Bundy Miscellaneous.

David Lee.

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“I noticed a VW Bug coming out of the alleyway behind Oscar Woerners Restaurant (no headlights). I came up behind it and I activated my blue lights at the same time I was running the tag, and the tag came back as a stolen vehicle. I didn’t have a backup anywhere close by, there was only three of us working in the entire city of Pensacola that night. I got him out of the car, and had him lay on the pavement. He kept saying, ‘officer, what’s wrong? officer, what’s wrong?'” … “Initially when I was placing the handcuffs on him he kicked my feet out from under me and struck me with a handcuff that had been placed on one wrist. And it of course knocked me off my feet and that’s when it started.” … “I was chasing him hollering ‘halt’ and so forth, well he turned and all I’d seen was a nickle and thought it was a gun. So I leveled down and fired… so I said wow, my God. I killed him.” … “well I went and seen if he was shot. And I bent down and he grabbed my wrist and we had a struggle for my revolver. And it’s a heavy pistol and when I broke it away I swung and slapped him on the cheek. And if you see pictures right after the suspect was arrested there’s a big bruise on the side of his cheek, and thay was from my pistol barrel. There’s no doubt in my mind he would have killed me if he would have gotten my gun away from me.”
– David Lee.

Rick Garzaniti’s stolen VW.
Rick Garzaniti’s stolen VW.
The tags on Rick Garzaniti’s stolen VW.
Officer David Lee.
Ted’s bruise (circled in red), photo courtesy of OddStops.
Oscar Woerner’s Restaurant in Pensacola, Florida.

KCSO: Third Installment of Bundy investigation photos: Janice and Jim Ott color photos.

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The third installment of Ted Bundy-related records released by the King County Sheriff’s Office’s Public Disclosure Unit. On July 14, 1974 twenty-three-year-old Janice Ann Ott disappeared from Lake Sammamish State Park, after having been last seen leaving the area with a young man that called himself ‘Ted.’ Her skeletal remains were found by two grouse hunters four miles away on September 7, 1974.’ Photos courtesy of the ‘Internet Archives’/Maria Serban.

Photo 1/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 2/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 3/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 4/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 5/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 6/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 7/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 8/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 9/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 10/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 11/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 12/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 13/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 14/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 15/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 16/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 17/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.
Photo 18/18. Courtesy of Maria Serban.

Bundy Vehicles.

