The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History (34 page)

It was inevitable that their conversation would center almost exclusively on the "persecution" he'd been undergoing at the hands of the Utah authorities, and the endless interest in him by the Seattle and King County police departments. Sitting sideways in a booth and looking straight ahead while he spoke, the bearded Bundy did not look Rule in the eyes. Perhaps he believed she wouldn't notice this avoidance given his posture, or maybe he just didn't care. But the sociopath found it safer to spew lies while staring at a blank wall. Bundy understood that as the windows of his soul, his eyes might at any moment give away all that he had become. His inner monster, which was so well hidden from view in the days when he was just Ted, now felt like a caged animal whose turmoil might very well be perceived by those even casually observing him. Bundy did not want anyone, at any time, to know what he was really like on the inside.

That evening, Bundy was seen pulling away from the Vortman residence at 3510 West Elmore Street, in Marlin's 1966 tan Volkswagen Beetle. It was very similar to Bundy's VW but two years older. He must have felt more than a twinge of regret that he was forced to sell his car to a Sandy, Utah, teenager to help pay his attorney expenses (and to jettison the main repository of evidence). The police, however, would soon reclaim the vehicle from the young man, and later Bundy would see to what degree his victims remained behind, despite the numerous cleanings. Detectives also noted Bundy driving the Vortmans' other vehicle, a 1970 Toyota sedan, and he was spotted driving Liz's blue 1966 VW.

The next day, at approximately 10:05 A.M., Detective Roger Dunn of the King County Police (Bob Keppel's partner) caught up with him as he was walking from the parking lot to the Vortmans' apartment. Bundy, who was wearing a long-sleeved, gray, turtleneck sweater; gray gym trunks and white Adidas tennis shoes, had already spotted the investigator before Dunn ever got out of his car. After introducing himself, Bundy asked if he had a warrant or subpoena, to which Dunn replied no, but added that he wanted to talk to him. "Well come on inside," he said, "and IT see what we can do."6

No sooner had the two entered the apartment, than Bundy picked up the phone and telephoned John Brown, but Brown wasn't in the office. Bundy then advised the receptionist that Dunn was in the apartment and that Brown should call him "as soon as possible."' Bundy couldn't lean on Marlin Vortman for advice either, as he was away in Wenatchee. After hanging up the phone, Bundy sat down in a chair and Dunn took a seat across from him on the couch. The seasoned detective then reached into his pocket and pulled out his Miranda rights warning card and read it to Bundy. After listening patiently, Bundy informed the investigator that he understood his legal rights and that "he didn't want to discuss his activities in this area and that his attorney had instructed him not to say anything at all to the police."'

Within ten minutes of Bundy's call to his office, John Brown was on the phone with Bundy asking if the detective was still in the apartment. When Bundy said yes, Brown asked to speak with Dunn, and Bundy passed him the receiver. Brown, already calculating the enormous problems which could arise from such a meeting, was clearly upset with the investigator for contacting his client "against his wishes."9 He then told Dunn to leave the premises immediately. Handing the phone back to Bundy, Dunn prepared to leave and attorney and client spoke briefly to one another.

Bundy always found it difficult to simply keep his mouth shut in the presence of the authorities. What follows is the very odd and somewhat incriminating parting shot Bundy offered the detective as he was walking out the door, an exchange that Detective Bob Keppel overheard while climbing the steps to the Vortmans' second-floor apartment.

Bundy said that he would really like to help us out because of all the pressure that was on us from the press and said that he felt no pressure. He said that he would meet with Brown and then would perhaps be recontacting us. I emphasized that we would like to eliminate him if we could but had so far been unable to. He said that there were things that he knew that we didn't know but that he didn't feel at liberty to discuss them.10

It was an odd quirk in the mind of Theodore Robert Bundy. As a law student, he had been schooled on the disadvantages of a suspect ever speaking with police out of the presence of his or her attorney. But for Bundy it was more important to boast to those who were fully aware of his crimes, hence his statement likening Jerry Thompson's gathering of evidence to gathering straws for a broom. Bundy's offer of a future conversation with Washington detectives was not lost on Keppel or Dunn. It was just another aspect of the monster: he loved to taunt.

