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Nancy Grace
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Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Sequences shortened and simulated this July 4th
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Nancy Grace
every 26 seconds in the U.S. most security systems alert you after a break. INS already started. That's too late. SimpliSafe is changing that. Using advanced AI alerts, SimpliSafe's U.S. based live agents identify threats on your property and help deter them. And here's what I love most about it. No long term contracts and the setup is so easy. The SimpliSafe system was delivered to our door and in just 30 minutes our home is more secure with monitoring and deterrence plans. Starting around a dollar a day, everyone can enjoy the benefits of SimpliSafe. I want you to experience the same peace of mind we do. That's why I've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer an exclusive gift discount to our listeners. Right now you get 50% off your new system by visiting simplisafe.com Nancy I believe in it so much I have given it to two of the LOL's little old ladies back in my home church in Macon, Georgia. That's half off@simplisafe.com Nancy There really is no safe like SimpliSafe.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Hi, it's Karen and Georgia from my favorite Murder.
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamar.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Want the full story? Take a listen.
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
She starts dating Howard Hughes and in fact she helps him design a faster plane. So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today and he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy Lamarr and Billie Jean King.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Nancy Grace
Goodbye.
Service opens doors and at American Military University, it can open doors for the whole family. If you have a loved one who served in the military, you may qualify for reduced tuition. AMU offers flexible online programs designed to fit your schedule so you can keep moving forward wherever life takes you. Learn more@amu.apus.edu Military open doors to the future for you and your family. With the help of American Military University. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
A name that strikes fear in the hearts of women and crime victims all around the world. Ted Bundy. May he continue to rot in hell, roasting over Satan's spit. I just made that up for you, by the way. In the last days, serial killer Ted Bundy's mask ripped off the yet again. This time in a decades old teen murder case, the cold case solved by DNA. I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. You know, Ted Bundy is one of the worst serial killers I've ever studied or investigated. In the last days, we learn another young victim who looks eerily similar to many of his other victims. Her case solved, a Utah teen found dead over 50 years ago has now been connected to the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. Louisiana law enforcement just stated DNA linked Bundy to the murder of a 17 year old girl, Laura Ann Ami, may she rest in peace. Laura Ann vanished after she left a Halloween party to go buy a pack of cigarettes. All the way back in 1974. Her body was discovered by hikers near an embankment near the American Fork Canyon Road days later. What do we know about Ted Bundy and his other victims?
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Whose name conjures up visions of terror, of kidnapping, of rape, of, of murder, even necrophilia. He's called an evil genius. It's hard to live in America unless you're living in a cave or under a rock and not know the name Ted Bundy. I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Evil genius, Is that how Ted Bundy should be described? Born Theodore Robert Cowell, the American serial killer, kidnapper, burglar, rapist, necrophile, who confessed to 30 homicides in seven different states. A true count of his victims is likely to be much greater. Joining me, renowned serial killer, historian, author of Sons of Cain, history of serial killers from Stone Age to present, Peter Vronsky. Also with me Stephen Lampley, police veteran, former SVU detective and author of Outside youe Door. Stories and cases of his police career, including the arrest of the Claremont killer. With me, of course, Alan, the Duke. Duke joining me from la. Alan, let me tell you a story about Ted Bundy. And I really cannot reveal my source. I had a very dear friend who was a rookie cop and Ted Bundy had to be transported. The rookie, my friend was with a veteran cop. The veteran cop was driving the car. Now remember, Ted Bundy had escaped the courthouse before, I believe escaped jail before by losing so much weight he crawled through a vent. Although I may be confusing my serial killers bundle, but they were transported the very slippery Ted Bundy. And Ted Bundy got to complaining about, I guess the air conditioner or the heater or something in the car. And the veteran cop pulls the car over, opens the car door, gets out, opens Bundy's door and says, get out, I want you to run. Go ahead, try to escape. Bundy, of course, did not get out of the car and the veteran cop came to his senses shortly thereafter and slammed the door and got back in and continued transporting him so he could live off the public dole for several more years. Everybody, thank you for being with us. We're talking about evil geniuses. First to Peter Vronsky, serial killer historian, author of Sons of History of Serial Killers. Stone Age to present it's on Amazon.com Peter Vronsky, why do people insist on referring to Ted Bundy as a genius? I mean, that's certainly putting perfume on the pig, isn't it?
