture from the murder of Dolores Davis.The mask found found with Davis. A forensic expert holding up the mask found at the Davis crime scene at BTK’s trial.Jeffrey Davis’s holding up his book, ‘The Shadow of Evil: Where is God in a Violent World.’When Dennis Rader was arrested for the BTK serial killings, his home was searched and a wealth of evidence was found by police. Among the material linking him to unsolved slayings, was a sketch that depicted a woman tied, looking up at her killer with the caption ‘PJ Dogside: A Moment Before It Over.’ The words were written with a stencil, with PJ Dogside referring to the project name given to Davis by Rader during the stalking phase of BTK’s surveillance of his victim. Other victims were also given code names and this, along with physical evidence, connected Rader to the murder of Dolores Davis.Vicki Lynn Wegerle.Vicki Lynn Wegerle was born on March 25, 1958 in Wichita and was murdered on September 16, 1986.Wegerle with a boyfriend in 1977.The Wegerle family.The Wegerle family.Vicki Wegerly’s drivers license.Vicki Wegerly post-mortem.Vicki Wegerly post-mortem.Wegerle’s neck showing signs of strangulation.Vicki Wegerle, post-mortem.Vicki Wegerle, post-mortem. One of the photos of Vicki Wegerle that BTK sent to media in 2004. After disappearing for over sixteen years, BTK returned in March 2004, when the Wichita Eagle received a package with the return address as “Bill Thomas Killmann.” Inside was a single sheet of paper with a photocopy of Vicki Wegerle’s drivers license, along with two photographs of the crime scene, and this sketch.The gravesite of Vicki Lynn Wegerle.Mary Capps was subjected to years of abuse and bullying by her supervisor, Dennis Rader, and after he was arrested she suffered from extreme PTSD. Now fully recovered, she wrote a book about her experience titled: ‘My Boss was the BTK Killer.’ She discusses one incident when Rader trapped her in her office, saying: ‘he just kept moving toward me, says Capps. I said ‘Dennis, open the door.’ Finally he reached over, opened the door, and with a complete change of personality he walked to his desk and sat down and acted like nothing happened.’Mary Capps. A Twitter post from Kerri Rawson about her fathers potential new victims.Cynthia Dawn Kinney.Cynthia Kinney.Cynthia Dawn Kinney.Cynthia Dawn Kinney, 16, was last seen in June 1976. Photo courtesy of Osage County Sheriff’s Office.The above image reveals a blurb from BTK’s journal which gave details on his whereabouts in 1976. This journal entry alludes to a significant event marked as ‘PJ-Bad Wash Day’ during a period in which Rader acknowledged being outside the Wichita area. Photo courtesy of the Osage County Sheriff’s Office.Shawna Garber.Garber.Shawna Garber and her brother.Shawna Garber.Shawna Garber.An artistic rendering of Shawna Garber.An artistic rendering of Shawna Garber.An artistic rendering of Shawna Garber.The clothing Garber was wearing when she was last seen.Bounding material found with the remains of Shawna Garber.The shoes found with Garber.The jacket found with Garber.Some snapshots of BTK dressed in bondage.In this particular image, Rader has his hands tied behind his back and is wearing a blond wig and painted mask. He reportedly took this photo in 1991 after he killed Dolores Davis. One of Rader’s bondage selfies. A picture that Rader took of himself.A picture that Rader took of himself.Rader would often relive ‘the ecstasy of the murder’ by taking photographs of himself in the victims’ clothing and recreating the murders.When BTK was arrested in 2005 police found more than they bargained for when they searched his belongings: numerous photos of the serial killer dressed in various states of bondage. Rader would photograph himself bound, hanging, and even buried, and one time he almost got caught when he buried himself while on a camping trip and couldn’t get out.One of Rader’s bondage selfies. One of Rader’s bondage selfies. A picture Rader took of himself.A picture that Rader took of himself.One of Rader’s bondage selfies. A colored sketch done by BTK.A sketch by Rader done in blue ink.A sketch by Rader done in black ink.A sketch by Rader done in black ink.A black and white sketch done by BTK.The black and white ‘Williams sketch’ done by BTK. One of the newly released sketches drawn by BTK. In this one a young blonde female in pigtails is wearing a green top, with her arms and legs bound and sitting on what looks like a stack of hay. Officials noted the black piping in the picture that may be the walls of a barn.Another drawing shows a young dark-haired girl in a red top sitting on her knees as she is bound and gagged with a rope looped around her neck. The image shows brown horizontal lines in the background.A black ink sketch with the young victim pictured in a different angle. The girl is seen lying flat face first and bound by her neck to a staircase post that appears to be in some type of barn loft space.
The Stranger Beside Me is a 1980 true crime classic written by Ann Rule about her one-time suicide hotline colleague Ted Bundy. Rule met Ted in 1971 when he was a psychology major at the University of Washington in Seattle and contemplating a career in law and politics.