On December 5, Dawn Kraut, a senior at the University of Washington and sister of a Seattle detective, gave a statement to King County Detective Kathleen McChesney concerning a lengthy conversation she'd had with Ted Bundy a day earlier in the school's cafeteria. What follows is a portion of that statement:

On Thursday, December 4, 1975, I was at the Undergraduate Library Cafeteria at the University of Washington where I am a senior in psychology and anthropology. I had a class from 1:30 to 2:30 P.M. and then went to the cafeteria by myself. I sat alone at a table and was studying.

At about 3:00 o'clock I noticed a man I recognized as Ted Bundy from the newspapers, sitting about two tables away. I had never met Bundy. I wasn't really sure it was him as I thought he was in Salt Lake City.

The man I thought was Ted Bundy was talking with a hippy-type of guy, he was about 25 years old and had long blond hair. "Ted" was eating a hamburger and laughing and smiling, although I could see under the table a kind of dichotomy- his legs and feet were moving as if he were very nervous.

I wasn't able to hear much of their conversation and when they stopped talking the blond man and Ted got up from the table and parted. Ted was going near the door and I went up towards the vending machine to get something to drink. I wasn't very far from Ted then I quietly said Ted? "Ted" turned around and said "Do I know you?" I said "no" and he nodded his head and asked my name. I frowned and he said, "Just your first name." I said "Dawn." "Ted" said "I saw you looking at me, it was more than just a double-take."

I said, "I never forget a face." Then I didn't want him to think I recognized him from seeing him in person before and I told him I had seen his picture in the papers....

At first "Ted" seemed nervous and then composed as we talked longer. He told me he was Ted Bundy. He was wearing nicely pressed old jeans, new reddish brown loafers, a navy blue turtleneck and a beige and brown striped sweater with a loose cloth belt. When he was eating his hamburger he wasn't wearing gloves, but now he was ... we stood by the door and had a conversation for about 45 minutes....

I asked how the case was going and he smiled and said, "Well," and then started talking about the sensationalism of the press. He also said, "It's something people will never forget." I told him I thought people would forget. He disagreed with me about this, he seemed certain people would remember....

We didn't talk about anything other than him. I asked him what he was doing in the library and he said he had come from the law school where he was told that they didn't want him there using the facilities because of his reputation.

Ted told me that I was the first person that recognized him that didn't previously know him. He asked me if an attractive young woman like myself wasn't afraid to know that "Theodore Bundy" was around campus. I shrugged and didn't answer.

I told him that I knew one of the girls who disappeared - Denise Naslund. Ted said, "Oh, that's a shame." "I feel sorry for the genuine friends and family of the people who disappeared." "I can really see why they'd be bitter and want the person or persons caught." "It must have been a terrifying nightmarish experience." I recalled that he only spoke about the incidents with the girls as being disappearances.""

Bundy, whom Kraut noticed was very talkative, would ramble on further still about his counsel, influential friends, and how he expected to sue various people after it was all over. When Kraut asked him if he thought he was being framed, he said "it was too long and complicated of a case to be framed.""

"When we parted," Dawn Kraut remembered, "he said he was going to get Christmas cards and thank you notes. Our parting was abrupt, he turned and went back across Red Square toward Montlake, and I went back to where I was sitting.""

Over the next several days, Bundy would react more aggressively towards those following him. What follows are the detailed observations of the Seattle detectives who were witnesses to the building pressure within Ted Bundy; pressures which sometimes caused the normally poised and articulate Bundy to appear more like a caged animal who instinctively senses the danger coming straight at him, but has no clear avenue of escape:

12-6-75 1210 hours- on post, subject is on foot on Univ. Ave NE in 4500 block. Officer Woods is also following on foot, Officer Augerson is relieving Woods, they are on the way back to location #2.