Peter Vronsky
Well, he certainly tested high on intelligence, you know, IQ tests. He's a genius in that way, you know, which makes it a, that's a myth that serial killers are genius. But he certainly challenges the myth. He's admitted into law school, although he doesn't do that well once he gets into law school. But indeed, he's university educated. He's well spoken. Genius, I don't know, but certainly intelligent.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Well, Stephen Lampley, police vet, author of Outside youe Door on Amazon, also Stephen Lampley, he managed to elude the police for quite a long time. I mean, he confessed to 3, 30 murders of young women. That's just what he's confessed to.
Stephen Lampley
You have to understand, serial killers for the most part are pretty devious. You know, it takes a while for police officers to realize that, indeed, that they do have a serial killer. And Ted, by his own admission, he was well versed in how police operate, well versed in forensics. And that made it Even more difficult for police to round him up. And then on top of that, he was able to be a chameleon of sorts. He blended in. He could change his appearance pretty much at will. And then they had different descriptions of his car. Some said it was bronze, some said it was tan. So he had a lot of stuff, in lack of a better word, going for him to allow him to keep going on with this Ted Bundy.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
The name alone strikes fear in the hearts of so many. Listen to Rhonda Stapley, a young college student who accepts a ride from a handsome stranger. Listen to what she tells Dr. Phil.
Rhonda Stapley (victim)
This tan Volkswagen drove by very slowly. Cute driver kind of looked at me as he went past. And then he stopped and backed up and leaned over and rolled down the passenger window and asked me where I was going. I told him I was going up to the U. And he said, me, too. Hop in. So I opened the door and got in. The first thing that I noticed was the inside passenger door handle was missing. And he leaned over and pulled the door shut. But I wasn't alarmed. I figured, college kid, college car, things fall off. He was dressed nice, had a green pullover sweater on, nice slacks. Lighthearted. We just had the normal conversation that strangers would have. I told him, my name's Rhonda and I'm a pharmacy student. What are you studying? He told me his name was Ted and he was a law student. In just a couple of blocks, he turned away. That wasn't the normal route to the university. And I asked him about that. And he was very polite and asked my permission if it would be all right if he took a little detour. He told me he had to run an errand up by the zoo. And I told him that would be fine. I didn't care. I thought I would still be home faster than if I had waited for the bus. And then we went right on past the zoo. And I said, hey, I thought we were taking me to the zoo. And he said, no. I said, near the zoo, that road goes over the hill and drops down into Parley's Canyon, which is the main highway back into the city. And instead he turned left and started driving up another canyon. And as he's driving, he's kind of looking at parking places and side roads. The conversation started to go weird then because he stopped talking to me. And I'm still trying to make idle conversation. And I'm thinking that he's probably looking for place to pull off and park and wants to make out. And I don't know him, and I'm not really a make out person, but he's still a cute law student and I want him and I don't want to embarrass myself. So I'm thinking of how do I get out of this situation? And then he pulled into a parking place and parked the car and turned it off. And then he turned in the car seat. So he's kind of facing me and he leaned in really close. I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, he said very quietly, do you know what? I'm going to kill you. And he put his hands on my throat and started squeezing. My first thought was, it has to be some kind of a joke. This guy's got a weirdest sense of humor. But that was just maybe a fraction of a second because I realized he was squeezing too tightly. He was serious and I was in trouble. And there's no door handle.
Peter Vronsky
What did you do?
Rhonda Stapley (victim)
We had a little small battle in the car, but I went unconscious.
Stephen Lampley
Did you put up a fight?
Rhonda Stapley (victim)
I did. As much of a fight as you can put up when you're running out of air.
Peter Vronsky
Did you think at that point, I'm gonna die?
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
You were hearing who was then a young college student, Rhonda Stapley, describing her encounter with Ted Bundy. She lived to tell the tale to Peter Vronsky, serial killer historian. There's so many aspects of what she said. He uses his charm, his affability, his, to many people, good looks, his status as a law student to impress a young girl. She believes it. It's almost as if her eyes and her mind are tricking her to what's really happening.