Thanks to Erin Banks/CrimePiper for the first document (which is the study itself), and Tiffany Jean for the second. The second document is a Seattle PD Memorandum, dated October 9, 1975 inquiring about the rape study he wrote in 1972.
Kimberly Diane Leach.Leach.Kim with friends.A news report discussing Bundy’s possible relation to the murder of Kim Leach, photo courtesy of Carol DaRonch YouTube.An aerial view of where law enforcement found Kim Leach’s body, courtesy of oddstops.A layout of Bundy’s actions surrounding Kim Leach’s abduction, courtesy of oddstops.The inside of the van Bundy stole from FSU.The hog shed Bundy used to dispose of Leach’s body.
This is the initial police report regarding Nancy’s disappearance completed by Officer D.R. Anderson on July 4, 1975. I already wrote about her but I’m going to go back and edit my piece; I am constantly updating my articles when I stumble across new information and boy did I find a great new source.
I’ve been spending a good chunk of my time writing about the unconfirmed victims so in this installment of ‘All Things Bundy,’ I’m going over his confirmed kills.
Karen Sparks-Epley (18). January 4, 1974. Survived, Seattle, WA.
Also referred to as ‘Joni Lenz,’ Sparks was brutally assaulted by Ted Bundy while asleep in her basement apartment in the University District of Seattle. She was his first known victim. Thankfully Bundy didn’t kill her, however she was badly beaten with a metal rod, sexually assaulted, and left unconscious for hours before her roommates discovered her later that night. Ted left her with a number of serious long-term injuries she still struggles with to this day.
Karen Sparks.Karen Sparks.Karen Sparks.Karen Sparks in the Amazon documentary, ‘Falling for a Killer.’
Lynda Ann Healy (21). February 1, 1974. Murdered, Seattle, WA.
On January 31st, 1974, Healy borrowed a friends car to go shopping for a family dinner she was preparing the next night and returned with her groceries at roughly 8:30 PM. Shortly after, Lynda and her roommates went drinking at a popular bar called Dante’s Tavern located at 5300 Roosevelt Way NE. The establishment was a five minute walk from her apartment but the friends didn’t stay out long because Lynda needed to be up at 5:30 AM to be at her job giving the ski report for a local radio station. A number of sources report that Bundy used to go to Dante’s often and it is hypothesized that he first saw Lynda there then followed her home. In the early morning hours of February 1, 1974, he broke into Healy’s basement room, beat her, took off her bloody nightgown (making sure to neatly hang it up in her closet), dressed her then carried her off into the night. It is theorized that Ted only took clothes to make it appear as if Lynda left on her own but obviously we’ll most likely never know the truth. Her body found in March 1975 on Taylor Mountain, near Issaquah outside of Seattle.
Lynda Healy, in the middle holding her little sister.Lynda Ann Healy (middle) with her siblings.Lynda Ann Healy.Lynda Ann Healy.
Donna Gail Manson (19). March 12, 1974. Murdered, Olympia, WA.
On the day of her abduction, Donna planned on going to a folk dancing class at the College Activities Building at Evergreen State College (where she attended). Later that same night, she made plans to go to a jazz concert at the Daniel J. Evans Library (also on campus), which was scheduled to start at 8 PM. Donna departed her dormitory just after 7 PM and set out for the dance class, which was just a two minute walk away. Despite how close the College Activities Building was to her dorm, no one recalls seeing her at either the dancing class or the jazz recital, making it highly unlikely that she ever made it that far. Manson was never seen alive again. After confessing to her murder, Bundy said he burned her skull in Liz Kendall’s fireplace.
Donna Gail Manson.Donna Gail Manson.Donna Gail Manson.Donna Manson.
Susan Elaine Rancourt (18). April 17, 1974. Murdered, Ellensburg, WA.
Shortly before 8 PM the evening she disappeared from her college campus at Central Washington University, Susan Rancourt put some clothes in a washing machine in Barto Hall (her dorm building). She then went to a meeting about becoming a Residential Advisor at Munson Hall. When it ended at 10 PM Sue left to walk back to her dorm to switch out her laundry but was never seen alive again. She had plans later that night to watch a movie with a friend but never showed up. Rancourts skull was later found near Taylor Mountain, where Bundy placed several bodies during his reign of terror.
Susan Elaine Rancourt.Susan Elaine Rancourt.Sue Rancourt.The Susan Rancourt Memorial Garden at CWU. Photo taken in April 2022.
Roberta Kathleen Parks (20). April 17, 1974. Corvallis, OR.
A student at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Parks was abducted from her college campus, which is over a four and a half hour drive for Bundy (who was living at the Rogers Rooming House on 12th Ave NE in Seattle at the time). Shortly before 11:00 PM the night she disappeared, Parks encountered Bundy in the Memorial Union Commons cafeteria at OSU. During Teds interviews with journalists Hugh Aynesworth and Stephen Michaud, he ‘confessed’ in the third-person that Kathy may have encountered her killer while in the cafeteria. Bundy then said he was able to convince her to leave with him and as soon as the opportunity presented itself he immediately overpowered her. He most likely bound and gagged Parks during the 250-mile trip back to Seattle, where then killed her and dumped her body on Taylor Mountain.
