Stephen ‘Buzzy’ Arnold Ware was born on January 23, 1943 to Arnold and Freda (nee Cowperthwaite) in Santa Maria, CA. Arnold Grassel ‘Barney’ Ware was born on June 11, 1915 in Butler, IL, and Freda Catherine Cowperthwaite was born on September 9, 1916 in Golden, CO. The couple were wed on March 7, 1941 in Denver, Colorado and had three children together: Stephen, Randolph ‘Stick’ Howard (b. 1944, Santa Barbara), and Mary Ann (b. 1949, Detroit). The elder Mr. Ware lived quite an extraordinary life: he earned his MS in Biochemistry from the University of Colorado in 1939 and went on to get his PhD from the same institution in 1942. He was an Army Captain in the Pacific during WWII (he served from 1941-1945), and upon returning home got a position as the director of a medical lab at a Los Angeles County Hospital, where he was employed until 1973. Later in the same year, he became the co-owner of Biocon Lab in Pasadena (he retired in 1984) and he was an assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Southern California’s Medical School.
After graduating from South Pasadena High School in 1960, Buzzy went on to receive his Bachelors from the University of Colorado in 1964, and earned a law degree from the University of Southern California in 1968. After he passed the bar exam, he opened a law practice in Aspen, and in July of 1977 he was appointed as Ted Bundy’s attorney in his first-degree murder case.
Stephen married Pamela Craven-Rutherford on December 13, 1974 in Aspen, CO. The daughter of a prominent General Practitioner in Boulder, Pam was born on August 23, 1946 in San Diego, CA (one source said it was Boulder, CO), and was one of nine brothers and sisters. She graduated from Boulder High School in 1964 and went on to attend Western State University, where she dually majored in Sociology and Psychology. While there, she was very active in extracurricular activities, and was a member of Ski Club, Water Ski Club, and the Association of Women Students.
On June 16, 1977, Judge George E. Lohr appointed Ware as the new counsel for Theodore Robert Bundy for the murder of Michigan nurse, Caryn Campbell: at the time he was an ambitious young lawyer that looked ‘more like a ski bum than an attorney,’ and despite only being in his early thirties, he had already began to make a name for himself in Aspen: he had never lost a jury trial and flew his own plane and rode a motorcycle; he was also known as the man to have on your side in narcotics cases. Immediately after he was appointed as Bundy’s case, Ware flew to Texas as defense counsel in a major federal racketeering case.
According to Ann Rule’s true crime classic ‘The Stranger Beside Me,’ Ware was known around Colorado as ‘a winner,’ and Bundy somehow sensed that: in a phone call between Ted and the author, he sounded ‘jubilant’ when he talked about his new attorney, and she sensed that any residual feelings about his recent failed escape (which was between June 7th to June 13th, 1977) were quickly forgotten by August when he filed a motion for a retrial in Utah; this was done in relation to the Carol DaRonch case (due largely to what he felt were Detective Jerry Thompson’s suggestions to her that she pick out his photo from a line-up).
In an attempt to beef up its case against Bundy, the prosecution team brought in ‘similar transactions’ that were reminiscent of Campbells murder: they introduced testimony about the kidnapping conviction of Carol DaRonch, the murders and the disappearances of Melissa Smith, Laura Aime, and Debbie Kent in Utah, and the eight missing girls from Seattle. They tried to prove that the crimes attributed to Bundy fit some sort of ‘pattern,’ and they shared some commonalities, but when considered individually each one lacked ‘clout.’ Unfortunately (as we all know), Ted escaped for a second to Florida at the very end of 1977 and Campbell’s trial never happened).
One can only speculate what might have happened if Ted had had the continued support of his promising young attorney that fed new energy into his defense: on the night of August 11, 1977 Ware and his wife were involved in a motorcycle crash in the shale bluffs of Aspen, an event that killed Mrs. Ware on impact and left Buzzy with skull and facial fractures, countless internal injuries, and a broken leg. He was taken first by ambulance to Aspen Valley Hospital then was airlifted to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Denver.
According to one of the responding officers, James Loyd of the Colorado Highway Patrol, there was ‘no apparent reason for the accident,’ and the motorcycle veered off the left side of the pavement on a right hand curve, where he hit an embankment that stopped him at impact, throwing both Ware and Pamela off the bike, which caught fire shortly after the crash and was completely incinerated by the time help arrived. In the days that immediately followed the accident Buzzy was placed in a coma, and there were some worries that he could have possibly suffered from permanent paralysis.
There was no doubt about it: Ware would be in no shape to represent Bundy in court and once again, he was alone. Ted was devastated by the accident, as he had been counting on him to help clear his name in relation to the murder of Caryn Campbell. Although he never completely recovered from the accident, Buzzy continued to practice law in Denver and Boulder, and after he retired he relocated to Southern California, where he dabbled in pro-bono work, wrote several books, and ‘continued his lifelong fascination with fiction.’ He never remarried.
Buzzy Ware died of natural causes on September 3, 2006 in Portland, OR at the age of sixty-three (one source lists San Gabriel, CA). In his obituary, he was said to have had ‘a colorful character,’ and was loved by many close family members and friends, who said although his ‘injuries were deep both physically and emotionally, his generosity and the goodness of his heart were constant.’ Buzzy is laid to rest in the Ware Grove Cemetery located in Butler, IL.
Buzzy’s mother Freda passed away on August 11, 1977 in Denver, Colorado at the age of ninety-six. Buzzy’s father ‘Barney’ died at the age of seventy-one on January 25, 1987 in Pasadena, CA. His sister Mary Ann Ware currently resides in Portland, OR with her husband and is a retired Medical Doctor that specialized in internal medicine (some sources say she was a tuberculosis specialist). She graduated from the Utah School of Medicine in 1977 and completed her residency in Internal Medicine from University of Rochester Medical Center in 1980.
Like his brother, Stick Ware graduated from the University of Colorado: he earned multiple Bachelors degrees in Math, Chemistry, and Physics, his MS in Physics, and his PhD in Experimental Nuclear Physics. He is the Founder and Chief Scientist of Radiometrics, which is a manufacturing company that deals with appliances and electronics that is based in Boulder, CO; per his LinkedIn profile, it is a ‘world leader in the development of ground-based remote sensing.’ Stick is also the ‘founder emeritus’ of Boulder Beer, which was established in 1978. He currently resides in Boulder with his wife.
Another Bundy Blog. 