The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History (21 page)

The Fashion Place Mall in Murray, Utah. It would be here, on a cool November evening, that Bundy himself would set in motion the wheels of fate that would eventually destroy him.

Being an urban thoroughfare, State Street is home to numerous and varied shops, restaurants, and malls, which translates into heavy traffic, both pedestrian and vehicle. It's a magnet for young people who love to pile into cars on Friday nights and cruise up and down the strip. One favorite spot, the Fashion Place Mall in Murray, sits at 1691 South State Street and is but a short distance from Midvale, where Melissa Smith disappeared. In fact, Melissa had spent many hours at the mall with friends.

As malls go, the Fashion Place Mall is by no means considered a large structure. In the shape of a "T," it had at the time three anchor stores connecting two pedestrian corridors. Even in August 2006 when I visited the site, the basic layout of the mall remained the same as it was in 1974, with the exception that two of the anchor stores had been replaced, and numerous other stores had gone out of business. However, Sears remains in the same location it held in November of that year, as does See's Candies, although See's has experienced a slight expansion at the same store.

Whatever the mall lacks in size to its counterparts around the country, it makes up for by the beauty of its surroundings, and has perhaps the best backdrop of any shopping mall in the country, the majestic Wasatch mountain range. It offers most stunning views from the ample parking areas surrounding it, and while it occasionally may be taken for granted by the locals, it provides a supreme photographic moment for the visitor.

Contemplating the beauty of such a scene, it is hard to imagine a murderer plotting to abduct and kill a fellow human being, but this is exactly what happened in the early evening of Friday, November 8, 1974.

At 5:00 P.M., Carol DaRonch pulled out of the parking lot of her employer, Mountain Bell, and arrived home about fifteen minutes later. After changing her clothes, she drove to the Fashion Place Mall to purchase a gift, and entered through the Sears store on the mall's south side. Passing through Sears, she stepped out to a corridor busy with Christmas shoppers and turned left at the point which leads to Auerbachs, the anchor store on the mall's west side, closest to State Street. Just before reaching Auerbachs, however, she ran into cousins and talked with them briefly in front of Waldenbooks, which was situated directly across from See's Candies. Both stores were on one of two short entrance/exit hallways for the mall located at this end of the complex and flanking Auerbachs.

She would later tell investigators that after standing momentarily looking into the window of Waldenbooks, she started walking back towards Sears when she was approached by an individual she described as between 5'7" and six feet tall, with "rather long, thick dark brown, rather oily appearing hair, and ... he had a mustache that was neatly trimmed." She also echoed what many other women had said about him: "nicely groomed [and] better than average looking."" She also said he was wearing patent leather shoes.

Identifying himself as "Officer Roseland," Bundy asked Carol if she had a car parked in the Sears lot and she confirmed that she did. He then explained that a suspect was caught breaking into her car, and would she accompany him to her vehicle to see if it had been damaged, or if anything was missing. She agreed, and retracing her steps to Waldenbooks, they exited the mall and crossed the large parking lot in a southwesterly direction. It was now a little after 7:00 P.M., and in the artificially lighted night, Officer Roseland, clad in green pants and a dress jacket, walked slightly ahead of her, "in long strides," she remembered. Noticing the quality of his slacks as he walked, the somewhat shy eighteen-year-old described her guide as "well attired."

When Carol reached her Camaro, it looked no different than it did when she pulled into the parking space less than thirty minutes earlier. There was nothing to indicate her car had been tampered with, and a quick glance at the interior showed that it was okay too. Even so, the man playing the role of a Murray police officer asked her to open up the driver's side door so he could see for himself. Obedient to his command, she unlocked the door and popped it open, but it looked no different to her than when she peered through the glass. Despite the fact that they were standing in a slight, misty rain, the bushy-haired cop requested that she open the passenger door. But Carol, who could easily be intimidated by authority figures, told him no, it wasn't necessary as everything looked fine to her.

In November of 1974, Waldenbooks would occupy the location directly across from Sees Candies, and it would be in this hall that Carol DaRonch would encounter Bundy acting as a police officer.

It was no coincidence that Bundy wanted her to open her passenger door. He knew there was nothing wrong with her car, and he knew Carol knew it too. It is very likely he planned to have her climb inside so he could immediately attack her. Having been foiled, however, in whatever plan he was working while at her vehicle, he had the dark-haired beauty follow him back into the mall. His partner, he assured her, was inside holding a suspect and it was important that she sign a complaint against him.

Unable to locate his imaginary partner, Bundy convinced Carol to follow him to the Murray police substation, which he said was located directly across from the mall, on the other side of the building. As they made their way past the hordes of shoppers pressing around them on this busy Friday night, young Carol DaRonch began to feel somewhat suspicious of Officer Roseland, but because "he looked nice, presented himself well and was calm and did in no way suggest himself to be other than a police officer,"" she did not yet ask him for any identification. But that would soon change.