Roberta Parks, second from the left.Roberta ‘Kathy’ Parks.Kathy Parks.One of the more frequently used pictures of Kathy Parks.
Brenda Carol Ball (22). June 1, 1974. Murdered, Burien, WA.
In the wee hours of June 1st, 1974, Brenda Ball seemingly vanished into thin air after seeing a band play at The Flame Tavern located at 12803 Ambaum Boulevard in Burien, WA. She arrived at the bar alone and stayed until closing. As the act was wrapping up their set at the end of the night Brenda asked one of the members she knew for a ride home back to her house but he was heading in the opposite direction so he couldn’t help out. There are two conflicting reports about how she could have left the bar that night: one is that she left by herself and was planning on hitchhiking home, and the other claims that she left with an unidentified man wearing an arm sling. Despite law enforcement being hesitant to officially say her disappearance was related to the other missing girls in Seattle, her skull was the first discovered on Taylor Mountain in March of 1975.
Brenda Ball’s senior picture from the 1970 Mount Rainier High School yearbook.A barefoot Brenda Ball.Brenda Carol Ball.Brenda Ball.
Georgeann Hawkins (18). June 11, 1974. Murdered, Seattle, WA.
A student at the University of Washington, Georgann Hawkins disappeared from an alley behind her sorority house in June 1974. The night before she vanished, Hawkins went to a party, where she had a few mixed cocktails. Because she had a Spanish final coming up that she needed to study she didn’t stay long; she did mention to a sorority sister that she was planning on swinging by the Beta Theta Pi House to pick up some Spanish notes from her boyfriend. Hawkins arrived at the frat at approximately 12:30 AM on June 11 and stayed for approximately thirty minutes. After getting the notes and saying goodnight to her beau, Georgann left the fraternity house for her sorority house, Kappa Alpha Theta. Before he was executed, Ted told law enforcement that he approached her in an alley on her way home, feigning injury with a hurt leg (using his crutches as a ruse) while dropping his briefcase. Bundy asked Hawkins for help carrying the prop to his VW Bug, which was waiting in a parking lot roughly 160 yards north of the alley. She agreed and as she bent over to put the briefcase in his vehicle, Ted grabbed a conveniently placed crowbar and knocked her out with a single blow to the head. He then pushed George into his car and drove off into the night. Bundy claimed that while driving she regained consciousness and started to incoherently babble about her upcoming final, thinking he was her Spanish tutor. He again knocked her out with his crowbar. Once at his intended location, Ted took her unconscious body out of his car and strangled her with an old piece of rope. According to him, the parts of Georgann’s body he had not buried were recovered in Issaquah with the bodies of Janice Ott and Denise Naslund. He confessed to murdering Hawkins shortly before his 1989 execution.
Georgeann and her pom poms, from her time at Lakes High School, in Lakewood, WA.A photo of George from the 1973 Washington State Daffodil festival.A b&w photo of Georgeann Hawkins.Georgann Hawkins.
Janice Ann Blackburn-Ott (23). July 14, 1974. Murdered, Issaquah, WA.
At the time she was murdered, Janice Ott worked as a probation case worker at the King County Youth Service Center in Seattle, WA. In December of 1973, she married Jim Ott, who at the time of her death was in California for graduate school. After her car was broken into while living in Seattle, she moved in with a roommate to 75 Front Street in Issaquah (she felt the smaller community would be safer). The morning she disappeared, Janice spent a few hours at doing laundry and having a cup of coffee with a friend. After her errands and chores were completed, she rewarded herself with a trip to Lake Sammamish. Ott was abducted by Bundy at around 12.30 PM, and just a mere three and a half hours later he returned to the same park and abducted Denise Naslund.
Janice Ott and her younger sister standing outside her VW Bug.Janice Ott.Janice and Jim Ott.Janice Ott.
Denise Marie Naslund (18). July 14, 1974. Murdered, Issaquah, WA.
On a beautiful, picture perfect sunny day, Naslund disappeared from a very busy Lake Samammish State Park (that day was Rainier Beer’s annual picnic, there were over 40,000 people there). She was there with her boyfriend and another couple, and after telling them she was going to the restroom Denise was never seen alive again. Naslund lived with her mother in Seattle and was studying to become a computer programmer. Eleanor Rose said her daughter had the kind of helpful nature that would easily place her in danger. Denise’s remains were found on a hillside near Issaquah roughly two months later in September 1974, only two miles away from Lake Samammish. Bundy confessed to her murder shortly before his execution.
Denise Marie Naslund.Denise Marie Naslund.Denise Naslund.
Nancy Wilcox (16). October 2, 1974. Murdered, Holladay, UT.