1630 hours- Subject and girlfriend left location #2 in the girlfriend's car. Followed subject down to 25NE and NE55, they then drove to 26th and NE54, there subject exited the vehicle and entered the Deluxe Tavern II. Subject stood in the window and watched for surveillance cars. I pulled to the curb in the 2600 block of 54th and parked. Subject came out of tavern and started walking in my direction, he stopped and started waving at me. He then turned around and started walking toward Officer Augerson's car. Officer Augerson parked his car to follow the subject on foot, the subject walked up to the car and tried to open the door."14

Bundy then walked to a phone booth and made a call lasting some seven minutes.

1650 hours- Subject and girlfriend left laundry mat, made several attempts to loose us, and did so briefly. I drove around the area to the Safeway Store on the eastside of the Univ. Village. I spotted subject as he spotted me, he got back into his vehicle and left the parking lot. Again I lost him and again I found him at the Safeway Store, he spotted me and waved.

1705 - Girlfriend and subject leave the store and start walking in my direction. I then noticed that their car was parked in the same lot that I was parked in. They got in and backed up to where I was parked and blocked me in. Subject and girlfriend got out and came to car window. Subject asked "Are you the police or private or what?" He stated "I don't mind law enforcement following me, but I (don't) like private citizens following me around." I told him that if he had any questions to call SPD. He then left and I didn't follow him immedi- ately.15

Officer Terrance Augerson's version of that day paints a good picture of Bundy's state of elevated, if not high, anxiety:

1630 Subject accompanied by girlfriend & daughter entered car. Car wouldn't start so subject pushed it approximately 30' to corner. He did this while eating an apple. I was parked at the SE corner of 52nd & 18th NE & subject looked right at me as they idled down hill. He appeared shocked. My partner took the tail while I followed.

They were evidently originally heading for the Laundromat ... instead his girlfriend dropped the subject at the Deluxe Tavern #2 on the opposite corner. The subject exited & ran in to the tavern and began to pace in a confused manner. After about 45 seconds he exited and began to walk towards my car. He then waved at me. I then departed and parked out of sight one half blocks away. I got out on foot and watched the subject appearing not knowing which direction to walk. The subject began to walk toward me and I walked away eastbound on 55th. The subject then located my car and tried to enter it (it was locked), and tried to see what was inside. He then walked to the Laundromat and paced about while talking to his girlfriend. He then walked outside and began using a phone.16

As mentioned earlier, some of Bundy's antics would include taking pictures of detectives and writing down their license plate numbers, as he had done with the Utah investigators dogging his tracks. He clearly understood the foolishness behind it but it was the only thing he could do to show his disdain to those closing in on him. It was childish, born of his inability to control his situation any longer. Having been exposed to the world, he was now thrashing about under the weight of its scrutiny, and finding it more difficult to confront each day. Yet in his distorted mind Theodore Bundy still believed that his day in court, set for February 1976, would be a turning point for him. Exoneration, Bundy believed, lay just around the corner.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

10

CONVICTION

Theodore Bundy was guilty. At least that was the opinion of all the investigators in each of the states where Bundy had been which had missing and murdered women. Yet the only hope of putting him behind bars rested in the hands of David Yocom, deputy county attorney for Salt Lake County, Utah. He had understood the gravity of the situation from the beginning. The seriousness was both highlighted and reiterated at the Intermountain Crime Conference held in November 1975. At that time, a litany of gruesome statistics as cold as an autopsy table was recounted by the lead investigators with the expertise of those who have lived with something a very long time. The overt similarities found among all the cases from Washington State, Colorado and Utah, along with Bundy's presence in each place where the murders occurred left the participants certain beyond doubt that Theodore Bundy was their man. Yet unless and until additional charges could be made against him, Utah was their only hope of getting the killer off the streets. If he weren't convicted, they correctly reasoned, he would kill again, and there was nothing they could do to stop him.