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  • Like I usually do, I’m relying on the ‘Ted Bundy Multiagency Investigative Team Report 1992‘ for my information on this article but I’m also heavily depending on a piece my friend Erin Banks wrote to help fill in the gaps and fix the inaccuracies (I posted the link to her article below).
  • The first time I remember Bundy commenting on a vehicle was when he was talking about his stepfather’s car: he said that he often felt humiliated being seen in Johnnie’s run-down old Rambler. Fun fact: Ted apparently learned how to drive at 15 (before he legally had his license).
  • Despite consistently owning cars Ted was known to borrow vehicles from loved ones and acquaintances:
  • Around 1969 he borrowed his cousins car for an entire summer after Diane Edwards ended their romance (I don’t know any other details).
  • He not only had Mrs. Ferris’ (from his days at the Seattle Yacht Club) drive him places he also borrowed her car on occasion. Despite scouring the internet I couldn’t find what the make and model of her vehicle was.
  • Bundy often “borrowed” his gf’s Liz Kloepfer’s 1973 light blue Beetle (on two occasions she thinks he took it without asking).
  • Ted was an accomplished car thief long before his jail breaks began in 1977: he had a lengthy juvenile record that Louise Bundy helped pay to have sealed when he turned eighteen (as to not potentially damper his “bright future”).
  • In September 1965, Bundy bought his first car: a 1933 Plymouth Coupe with money he earned working as a forklift operator working at ‘City Lights Tacoma’ (he was also a student at the time at the University of Puget Sound). 
  • In April 1966 he sold the Coupe to put money towards a pale blue 1958 VW Bug. It was smaller, more reliable and got better gas mileage than his clunky old car.
  • Bundy owned a white pickup truck at some point in time (I couldn’t find much information about that particular vehicle). I could have sworn I read somewhere that it was his brothers truck but when I looked into it I couldn’t find any information on it. According to the TB Multiagency Report he owned it until late 1975 (November/December). 
  • A blurb from the website ‘the outline’ mentions that Ted’s friend Marlin Vortman owned a VW Bug similar to the one he drove; I wonder if this is the ‘Washington TAG OYU-19 (7-18-1973) Owned by friend of Bundy, King County Washington,  Make/Model Unknown’ mentioned in the TB Multiagency Report.
  • At some time in the spring of 1973 Ted purchased his infamous tan 1968 VW Bug from a woman named Martha Helms. Countless murder victims (many of them unknown) across multiple states were inside of this car. On August 15, 1975, Bundy fled the scene in this vehicle when Utah Highway Patrol officer Bob Hayward tried to pull him over in Granger. When Officer Haywood eventually caught up to him and searched it he found: “a crowbar behind the driver’s seat, a box of large green plastic garbage bags, an ice pick, a flashlight, a pair of gloves, torn strips of sheeting, a knit ski mask, a pair of handcuffs, and a strange mask made from pantyhose.” Law enforcement also observed that the passengers seat had been removed and placed in the back seat. Bundy was arrested for evading an officer and was released the next day on bail (there was nothing found in the car at the time linking him to any additional crimes). When the Bug was impounded after Ted was arrested forensic experts found DNA in it that helped link him to the murders. In 1978, SLC Sheriff’s Deputy Lonnie Anderson bought the death wagon for $925 (US) and it sat for in storage for almost twenty years. Deputy Anderson put it up for sale for $25,000 in 1997 and it was purchased by a well-known Murderabilia collector named Arthur Nash. In 2010 Nash leased it to the ‘National Crime And Punishment Museum’ in Washington DC and when that museum closed in 2015 it was moved to the ‘East Alcatraz Crime Museum.’ At one point Nash said he had plans to have the vehicle swabbed for DNA however as of April 2023 this has not happened. Who even knows if there would be any usable genetic information remaining after so much time has passed? I think one of my favorite Bundy back-and-forth’s is whether or not he removed the VW’s door handle (I don’t think he did). Looking into the particular make and model of Beetle it doesn’t seem that it was as easy as just taking a few screws out of the mechanism and popping out the handle: you most likely needed to take the entire door panel off and it was a process. I know unconfirmed (and living) Bundy victims Sotria Kritsonis and Rhonda Stapley both claim that the man that lured them into his VW Bug removed the inside door handle, however no one else reported ever seeing this. Liz never commented that she was ever in his car without a passenger’s side handle on occasion, nor did any of his other friends.