The first of Teds confirmed Utah victims, Wilcox went missing after she went on a walk to buy a pack of gum (it’s also speculated that from there she was on her way to her high school to visit her boyfriend). She left the house in a huff after getting into a fight with her Dad about her bf’s pick-up truck leaking oil on the families driveway. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox said that because of this law enforcement initially considered her to be a runaway even though they knew their daughter would never voluntarily leave home and had no troubles whatsoever in her personal life. Nancy left all of her personal belongings behind including some expensive jewelry that held deep sentimental value to her. Before he was executed Bundy confessed to sexually assaulting and strangling her, then burying her body about 200 miles away near Capitol Reef National Park. Sadly her body has never been found.
Nancy Wilcox.Nancy Wilcox.Nancy Wilcox.
Melissa Smith (17). October 26, 1974. Murdered, Midvale, UT.
Bundy abducted Smith shortly after she left a pizza parlor on West Center Street in Midvale at around 9.30 PM on October 26, 1974. One unconfirmed report suggests that he may have been asking women in the area to help him with a car issue. Melissa was the daughter of Midvale Police Chief Louis Smith, and her murder took place just sixteen days after Nancy Wilcox vanished from the nearby city of Holladay (and five days before Laura Aime). On the night she disappeared, Smith was supposed to sleep over at a girlfriend’s house but those plans fell through after she didn’t answer the phone. After realizing she had been stood up, she decided to leave the pizzeria and walk back to her house on Fern Drive. At some point during her walk, its speculated that Bundy grabbed Melissa off the street and killed her. She never made it home.
Melissa Smith.Melissa Smith.Melissa Smith.
Laura Aime (17). October 31, 1974. Murdered, Lehi, UT.
Shortly before she disappeared Aime dropped out of high school, left home (she frequently couch surfed at various friends’ homes), and worked a few menial part-time jobs. Surprisingly she still remained in contact with her family and according to her parents, they were just beginning to accept her ‘nomadic lifestyle.’ So, when she first disappeared no one really seemed overly concerned. Thanks to my newspapers.com subscription it didn’t take long for me to realize there were no news articles mentioning Laura Aime’s disappearance at first, and her name only began to appear in ink after two hikers discovered her remains in American Fork Canyon. Additionally, when her body was first discovered, law enforcement first speculated it belonged to Deborah Kent.
Laura Ann Aime, photo courtesy of ThisInterestsMe.Laura Ann Aime, photo courtesy of ThisInterestsMe.Laura Ann Aime.Laura Ann Aime.
Carol DaRonch (18). November 8, 1974. Survived, Murray, UT.
The evening she was abducted Carol DaRonch parked her maroon 1974 Camaro on the southern side of The Fashion Place Mall in Murray, UT. As she was window shopping outside Walden Books, DaRonch was approached by Bundy, who was posing as a police officer. He said that her car had been broken into and asked her to drive down ‘to the station’ with him to file a report with him. However as they were on their way he attempted to subdue and handcuff her but was unsuccessful: she was able to fend him off and escape. Of the encounter, DaRonch said that she ‘thought he was kind of creepy … I thought he was a lot older than he was.’ She also commented that she could smell alcohol on his breath.
Carol DaRonch.Carol DaRonch.Carol DaRonch.DaRonch as she looks today.
Debra Jean Kent (17). November 8, 1974. Murdered, Bountiful, UT.
After Bundy was unsuccessful in his attempts to kidnap Carol DaRonch he quickly realized he was going to need a new victim. So he made the twenty-two minute drive away to Viewmont High School, where he successfully abducted Debbie Kent. Kent was watching a play with her family but left the school at approximately 10:30 PM to pick up her brother from the nearby Rustic Roller Rink. She never made it to the rink and was most likely abducted in the parking lot. According to an eyewitnesses, there was loud screaming coming from the area at roughly the time that Debra was last seen, and another person saw a light-colored VW Beetle speeding away from the school. After the Kent’s realized their daughter hadn’t even made it out of the parking lot, they found a handcuff key on the ground by their car. Bundy confessed to killing Deb and burying her body in the same area as Nancy Wilcox.
Debra Kent.Debra Kent.Debra Kent.
Caryn Campbell (23). January 12, 1975. Murdered, Estes Park, CO.
Bundy abducted the 23-year-old nurse from the Wildwood Inn in Snowmass Village. While staying at the inn with her fiance and his children, Campbell went missing after going upstairs to her room to retrieve a magazine. Although we will never know for certain how exactly Ted managed to abduct the attractive young woman, it is highly likely he feigned an injury and asked her to help him carry something back to his vehicle. After he lured her away from the hotel to a darkened parking lot he hit her over the head then quickly snuck her into his Bug. Roughly five weeks after Campbell disappeared her body was found less than three miles away from the Wildwood Inn. Someone driving by her remains noticed a large amount of birds flying over the area. Using dental records, police determined that the remains belonged to Caryn. The postmortem examination revealed that her skull had sustained three heavy blows. Before Ted’s run in with Ol’ Sparky, he confessed to Campbells murder.