Nancy Grace
Peter.
Peter Vronsky
Well, you know, that's what makes Ted Bundy such a unique serial killer. We hadn't encountered one like that. I mean, here was, as you say, an affable, charming, intelligent, handsome young man. It wasn't what we imagined. You know, even though we didn't have the word serial killer itself, we knew that there were multiple killers like that, but not the kind of charmer that he was. Our usual concept of that kind of killer was that they were kind of twitchy, reclusive, repulsive loners that would pounce on the victim. So Ted Bundy redefined, I think, in our perception what serial killers, the modern serial killer really is like, or can be like.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
He's right. Stephen Lampley, author of Outside youe Door Steven Ted Bundy really changed the world's perspective of a serial killer. Because now, although Ted Bundy is not remotely attractive to me, many people find him to be, to have dark good looks, you know, he's got his thick head of wavy, dark brown hair, soulful looking eyes, a good physique. He's clearly highly intelligent. He could have done so much with his life. Instead, he became a notorious serial killer. How do you think, or do you agree, Stephen, that he changed the world's
Nancy Grace
perception of serial killers?
Stephen Lampley
I do. I do. You know, and I find even today that people will come up to me and they want to know because I had my interaction with the Claremont killer and he himself was, for the brief time that I spoke with him, he himself was a very charming individual, well spoken, and appeared to be a person that could be very well liked. And intent did change, did change the perspective. And it's like Peter said, people expect serial killers to be some for the most part, some under the bridge, knuckle dragging ogres, you know, with knives and running around the neighborhood. And that's not the case. And Ted did so much to change that perception.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
No one really knows when or where Ted Bundy really began murdering women. He's told so many different stories to so many different people, and he has always refused to divulge exact facts of his earliest murders. Now, he confessed in detail to many other murders, but we don't know when he began murdering. But we do know on January 4, one of his murders goes down. In the middle of the night, he enters the basement apartment of a young girl, a teen girl, Karen Sparks. She has been identified under different names in different places. She's a student at UW and she's asleep. He bludgeons her senseless with a metal rod that he gets from her bed frame and then sexually assaults her, we believe with the same rod, causing so many and such extensive internal injuries from the sex assault. She remains unconscious for 10 days. She's in a coma. She survived, but with permanent disabilities. Now, just a few days later, he breaks into the basement of Linda Ann Healy, another UW undergrad, who broadcasts a morning radio weather report for skiers. He beats her unconscious, dresses her in blue jeans, a white blouse and boots, and carries her away. Then female college students begin to disappear about one a month around Olympia, Washington, and nobody knows what is going on right there. Peter Vronsky, what happens next?
Peter Vronsky
He becomes very mobile as he's, you know, flunking out in some of his courses. He switches universities, he crosses state lines. So nobody is connecting these murders that he's committing. And, you know, for Ted, it's not about the murder, it's about possessing these victims. He Wants to disable the victim as quickly as possible. And, you know, as another killer, serial killer, once said, it wasn't that I wanted to kill them. I wanted to evict them from their bodies. So, you know, he is a collector, essentially. In fact, he described his murders as possessing his victims. He said physically as one would possess a potted plant, a painting, or a Porsche. You know, so for him, it was control over a body. He is just obsessed with this collection. And the problem, of course, is he's a necrophile. So there's an expiry date on the bodies, and after a few days, as the body decomposes, he becomes repulsed by it and he needs to move on. So find another body. And that's kind of the spiral that he gets into.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
How do we know, Peter Vronsky, that Ted Bundy, in addition to being a burglar, rapist, and murderer, why do you say he was a necrophile?
Peter Vronsky
Well, because he himself, he confessed that he would return back to the grave sites sometimes after work and that he would spend the night with the corpse, you know, until the corpse became repulsive to him as well. He brought the heads home of some of his victims. At least half of his victims were beheaded. You know, in one case, he brought a head home to the apartment of his girlfriend when she wasn't there. And after he was finished with the head, he burnt it in her fireplace.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
You may have noticed a long pause, because I thought I knew a lot about Bundy, but I did not know that. I did not know he severed the heads of victims, and I did not know specifically that he brought one home, to his girlfriend's home and burned it in the fireplace. Peter Vronsky, author of Sons of Cain, History of serial killers. Why? What was his fascination with dead women's bodies?