Still operating as a cleaners in August of 2006, this building is where Bundy led Carol DaRonch, telling her it was a police substation. It was a ruse so that he could guide her to his car parked several feet away.

As they approached Auerbachs, they turned to the right this time, heading out in the opposite direction of the mall and away from Carol's car. The substation, he said, was located just across the street in what was actually a cleaners and laundromat. With his prey at his side Bundy pretended to open the building's side door which was marked 139, but found it locked. Bundy, who was the ultimate planner when it came to abduction and murder, would already have known the door was bolted shut, thus presenting him with the perfect excuse to lead her to his ratty little Volkswagen Beetle which was parked not more than thirty feet away.

It was necessary, he said, for her to accompany him to the main Murray Police Department to make the formal complaint. Reluctantly, she agreed, but at this time she requested to see some form of identification. Letting out a single condescending laugh, Bundy quickly showed her a badge attached to a billfold and then put it back into his pocket. She later told an investigator she wasn't sure if it was gold or silver in color, and that she was unable to look closely at it before he put it away.

Bundy would abruptly stop his Volkswagen at this site and attack Carol DaRonch. After her escape, he would seek a victim elsewhere.

Climbing into the cramped space that is the Volkswagen Beetle, Bundy buckled his seat belt and told her to do the same. For the second time of the night she refused his command, saying she didn't want to. Bundy did, however, make sure her door was locked. As Officer Roseland turned on the ignition, put the gear shift into first, and pulled away from the curb, Carol DaRonch expected him to head straight ahead towards the traffic light on State Street. But instead, he whirled the steering wheel to the left, making a U-turn, and started driving deeper into a residential area. For the first time, Carol smelled alcohol on his breath.

Less than a minute later he pulled so abruptly alongside the McMillan School that his two right wheels bounced up onto the curb before coming to rest back on the pavement. Carol only had time to ask him what he was doing before he attacked her, and immediately she knew she was in a fight for her life. Grabbing the inside handle she pushed the door open just as she felt the latching of a handcuff on her right wrist. Hysterical now, she started screaming, "What are you doing ... what are you doing ... let me go!"" Trying to fend off the attack by flailing her arms at him, she kept scratching at his face and hands. In the confusion of the fight, Bundy accidentally attached the second cuff to the same arm, rendering the handcuffs useless.

Being in such close proximity to her attacker, with poor street lighting, both Carol and her assailant had difficulty maneuvering. She believed he pulled a pistol out of his pocket, but this only made her struggle harder. At one point she grabbed his left hand just as he was about to swing an object down at her, and realized that he was going to bash her in the head with a crowbar.

In the midst of this melee, Bundy did something he'd never done before. He lost control of the abduction. In a split second, Carol DaRonch was out of the car and running down the street. With speed and movement that would make any gymnastic coach proud, Bundy was out of his seat, over the passenger's seat, and into the street in one blur-like moment. He had the desire to chase her down, but the possibility of being exposed was too great and he knew it. He immediately retreated to his VW and sped away.

Being in a high state of sexual arousal, and already in a predatory mode that left him like a man drifting between two worlds, Ted Bundy was not about to return home without his catch for the night. To come so close, only to lose his victim in what he considered a strange aberration in a streak of killings which had thus far been executed flawlessly did not sit well with him. As he headed for State Street, he suddenly remembered the brochure about the school play he had picked up on Monday, October 28. (Bundy's Chevron credit card record shows he purchased gas in Bountiful on this date. Indeed, he was driving almost constantly, having purchased gas on October 25 and 26, both in Salt Lake City.) He had been searching for a victim that day, trolling mile after residential mile, when he happened upon the recreation center in the city of Bountiful, just a short distance north of Salt Lake City. Viewmont High School, which was hosting the musical The Redhead, was located only four blocks from the center, and unbeknownst to Bundy, would have an attendance November 8 of some 1,500 people. But those numbers didn't bother him. He had abducted women in front of thousands before; this, he believed, would be as easy as the rest.

Within minutes, Bundy had entered the on ramp of Interstate 15 heading north. He was disheveled from the fight with Carol DaRonch (and in fact would change clothes, which he no doubt already had with him). His heart rate and respiration had increased due to the physical exertion, and despite it all, he was certain he'd find what he was looking for at the end of this ride. And once again, he would be right.

Just as Bundy was roaring away from the McMillan school, a crying and panic-stricken Carol DaRonch saw the headlights of an oncoming car and began waving her arms rapidly in an attempt to get it to stop. Startled by the sight of a wild woman looming before them, Wilbur Walsh slammed on the brakes while his wife Mary instantly wondered whether they were in some type of danger. But before they had time to gather their thoughts, Carol had opened Mary's door and jumped inside. It only took Mary Walsh seconds to see the terror in the young woman's eyes and she knew something horrible had happened to her.