The day before Bundy was executed Campbell’s father Robert did an interview with the Free Press saying that ‘you never really forgive someone for something like that,’ Robert Campbell said. ‘You just try to put it behind you. … The thing I’d like to have back, I can’t have.’ … ‘I’m not a vindictive person, but certainly you can’t go around killing people. I suppose I approve of his execution reluctantly, but I don’t think executing Bundy will be a deterrent. People will keep killing.’Caryn Campbell.Caryn Campbell.
Julie Cunningham (26). March 15, 1975. Murdered, Vail, CO.
Cunningham disappeared early in the evening on March 15, 1975 after leaving her Apollo Park apartment in Vail to go a nearby bar to meet up with a friend. Bundy told law enforcement that he pretended to be an injured skier on crutches that needed help carrying a pair of ski boots to his car. According to Ted, the pair walked over half a mile together before they finally reached his vehicle. Once there, Bundy knocked her unconscious, put her in his car then drove to a remote area roughly eighty miles west of Vail and sexually assaulted her. When finished, he strangled her to death and dumped her remains in a shallow grave near Rifle, CO. Julie’s body has never been recovered.
Denise Oliverson (24). April 6, 1975. Murdered, Grand Junction, CO.
On April 6, 1975, Denise Oliverson set out on a bike ride to her parents house but was never seen alive again. The next day, a search party found her bicycle and shoes under the Fifth Street Bridge by some railroad tracks. Just days before he was executed in January 1989, Bundy told law enforcement he abducted Oliverson then disposed of her body in a river about five miles West of Grand Junction. Her remains have never been found.
Denise Oliverson.Denise Oliverson.Denise Oliverson on her wedding day.
Lynette Dawn Culver (12). May 6, 1975. Murdered, Pocatello, ID.
Although the details surrounding Culvers murder seem to vary between sources, it’s strongly speculated she was last seen at Alameda Junior High School. It’s worth mentioning, this was a two and a half hour drive from where Bundy was living at the time in Salt Lake City to Pocatello, Idaho. Some places say that she left campus during her lunch period, where others claim Lynette was last seen getting on a bus. When considering her healthy and happy relationship with family and friends as well as and her stellar academic performance, she most likely was taken against her will. In his death row interviews, Bundy confessed to killing Lynette then dumping her body in the Snake River. He also said he raped and drowned the 12 year old child in a hotel room after abducting her. Law enforcement didn’t fully accept his confession despite providing some convincing details.
Lynette Dawn Culver. Lynette Dawn Culver. Lynette Dawn Culver.Lynette Dawn Culver.
Susan Curtis (15). June 27, 1975. Murdered, Provo, UT.
At the time she was murdered, Susan was a freshman at Woods Cross High School. She had a history of running away from home for days at a time but never was gone for very long. Susan was originally from Bountiful, Utah but at the time of her disappearance was attending a youth conference at Brigham Young University in Provo. A natural athlete, Curtis had ridden her bicycle 50 miles from Bountiful to Provo to attend the conference. She vanished on the first evening of the conference after a formal banquet: she left her friends to make the quarter mile walk back to her dormitory to brush her teeth but was never seen or heard from again. As Bundy walked down to the hall to be executed Curtis was his last death row confession. Since her body has not been recovered she is still regarded as a missing person.
Susan Curtis.Susan Curtis.Susan Curtis.Susan Curtis.Susan Curtis.
Margaret Bowman (21). January 15, 1978. Murdered, Tallahassee, FL.
In the early morning hours of January 15, 1978, a group of young women residing at the Chi Omega house at Tallahassee’s Florida State University were asleep in their beds when evil crept in… Margaret Bowman was born in Honolulu and moved to Florida in 1973 after her father retired from the US Air Force. Bowman was one of four women Bundy attacked when he broke into the sorority house at around 3 AM on January 15, 1978. He beat her with a piece of firewood as well as a telescope and strangled her to death with her own tights. Despite the violent nature of the crime, the initial investigation failed to produce any evidence of sexual assault or struggle. The severity of the beating was so extreme that part of Bowman’s brain was visible.
A picture of Margaret Bowman from high school. I hate that it has ‘RIP’ on it but I couldn’t find another copy.Margaret Bowman.Margaret Bowman.Margaret Bowman.
Lisa Janet Levy (20). January 15, 1978. Murdered, Tallahassee, FL.
Lisa was born in St Petersburg, FL and attended Dixie Hollins High School, where she played flute in the band for two years. At FSU, she majored in fashion merchandising and worked at the Colony Shop near campus. When law enforcement got to the crime scene Levy’s was the first sister that officers found dead. Medical Pathologists discovered that she had been beaten on the head with a log, sexually assaulted with a hair spray bottle then strangled. Additionally, they found bite marks on her buttocks and one of her nipples had been so savagely bitten that it was almost completely severed from the rest of her breast.
Levy.Lisa Levy.Levy.Lisa Levy and her boyfriend.Lisa Levy and her boyfriend.
Kathy Kleiner-Rubin (20). January 15, 1978. Survived, Tallahassee, FL.