  • Thanks to a lot of time spent digging I was finally able to come across a small snippet of information I’ve only seen in one source: On the afternoon of Saturday. February 10, 1978 Ted made his first attempt to depart Tallahassee, FL (he had killed Kim Leach the day before): sometime between 4 and 6 PM he started looking inside parked cars for keys left in the ignition. Within minutes he found a 1975 Toyota in the parking lot of an auto repair shop and was off. He took the car back to The Oak (where he watched TV with a friend for awhile, Frances Messier) then went out for the night. That same time Tallahassee Police Officer Roy Dickey was sitting in an unmarked patrol car trying to find information related to the Chi Omega case. He saw Bundy walking near his vehicle and said Bundy noticed him immediately. and made a quick getaway. When he arrived back at The Oak he immediately started packing the stolen Toyota. dickey he had parked it about a block away. Around 1 AM Deputy Keith Dawes was doing patrol and came across Bundy “locking or unlocking a car door.” The officer said that where the individual didn’t do anything in particular to warrant his attention he was still drawn to him for an unknown reason. Deputy Dawes got out of his patrol car and approached Bundy, immediately asking him for ID. Ted quickly said he didn’t have any on him but mentioned he’d just come out to grab something quick from his car. When the officer asked “where do you live” he answered almost without thinking, “College Avenue.” As they continued to chat a bit the officer started looking around the vehicle with his flashlight and spotted a single license plate in the backseat. When questioned about it Bundy said that he had found it laying around somewhere and wasn’t sure exactly what to do with it. It was then that he got spooked and quickly (and successfully) sprinted away. The car and property inside of it was immediately impounded (Sullivan, The Bundy Murders).
  • On February 12, 1978 at around 11 AM Bundy attempted to steal a white 1972 Mazda but didn’t make it very far: there was a sort of “shimmy” in the front end and it wasn’t safe to operate. He quickly ditched it for something else.
  • Immediately after Ted ditched the Mazda he found a VW Bug but realized almost right away it was somebody’s baby (just by the way it was souped up and decorated). He quickly got rid of it (he has a conscience about a car but not for human life?).
  • Bundy eventually came across an orangish-red 1972 Volkswagen Beetle owned by Rick Garzaniti, who had purchased the car in April 1974. The evening of February 12, 1978 Garzaniti went to a buddy’s house and left the keys in the car (he didn’t plan on staying long) but got distracted by a Burt Reynolds movie (haven’t we all?). He left it parked behind the friends residence in an alleyway. When Rick eventually went to leave he discovered his car had vanished; he immediately reported it as stolen. Three days later he got a call from law enforcement letting him know that his vehicle had been found however it was being held as evidence; it wasn’t released to him until almost two months later. When he finally got it back it was covered in dark black fingerprint powder, a sizable chunk was missing from the upholstery, and the backseat was gone. Additionally Garzaniti found some items in it that didn’t belong to him, including several license plates and some random bicycle parts.
Works Cited.
Ted’s vehicle history according to the ‘Ted Bundy Multiagency Investigative Team Report 1992.’
An interesting factoid I stumbled upon in my research thanks to Erin Banks/CrimePiper.
A blurb from the website ‘theoutline’ mentions the fact that Ted’s friend Marlon Vortman owned a VW Bug similar to the one he drove; I wonder if this is the ‘Washington TAG OYU-19 (7-18-1973) Owned by friend of Bundy, King County Washington, Make/Model Unknown” in the TB Multiagency Report.
A notation about Marlin Vortman from the ‘Ted Bundy and File 1004 documents from Seattle PD’ document, courtesy of the ‘Internet Archives’.
A 1965 “Rambler” style type car that Mr. Bundy drove (Ted hated it). Erin Banks commented that he “considered it to be a mediocre car for people of the lower middle class.”
A 1933 Plymouth Coupe. What a neat old car…
A car similar to Bundy’s first VW: a pale blue, 1958 Bug.
Bundy’s infamous tan VW. On September 19, 1975 he tried to get rid of it by selling it to Bryan Severson, an 18 year old high school senior for $800 (US) after giving it a very deep cleaning (obviously to remove any lingering forensic evidence).
The front of Bundys tan VW.
The inside passengers side door of Ted’s VW Bug. As you can see, the door handle is in tact.
An excerpt of Ann Rule’s “The Stranger Beside Me” mentioning how Liz (in this she’s called Meg) told police that Ted often borrowed her car.
Bryan Severson, photo courtesy of Chris Mortensen/Erin Banks.
seversonDownload
Arthur Nash, current owner of Bundy’s tan VW Bug.
A ‘robin’s egg blue’ 1973 VW Beetle much like the one Liz drove. On two separate occasions she speculates Ted took her car without asking her permission. As Banks points out in her article, “there are certainly many who believe that Bundy began murdering prior to 1974 as well, and may have used Kloepfer’s car in the hope that should police become suspicious of him, they would not forensically examine her VW.”
The ‘Ted Bundy Multiagency Investigative Team Report 1992’ mentioning Bundy stealing the white van from FSU on February 5, 1978.
The white FSU van Bundy stole and abducted Kim Leach in.
The inside of the van Bundy stole from FSU.
A record of Ted stealing the green 1975 Toyota on February 10, 1978 according to the ‘Ted Bundy Multiagency Investigative Team Report 1992.’
A white 1972 Mazda.
A rare act of abstaining for Bundy, excerpt from Kevin Sullivan’s ‘The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History Paperback.”
In 1978, Rick Garzaniti sold his reddish-orange VW Bundy stole earlier that same year for $1,300 (US) to a 16 year old girl (it was her first car, her Dad bought it for her).
The back of Rick Garzaniti’s VW.
According to the ‘Ted Bundy Multiagency Investigative Team Report 1992,’ Ted stole Garzaniti’s VW on February 12, 1978.
A 1966 brown VW Bug.
A 1966 blue Cadillac.
Some misc. car related information related to Bundy from the ‘Ted Bundy and File 1004 documents from Seattle PD’ document, courtesy of the ‘Internet Archives’.

