I’ve had Martha Feldman’s rape report in my drafts folder for over a year now, and I’m not sure why I didn’t post it yet. I started doing some digging into her background and as I was really getting into it, I realized that she didn’t ask for this to happen and this file was most likely only released due to a TB related FOIA request: she doesn’t want her personal life to be dissected fifty years after what was most likely one of the worst events of her life, so I am not going to go into her background and will strictly stick to the facts on the police report (especially since she specifies in it that she wishes to remain anonymous). I will say that she went on to lead an incredibly successful life, but I’m not going to elaborate any further. Feldman isn’t a Rhonda Stapley or Sotria Kritsonis, who ‘came forward’ years after their alleged run-in’s with Bundy looking for attention and notoriety (and in Stapley’s case, money). I mean, there’s a fair chance that Ted wasn’t Martha’s rapist.

According to the police report that Feldman filed on March 7, 1974 with the Seattle Police Department at the YWCA (located at 4224 University Way NW), she was raped by an unnamed assailant five days prior on Saturday, March 2 around 4:15 AM; she first disclosed her attack to a woman named Maria at the Seattle based organization ‘Rape Relief’ later that morning at around 7:30; from there, she sent two young women over, and they brought her into Harborview Hospital for a medical exam, which was given by a Dr. Shy at around 8:30 AM (where we know Bundy interned as a counselor from June 1972 to September 1972); the Seattle PD were notified later that evening.

Feldman told investigators that at around 1:30 AM on February 28, 1974 she heard something unusual but when she got up to investigate nothing was amiss; later in the same afternoon a friend of hers noticed that the screen had been removed from one of her windows (this reminds me of when Ted removed Cheryl Thomas’s screen from her window four years later in Florida). Martha’s assailant broke into her apartment around 4 AM and said that he didn’t ask her for money or valuables, and she even had some of her good jewelry sitting out and it remained untouched (in fact, the man didn’t appear to touch anything in the apartment). Personally, I think it makes sense that Bundy wouldn’t have stolen anything expensive, because by that point Liz already knew he was stealing and he was making a half-hearted attempt of not doing it.

Also, according to the report Feldman was moving out of her apartment and would be in touch with her new address; it does not clarify if she left because of her rape. She did not want her parents notified of her assault and said that she was ‘careless in not drawing her drapes or locking the window.’ After a few unsuccessful attempts to reach her by phone, detectives finally connected with her and on March 6th stopped by her apartment so she could sign a medical release form and speak to her more about what happened. Feldman told them that her assailant had been between twenty to twenty-four years old based off his ‘build and voice,’ and said that she never saw his face because he had a dark navy watch cap pulled over his head and down below his chin (it only had slits for the eyes that she suspected were made by him and specified that it had ‘not been a ski mask’); she said that she didn’t know his hair color but was certain he was white because she ‘saw his arms’ (she also said they had no hair on them).

Feldman said that early on the Saturday morning of her assault she went to bed around 1 AM (one other place in the police report said it was at 2 PM), and even though her shades were drawn one of the curtains were slightly agape, and she said it was easy to look in her one window and see that her extra bed was empty and that she was alone (she said that roughly ¾ of the time a friend stayed with her). It was probably 4 AM when she was suddenly awakened by something (she believes by him opening then shutting the window). Martha said that she’ had forgot to put the wooden slot in the window to lock it and although it would be difficult to see it was not there in the dark, he must have seen it as be took off the outer screen to reach the window.’ When she opened her eyes, a man she didn’t immediately recognize was standing in her doorway, and she said at first she only saw his profile and noticed there was something bright illuminating her living room and realized he had left his flashlight on the table (and that he had left it on). After her assailant came in her room he sat on her bed and assured her that he wasn’t going to hurt her and that he wouldn’t use his weapon on her as long as she didn’t scream, then proceeded to pull a hunting knife out from his back pocket, one that was dark and had a ‘carved bone handle’ with streaks on it. When she asked him how he got into her apartment he told her that it was ‘none of her business.’

Martha told the detectives that the man had been wearing a white, short-sleeved t-shirt and Levi’s, but was wearing not wearing a coat or sweater (even though it had been cold outside). She also said that his voice sounded like a Northwesterner and he seemed ‘well-educated,’ and possibly could have been a student at the nearby University of Washington. Feldman said that she didn’t recall that her assailant was wearing any jewelry or a watch and he had been drinking but was ‘not drunk’ and after about eight to ten minutes of talking he pulled out some tape out of his pocket and used it to cover her eyes.

He then turned on her bedroom light and left it on as he undressed her, unzipped his pants, then had sexual intercourse with her. When finished, he taped her hands and feet up ‘just to slow you down,’ turned off the light, covered her up with some blankets, said ‘go back to sleep,’ then left; the tape was later put into evidence. She heard him go out to the living room, open the window then run down the back alley; she listened but heard no car start up. Martha said he was very calm and sure of himself and felt that ‘he has done this before,’ although he didn’t say anything that made her think it was anything other than his first time. Feldman told detectives that she believed she could identify her assailant (even though her eyes were taped shut), and was usually home days as she had classes in the evening.

At the time of her assault Feldman lived at 4220 12^th Avenue NE Unit 14, which was four houses and just a minute’s walk away for Bundy, who was living at the Rogers Rooming House just down the street at 4214 12th Ave NE (the building she lived in has since been torn down and in 2023 a new complex was built in its place). Ted’s whereabouts aren’t accounted for specifically on March 2, 1974, however he was placed in Seattle/Tacoma both the day before and after. He was in between employment at the time and had been without a job since September of 1973 (when he was the Assistant to the Washington State Republican chairman) and remained unemployed until May 3, 1974 when he got a position with the Department of Emergency Services in Olympia (he was there until August 28, 1974, which is right before he left for law school). On the last page of the eight-page document is a blank page with a scribbled note: ‘this is the case, I thought of for Bundy. Think there would be a print on the tape?’

Bundy went on to abduct then murder Donna Gail Manson from Evergreen State College in Olympia on March 12, 1974. On her website ‘CrimePiper, Erin Banks points out that on a social media post about Feldman one commenter remarked on the face that the assailant pulled out a ‘carved knife handle,’ and it just so happened to match the description of a rare knife that had been ‘stolen’ out of Bundy’s girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer’s VW Bug a short period later. That same person went on to say that ‘the fact that he wasn’t wearing a jacket, just a T-shirt, even though it was cold outside, seems to indicate he lived nearby too.’