Kathy Kleiner-Rubin and Karen Chandler shared a room at the Chi Omega sorority house. That night she was attacked Kathy went to bed first, with Chandler following shortly after. After Bundy attacked and murdered Lisa Levy, he went into the room next door and brutally assaulted Kleiner-Rubin and Chandler. In an interview, Kathy said that was awoken that morning by the sound of her bedroom door opening. The assailant then tripped over a chest that was in-between the girls twin beds. Ted then assaulted her with a piece of firewood, which left her with a broken jaw, concussion, skull fracture, broken arm and finger. Miraculously, she survived her injuries and testified against Bundy in his death penalty trial.
Kathy Kleiner-Rubin at Bundy’s trial.Kathy Kleiner-Rubin.Kathy Kleiner-Rubin as she looks today.Kathy Kleiner-Rubin as she looks today.
Karen Chandler (22). January 15, 1978. Survived, Tallahassee, FL.
As I said earlier, Karen Chandler was Kathy Kleiner-Rubin’s roommate in the Chi Omega house. After Bundy was done brutally assaulting Kathy he moved onto Chandler. Bundy knocked out four of her teeth and beat her so severely that he broke her jaw and right arm. Somehow Chandler survived. She took the rest of the academic quarter off, but later returned to the Chi Omega house at FSU.
Karen Chandler.Karen Chandler.Karen Chandler.Karen Chandler.Karen Chandler as she looks today.
Cheryl Thomas (21). January 15, 1978. Survived, Tallahassee, FL.
After Bundy was finished with his atrocities at the Chi Omega sorority house, he wandered a few blocks over and climbed into an open kitchen window in Cheryl Thomas’ apartment. He attacked her and Thomas barely escaped with her life: her jaw was broken in two places, her shoulder dislocated, and she had five skull fractures, which left her permanently deaf in her left ear. In 1978 Thomas was a student at FSU and a member of the schools dance team. The night she was attacked was alone in her apartment but thanks to some attentive neighbors who heard the assault her life was saved.
Cheryl Thomas.Cheryl Thomas.Cheryl Thomas.Cheryl Thomas.A more recent picture of Thomas.
Kimberly Dianne Leach (12). February 9, 1978. Murdered, Lake City, FL.
In 1978, Kim Leach was a 12-year-old seventh-grader at Lake City Junior High School, where she was a straight-A student and the runner-up Valentine Queen. Leach was one of Bundy’s youngest and his last victim. On the morning of February 9, 1978, Kimberly arrived at Lake City Junior high School on time. Just before 9 AM, she left her first period class to go and pick up her purse that she had accidentally left behind in her homeroom. After she recovered the purse she headed back towards her classroom in the pouring rain but never arrived. That afternoon, Kimberly’s parents became concerned when their daughter didn’t come home after school. They called everybody they knew, but nobody could account for Kimberly. Their concern escalated to fear when they learned she had been at her first period class but then never returned. They immediately called law enforcement to report their daughter missing. A search party quickly formed and concentrated on Suwannee River State Park for weeks. Kims remains were eventually found on April 7, 1978 in an abandoned hog pen with a small metal lead-to. She was nude other than for a pullover jumper, her clothes were piled up beside her body. She was in an advanced state of decomposition, but she was identified thanks to dental records. Leach had suffered homicidal violence about the neck region.
Kim Leach.Kim Leach.Kim Leach.
Miscellaneous:
There is no consensus as to when or where Bundy began killing. He told different people varying stories to and refused to give the specifics of his earlier crimes, even as he shared in graphic detail to dozens of later murders in the days before he was his executed. He told one of his attorneys Polly Nelson that he attempted his first kidnapping in 1969 in Ocean City, NJ, however did not kill anyone until sometime in 1971 in Seattle. He told Portland forensic psychologist Dr. Art Norman that he murdered two women in Atlantic City while visiting family in Philadelphia in 1969. Bundy hinted to former homicide detective Dr. Robert Keppel that he committed a murder in Seattle in 1972 and another murder in 1973 that involved a hitchhiker near Tumwater, but he refused to elaborate. Rule and Keppel both believed that he might have started killing as a teenager. Bundy’s earliest documented homicides were committed in 1974, when he was 27 years old. By his own admission, he had by then mastered the necessary skills to leave minimal incriminating forensic evidence at crime scenes.
On September 2, 1974, Bundy drove through Boise while moving from Seattle to Salt Lake City and during that trip, he picked up a still unknown hitchhiker and killed her. Ted returned the next day to photograph and dismember the corpse then dumped her remains in the Snake River. Reports from Gonzaga University’s student newspaper ‘The Gonzaga Bulletin’ claim that Bundy stopped by a campus dorm for a party in the 1970’s and drove a female student to Pullman. She miraculously survived.