Ted Bundy’s Girlfriends.

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A Comprehensive List of Ted Bundy’s Girlfriends:

  • Diane Edwards: They were together from mid-1967 to March 1968; in the summer of 1973 they reconciled and got engaged. Bundy then stopped all contact with her for a few months before eventually completely ending things with her.
  • Bundy dated Cathy Swindler on and off beginning in April 1968.
  • He met Elizabeth Kloepfer at The Sandpiper Tavern on September 30, 1969 and they dated on and off until April 1977 when she ended their relationship. Bundy reportedly dated many other women while seeing Liz.
  • In 1972 he had an affair with Sandy Gwinn (supposedly with Liz’s blessing), a coworker at Harborview Hospital Mental Health Center (where he interned from July to September 1972).
  • In early 1974 Bundy briefly dated a girl named Adrienne Pandora Toua Miller (her married name is Pandora Thompson).
  • In early 1974 he briefly dated a girl named Ann Swenson (in her book ‘The Phantom Prince’ Liz refers to her as Kim Andrews).
  • In the Summer of 1974 Ted dated Becky Gibbs.
  • In early 1975 he had a short relationship with Marguerite Maughan. Her father tried to cover up their brief fling after he was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court.
  • Ted dated Leslie Knudsen from June 1975 to Fall 1975. She told law enforcement he scared her young son Josh on multiple occasions.
  • In Florida Bundy started corresponding with former co-worker Carole Ann Boone and they started a relationship in March 1978. The couple got married during Bundy’s death penalty trial in Florida in 1980 and they had a daughter in 1982. Boone divorced him in 1986 and returned to Washington state with her son and daughter.
A baby picture of Diane Edwards, courtesy of Erin Banks/CrimePiper.
Diane Edwards, courtesy of Erin Banks/CrimePiper.
Diane Edwards, courtesy of Erin Banks/CrimePiper.
Ted and Diane Edwards, courtesy of Erin Banks/CrimePiper.
Former Bundy flame Diane Edwards.
Cathy Swindler, courtesy of ‘Ted Bundy: I was Trying to Think Like an Elk.’
A yearbook picture of Cathy Swindler, courtesy of Erin Banks/CrimePiper.
A yearbook picture of Cathy Swindler, courtesy of Erin Banks/CrimePiper.
A yearbook picture of Cathy Swindler.
A yearbook photo of Cathy Swindler.
A young Liz Kloepfer, photo courtesy of ‘Ted Bundy: I was Trying to Think Like an Elk.’
Liz Kloepfer and her daughter Molly.
Ted and Liz.
Ted and Liz.
Ted, Liz, and Molly.
Ted, Liz, and Molly riding horses.
A more recent picture of Liz and Molly.
Sandy Gwinn, photo courtesy of ‘hi: I’m Ted.’
Sandy Gwinn, photo courtesy of ‘Ted Bundy: I was Trying to Think Like an Elk.’
Pandora Miller in the 1967 East High School yearbook, courtesy of Maria Serban.
Pandora Miller in the 1969 East High School yearbook, courtesy of Maria Serban.
Pandora Miller in the 1969 East High School yearbook (the International Club members group photo), courtesy of Maria Serban.
Adrienne Pandora Toua Miller in the 1969 East High School yearbook, courtesy of Maria Serban.
Pandora Miller in the 1969 East High School yearbook (she’s in the first row, far left), courtesy of Maria Serban.
Pandora Miller in the 1969 East High School yearbook (FTA group photo), courtesy of Maria Serban.
Ann Swenson.
Ann Swenson.
Former Bundy girlfriend Ann Swenson. They dated briefly in February and March 1975.
A handwritten note about Ann Swenson to Pete Hayward, photo courtesy of CrimePiper.
Becky Gibbs, courtesy of ‘Ted Bundy: I was Trying to Think Like an Elk.’
Becky Gibbs, courtesy of ‘hi: I’m Ted.’
Marguerite (Christine) Maughn, photo courtesy of Erin Banks/CrimePiper. She dated Ted casually and lived downstairs from him when he resided in his first Utah apartment at 565 1st Avenue. Her Father is a Utah Supreme Court justice and on February 24, 1976 she testified for the prosecution in the Carol DaRonch kidnapping trial.
A yearbook picture of Marguerite Maughn, courtesy of Erin Banks/CrimePiper. Ted met her at a Mormon social church function in Utah.
Marguerite Maughn, courtesy of ‘Ted Bundy: I was Trying to Think Like an Elk.’
A picture of Marguerite Maugham in 2008, courtesy of Erin Banks/CrimePiper. She was a secretary to John O’Connell, one of Ted’s Seattle Attorneys.
A yearbook photo of Leslie Knudson.
A yearbook photo of Leslie Knudson.
A yearbook photo of Leslie Knudson.
Leslie Knudson (Stewart).
Leslie Knudson (Stewart).
Leslie Knudson.
Leslie Knudson.
Leslie Knudson.
Leslie Knudson.
Carole Ann Boone.
Carole Ann Boone.
A jailhouse photo of Ted, Carole, Jamie (Carole’s son from a previous marriage) and Rosa.
A jailhouse photo of Ted, Carole, and Rosa.