Peter Vronsky
Well, you know, for serial killers, they say that the primary motive for a serial killer is control, control over the victim. And so the ultimate control that one can have, of course, is once you've killed the victim and you possess their body. There's no greater control than that, short of cannibalism. And certainly that's another trait. Although I don't think Ted Bundy, you know, participated in cannibalism. But that's another example of taking control over the victim. He not only brought the heads home, but he also would apply makeup on some of the corpses. He would wash their hair, he would model them essentially in the way he wanted to. So it's all about the control.
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Nancy Grace
in every 26 seconds in the US most security systems alert you after a break in has already started. That's too late. SimpliSafe is changing that. Using advanced AI alerts, SimpliSafe's US based live agents identify threats on your property and help deter them. And here's what I love most about it. No long term contracts and the setup is so easy. The SimpliSafe system was delivered to our door and in just 30 minutes our home is more secure with monitoring and deterrence plans. Starting around a dollar a day, everyone can enjoy the benefits of SimpliSafe. I want you to experience the same peace of mind we do. That's why I've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer an exclusive discount to our listeners. Right now you get 50% off your new system by visiting simplisafe.com Nancy I believe in it so much I have given it to two of the LOL's little old ladies back in my home church in Macon, Georgia. That's half off@simplisafe.com Nancy There really is no safe like SimpliSafe. Service opens doors and at American Military University it can open doors for the whole family. If you have a loved one who served in the military, you may qualify for reduced tuition. AMU offers flexible online programs designed to fit your schedule so you can keep moving forward wherever life takes you. Learn more at AMU Apus Edu Military Open doors to the future for you and your family will with the help of American Military University hi, it's Karen
Karen from My Favorite Murder
in Georgia from my favorite Murder.
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Want the full story?
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
Take a listen, Hedi. She starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon. Do you know a lot about him?
Karen from My Favorite Murder
I mean, I watch the Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him. That but incredible innovator, right?
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
She says he's a, quote, very strange man. But they do get along really well.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Give us examples.
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
I know they do get along intellectually. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane. She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings. And she's like, that doesn't make sense. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of, like, what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy Lamarr and Billie Jean King.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Nancy Grace
Goodbye crime stories with Nancy Grace.
In the last days, another victim of notorious and might I say evil, pure out evil serial killer Ted Bundy has been named and connected to Bundy by DNA. Her name, Laura Ann Amie. Just 17 years old. I noticed way back when I began studying Ted Bundy. Now, why was I studying him? I remember when I made this connection, I was already prosecuting because I remember I was reading a book at night at home in my little bitty apartment behind Merrimack's restaurant on Ponce de Leon, as we say in Atlanta. Not Ponce de Leon, but Ponce de Leon. It's a meat and veg restaurant. I lived right behind it, and it was on my way home from the courthouse. So I had eaten in Merrimack's, my usual at that time, I couldn't afford to get the meat, so I would get three vegetables. The bread was free, and ice water with a straw, my usual. And I had come home and taken a shower, gotten in bed. I was reading a book about Bundy. I was getting ready to try a serial killer. It was several months away. The trial was. So I had time to actually read a book instead of working on case files. And I was looking at the photos of all of his victims, and so many of them were thin white females with darkish hair, parted long hair and parted in the middle. And I was stunned at the amazing physical similarities of all of these victims. Now, I know there were some victims that don't fit that some of Bundy's victims, but a lot of them did And Laura Ann does as well. And she's wearing an outfit that reminds me of one of my sister's favorite outfits that she wore to high school. So I'm just, I don't know, I just feel so sorrowful for her family. She was so young, 17 when she was murdered by Ted Bundy. Investigators determined Laura Ann had been raped, strangled and murdered. And for decades Bundy was suspected in her death. Let me note, he started studying law at University of Utah just two months before she disappeared. Now we also know Bundy had approached Laura Ann multiple times and had stalked her before murdering her. We learn. And it's very similar to other cases, other victims of Ted Bundy's, who is
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