Bundy confessed to detectives from Idaho, Utah, and Colorado that he had committed numerous additional homicides, including several that were unknown to the police. He explained that when he was in Utah he could bring his victims back to his apartment, ‘where he could reenact scenarios depicted on the covers of detective magazines.’ A new ulterior strategy quickly became apparent: he withheld many details, hoping to parlay the incomplete information into yet another stay of execution. ‘There are other buried remains in Colorado,’ he admitted, but refused to elaborate. The new strategy (which was referred to as ‘Ted’s bones-for-time scheme’) served only to deepen the resolve of authorities to see Bundy executed on schedule, and yielded little new detailed information. In cases where he did give details, nothing was found. Colorado detective Matt Lindvall interpreted this as a conflict between his desire to postpone his execution by divulging information and his need to remain in ‘total possession, and the only person who knew his victims true resting places.’
in Oregon, 2 (both unidentified)
in Idaho, 2 (1 unidentified)
in California, 1 (unidentified)
After being sentenced to death, Bundy spent 11 years on death row, before he was executed by electric chair on 24 January 1989.
In 2010 and 2011 the bodies of eleven people were found throughout Long Island. The majority of the victims were young female sex workers; several of the bodies were found covered in burlap in thickets along a sandy stretch called Gilgo Beach.
It was the disappearance of ShannanGilbert in 2010 that helped expose the larger mystery. A 24-year-old sex worker, Gilbert disappeared after leaving a ‘John’s’ house on foot in the seafront community of Oak Beach, vanishing into the marsh. At this time in early August 2023, Rex Heuermann is accused of murdering 11 people: nine females, one male, and a young toddler. This includes Melissa Barthelemy (24), MeganWaterman (22), and Amber Lynn Costello (27), and Maureen Brainard-Barnes (25).
Rex Heuermann’s senior picture from the 1981 Berner High School yearbook.One of Rex Heuermann’s July 2023 mugshots.Rex Heuermann being led out of court with law enforcement.A map of where the victims bodies were found.Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who was 25 when she went mysteriously disappeared. Barnes is believed to have taken an Amtrak train from New London, Connecticut to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on July 6, 2007 and was never seen from again.Maureen Brainard-Barnes.Maureen Brainard-Barnes.Melissa Barthelemy. She was last seen at her basement apartment at 1149 Underhill Ave. in the Unionport area of the Bronx on July 12, 2009. Melissa was 4’10” inches tall and was 24 years old when she was last seen.Barthelemy was a sex worker that advertised on websites including ‘AdultFriendFinder’ using the aliases ‘Chloe’ and ‘VerySexyChloe.’ She had tattoos of the words “Blaze” and “Focus” on her back as well as letters on her chest. Melissa was also known to meet clients at bars, restaurants and hotels on the West Side of Manhattan.Melissa Barthelemy.Melissa Barthelemy.Melissa Barthelemy.Melissa Barthelemy.A quote from Melissa Barthelemy’s Mom.The first victim of the LISK: ‘Fire Island Jane Doe.’ The remains of a female were found on Long Island that still have no been identified. Her legs were found on April 20, 1996 at Blue Point Beach in the area of Davis Park on Fire Island. Years later on April 12, 2011 her skull was found off Ocean Parkway.The Manorville Jane Doe. Her remains were found in 2000 by hikers off Hailey Manor Road in Manorville. She was found in pieces and wrapped in plastic bags: her head, hands, and legs were all cut off. The victim is speculated to be between 18-40 years old.UPDATE: August 4, 2023. Karen Vergata. Authorities have finally identified the Gilgo Beach murder victim previously known as ‘Jane Doe No. 7’ as 34-year-old Karen Vergata. She was last seen in 1996 working as an escort in Manhattan.Peaches, or ‘the girl with the peach tattoo.’ Peaches is an unidentified female whose torso was discovered on June 28, 1997 in Lakeview, New York close to Hempstead Lake State Park. Her cause of death is listed as homicide because she was decapitated. Since her skull has yet to be found, as of July 2023 she remains unidentified. The victim had a tattoo on her left designed in the shape of a heart-shaped peach with a bite taken out of it with two drops falling from its center. Despite not knowing her identity, law enforcement feel this was most likely her nickname. In December 2016, more bones found on Long Island that were originally discovered in 2011 were positively ID’ed as belonging to the victim, as well as the remains of her child. Because of this her case is now officially linked to the Long Island serial killer as a possible victim.Valerie Mack (24). Mack was working in Philadelphia when she vanished in 2000; her family reported they last saw her in the summer of that year in New Jersey. Her partial skeletal remains were found on November 19, 2000 in Manorville and police felt her body was there since the end of September. More pieces of her skeleton were eventually found along Ocean Parkway in Oak Beach in 2011. She was referred to as Jane Doe #6 until investigators confirmed her ID in May 2020 by comparing her DNA to genealogy records.Valerie Mack.Valerie Mack.Valerie Mack.JessicaTaylor, the fifth LISK victim found. Taylor worked as an escort in New York City and her remains were found in a wooded area in