Quora Question: ‘Have you Ever Met Ted Bundy?’

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I was looking into something and came across this ‘Quora” page with the question, ‘have you ever met/seen Ted Bundy?’ Some of the answers were pretty interesting. I included them in screen shots below.

Interesting. I wish she elaborated. The “boys will be boys” comment is terrible. I do find it interesting she said he “pulled the potential victims hair out.” Was this intentional or accidental?
It’s an interesting rare male take from a non-law enforcement related eyewitness. I don’t know, I find the “biting girls butts” comment oddly specific… why would he admit to that?
Well, Ted did steal a white van from Florida State University. If this is real I bet that was what he was driving.
Has anyone noticed that there’s always a LOT of “my Mom met TB in 1970-something walking home from school” type stories. The 20/20 Bundy special said something in their opening along the lines of “if you’re from the Pacific Northwest you probably have a Ted Bundy story.” Who knows if these are legit or not. Unless we get exact information as far as dates, times, and locations we’ll never know either way.
Interesting… I never heard of Thomas Spillner and didn’t find anything on him when I googled him (I didn’t dig really hard, btw). He is very active in the prison/jail related message boards on ‘Quora’ and seems pretty well-versed in the topic. It would have been interesting if he elaborated a bit and told more stories.
This was a lot to unpack…
I often wonder if Ted contracted some sort of illness in prison. He looked horrible in his final years, super skinny and gaunt. Very unhealthy.

Ted’s Death Wagon.

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Teds Beetle at Alcatraz East at 2757 Parkway Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Aside shot of Teds Beetle at Alcatraz East at 2757 Parkway Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
The front of Ted Bundy’s 1968 Volkswagen Beetle.
The back of Ted Bundy’s 1968 Volkswagen Beetle.
The drivers side of Ted Bundy’s 1968 Volkswagen Beetle.
An off center drivers side shot of Teds car.
Back passengers side.
Back passengers side.
The side of Teds car.
Side panel.
Passengers side door.
Front passengers side of Bundy’s VW.
Looking inside Bundy’s VW from the passengers side door.
Another shot of the inside of Bundy’s VW from the passengers side door.
Looking in the Beetle from behind.
Looking out Teds VW’s back window.
Bundy’s spare tire.
Another shot of Bundy’s spare tire.
A third shot of Bundy’s spare tire.
A fourth shot of Bundy’s spare tire.
Teds ripped back seat.

Bundy Mugshots.

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Ted Bundy at Utah State Prison in 1976.
August 1975 mugshot.
October 1975 mugshot.
1977 mugshot.
1978 mugshot.
1978 mugshot.
1978 mugshot.
One of Bundy’s Tallahassee mugshots.
Bundy’s profile after his Tallahassee arrest.
1979 mugshot.
1979 mugshot.
1980 mugshot.
Bundy first picture taken after arriving on Florida’s death row.
A wanted poster after Bundy’s second escape.