synonymous with attractive good looks, charm and debonair. Anything but is the stark truth of Ted Bundy. You're hearing stories, true stories from Peter Vronsky, serial killer historian and author of Sons of Cain, History of serial killers from Stone Age to present. And Stephen Lampley, highly regarded police veteran, SVU detective, author of Outside youe Door, both of these books on Amazon.com Peter, you were just describing how Ted Bundy would keep many of the victims bodies, bathe them, wash their hair, apply makeup on them. True facts about Ted Bundy are horrific to me. Stephen Lampley, I mean you guys are saying, oh he, I don't know how genius he was. He managed to evade the police for quite a long time. He had two, at least we know of two series of murders. The last one I was talking about in the Pacific Northwest. Female college students disappearing at about one a month. Nobody could figure it out. There was Donna Gail Manson, a 19 year old at Evergreen State College in Olympia. Susan Elaine Rancourt, we talked about, I mean it goes on and on and on. Then facts began sifting through about a Volkswagen Beetle, a tan vw. Then Roberta Kathleen Parks left her dorm at Oregon State University to have coffee with friends and she never arrived. Another girl goes missing. Apart from being young and pretty college students with long hair parted in the middle, no one could really get a better connection. So one woman recalled a man coming up to her, asking her to help him carry a case to his car. A light brown VW that he was struggling because he had his arm in a cast. Stephen Lampley, he's clearly tricking all these women. He also tricked the police.
Stephen Lampley
Sure. I mean that's what, that's what one of Ted Bundy's traits. He did that very well. He was a very charming individual and he approached strangers. He didn't intentionally avoided people that he knew. That he had probably met before, but he was a very charming individual. And he used that guise, the fake arm, and at one point he even used crutches and a cast on his leg that he made from plaster of Paris in order to win the confidence of these women. Would you please help me? And of course, he was a, you know, as I, as most people would say, a good looking gentleman law student. And they were more than happy to oblige, which made his ability to grab victims relatively easy.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
You know, right now, I mean, there's such lore around, warranted or not around Bundy. His Volkswagen Beetle, where he committed so many of his crimes, is currently on display at the National Museum of Crime and Punishment. Then we start seeing similarities between the victims. The disappearances take place at night within a week of exams. The victims are always wearing slacks or blue jeans. There were sightings in the area where people would go missing of a man wearing a cast or sling driving a brown or tan VW a Beetle. Then came the broad daylight abductions east of Seattle. Witnesses describe an attractive young man in a white tennis outfit with the left arm in a sling, speaking with perhaps a British or Canadian accent, introducing himself as Ted, asking for help unloading a sailboat from his VW. Four refused. One went as far as his car, saw there was no sailboat, and ran. Four hours later, Denise Marie Naslin, just 19 years old, left a picnic to go to the bathroom and never comes back. What finally made Ted Bundy stop and that series of brutal murders? Peter Vronsky.
Peter Vronsky
Well, you know, what made him. He never stopped though. You know, he. That day at the beach, he actually had kidnapped two women. And in fact, that was the first time that authorities clued in that, you know, there was somebody called Ted out there because he had approached several women. He left behind witnesses in this case, he kidnapped one woman, was actually a probation officer. And, you know, he appeared so vulnerable, so helpless that these women just felt so sorry for him that they, you know, helped him. One actually later said, you know, before she kind of have the time to help him, that she had hoped that maybe he would take her out on that sailboat later in the day. So that's the first break authorities get. You know, you have to remember that the 1970s people were not really as aware of serial killers as we are today. The FBI is only, you know, the so called mind hunters have only started interviewing serial killers inside of prisons to ask them what they're doing. So jurisdictions didn't really have even the kind of communication nets that they have today. You know, most departments didn't use computers the way we do today. They were very expensive. So information didn't cross was called linkage blindness. So, you know, it wasn't really that long that he went under. I'm apprehended was about 18 months, which today would, you know, not a long time really. So it was those kidnappings at the park that really alerted authorities to his method, to the possibility of an individual by the name of Ted in that colored Volkswagen. And very slowly, various jurisdictions began sharing information with each other.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
This is the irony. Peter Vronsky, author of Sons of Cain because the Kings county police got a detailed description of a suspect in his car. And they posted flyers all around Seattle, including a composite sketch. It was in all the newspapers, on TV stations. And right then, Elizabeth Kloepfer, Ann Rule, who we were discussing earlier, a DES employee, she actually was on a man to suicide hotline with Ted Bundy. Ann Rule, who became the great prolific criminal, true crime writer and a UW psychology professor, all recognized the profile, the sketch, the car, and reported Bundy as a suspect. And guess what happened? Detectives were getting about 200 tips a day and they just couldn't take in that a clean cut law student with no criminal history at all could be the perpetrator. And he continued killing. That happened.