Manorville on July 26, 2003. More of her skeletal remains were found on March 29, 2011 along Ocean Parkway during the search for Shannan Gilbert.Jessica Taylor.Jessica Taylor.Shannan Gilbert. During the early morning hours of May 1, 2010 Gilbert travelled with Michael Pak (her driver) from Manhattan to meet a client (Joseph Brewer) at his home in the Oak Beach. Gilbert worked as a Craigslist sex worker and was a resident of Jersey City. Her driver stayed in the car outside when she met with the John. At some point during the encounter Gilbert reportedly began acting irrational, prompting Brewer to contact her driver to have her leave his residence. Shannan eventually fled on foot into the Oak Beach community. Her skeletal remains were discovered in a marsh near Oak Beach on December 13, 2011.Shannan Gilbert and her Mom, Mari.Shannan Gilbert.Shannan Gilbert.Shannan Gilbert’s mother, Mari. She was stabbed to death on July 23, 2016 by her daughter Sarra after she discontinued her psychiatric medication. Mari Gilbert.The mugshot of Mari’s daughter, SarraGilbert.Sarra Elizabeth Gilbert in oranges.A QR code assisting in the investigation of Shannan Gilbert.AmberCostello. Costello advertised escort services on Craigslist and her skeletal remains were discovered in an area off Ocean Parkway on December 13, 2010. She was last seen leaving her North Babylon home in early September 2010.Amber Costello.Unidentified toddler. The skeletal remains of a still unidentified toddler was discovered along Ocean Parkway on April 4, 2011. It is believe the child was most likely female and was roughly 2 years old at the time of their death. The body was linked by DNA to another possible LISK victim, Peaches.Unidentified Asian male, between 17-23 years old. The remains of an Asian male were discovered along Ocean Parkway on April 4, 2011 The timing of his death is strongly felt to be approximately 5-10 years prior to the discovery of his remains.Megan Waterman. Waterman was last seen in Hauppauge, LI a month after Shannan Gilbert vanished and her skeletal remains were discovered along Ocean Parkway on December 13, 2010. Waterman advertised escort services on Craigslist and was last seen in early June 2010 at a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge, New York.Megan Waterman.Megan Waterman.Megan Waterman in the lobby of a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge, on Long Island. She was known to be there between June 4 and June 6, 2010.Megan Waterman.The outside of the Holiday Inn where Megan Waterman was last seen at.Gilgo Beach.Law enforcement combing Gilgo Beach after human remains were discovered.
Rex’s sister Phyllis’s senior picture in the 1977 Berner High School yearbook.Rex Heuermann in a group photo for The Drama Club from the 1980 Berner High School yearbook.Rex Heuermann’s senior picture from the 1981 Berner High School yearbook.Rex Heuermann in a group photo for The Drama Club from the 1981 Berner High School yearbook.A clipping about Rex and his first wife Elizabeth’s engagement published in The Central New Jersey Home News on August 20, 1989.The wedding announcement for Rex and Elizabeth published by The Central New Jersey Home News on October 28, 1990.Twenty-six year old Rex and his first wife Elizabeth on their wedding day in New Brunswick in 1990. At the time of their nuptials Elizabeth was employed as a junior planner at an office supply company in New Jersey, while Heuermann was an intern at an architectural firm. The couple settled down in Long Island, New York.Rex and Elizabeth on a marriage index from 1991.Rex Heuermann has an adult daughter named Victoria, who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2019. Victoria Heuermann.Rex Heuermann’s second wife Asa Ellerup, who was by his side in court when he plead not guilty to murder charges on July 14, 2023.Another picture of Asa Ellerup.Rex in a picture he used on a dating app. Heuermann buying additional minutes in cash for another burner cellphone in May 2023.Just some of the Google searches done on Heuermann’s computer.More Google searches done on Heuermann’s computer.A Google Maps view of Gilgo Beach.An aerial view of Gilgo Beach.The garbage can police found the pizza box in January 2023. The discarded pizza box collected by police in January 2023. Rex Heuermann’s house in Massapequa Park, NY.One of Rex Heuermann’s July 2023 mugshots.Another one of Rex Heuermann’s July 2023 mugshots.Maureen Brainard-Barnes, one of Heuermann’s first four victims that was found a decade ago near Gilgo Beach. Another one of Heuermann’s first victims, Melissa Barthelemy. My younger sister went to high school with her in Alden, NY.Megan Waterman.Amber Lynn Costello.Valerie Mack, another suspected victim of Heuermann. In September 2000 her partial remains were found in a wooded area in Manorville, NY.Jessica Taylor, who worked as an escort in New York City. Her partial skeletal remains were located in a wooded area in Manorville, NY on July 26, 2003.On April 4, 2011 the remains of an Asian male were discovered along Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, NY. Law enforcement strongly speculate it was a transgender sex worker that had been dead for up to five years.A forensic sketch of the of the transgender victim.A breakdown of where the victims bodies were found along Gilgo Beach.An article listing Heuermann’s address (at the bottom of the first row) published by Newsday on January 17, 1999.An article mentioning Heuermann published in The Daily News on September 13, 2007.
Another Bundy Blog. 