Peter Vronsky
Peter, you know, and Rule at first actually couldn't believe that Ted Bundy was guilty. And a lot of people who worked with Ted would joke when they saw the composite and laugh, you know, well, isn't your name Ted? You look like the guy in the composite photo. And don't you drive a Volkswagen? But Ted's personality was. He had such a mask of sanity that nobody could actually believe. Despite all this evidence linking him to, you know, that suspect. Nobody could imagine Ted being a murderer. He was just too much like us. I think that's why people are so interested in Ted Bundy, because unlike many other serial killers, he had the same kind of ambitions that we did. You know, he was a middle class, ambitious, intelligent, studious member of society. He was among us. He was on the inside. To the point that even when police began to get a very good composite of who this suspect was and people were recognizing him, they still could not see through his personality to the real truth, to the monster that lay beneath that facade that he had put up.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Well, then he. He moves on. He gets a second acceptance from University of Utah Law school. He moves to Salt Lake City and he leaves Seattle and all of his murder victims behind. He was dating at Least a dozen women at a time according to what we've learned in law school. The first year, this is the second time around, first year law school, it hit him. Now, people believe that Bundy was brilliant, but he was personally devastated when he could not keep up with the 1L curriculum. And I've got to tell you, having been there, Stephen Lampley I studied so much, I would even study when I was taking a bath. If you look at my criminal law book from first year, there's watermarks all along the side pages where I would turn the pages. Sometimes I would have to read one sentence. Of course, the sentence could be a whole paragraph, but over and over so I would could make sure I understood it. Then I quickly got to the point where after reading one paragraph, I'd have to write a note and the column of the page on the side explaining to me in my words what that paragraph just said. Then I go through the whole Supreme Court opinion that way and then go back through and read my own notes so I could understand fully what I had just read. So it's overwhelming. A lot of the legal terms are in Latin. So Bundy basically nutted up because he could not keep up with the first year of law school. Stephen?
Stephen Lampley
Yeah, I mean he had, he self admitted he had trouble keeping up with the other students and it was, he himself had a, had a relatively low self esteem. Semen, not a good outlook on himself anyway. So the fact that he was not able to keep up by his own self admission, like I said, it made it hard on him and that, and that could possibly have been one of the triggers that didn't start him but kept him going in this carnage.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Well, and also that frustration. I mean, how can he keep up when he's committing murders and hiding the evidence? I mean he then killed an unnamed hitchhiker, then got rid of the body of or went back the next day to photograph and dismember the body. Then there is a change. He kidnaps a 16 year old girl, Nancy Wilcox, near Salt Lake City, drags her off into the woods and he tries to change his mo. He wants to just rape her and then release her. He says he accidentally strangled her dead, trying to make her stop screaming. Her remains, to my understanding, were never found. If he's to be believed, her remains are somewhere near the Capitol Reef National Park. Then it goes on. Then there's a 17 year old daughter of a police chief in Midvale, Melissa Ann smith, just turned 17, disappears leaving a pizza parlor. She's found naked and dead. In a mountainous area nine days later. And the post mortem reveals she remained alive up to seven days after she disappears. What does that mean to Peter Vronsky, author of Sons of Cain? He kept her alive for seven days after he kidnapped her.
Peter Vronsky
Well, you know, serial killers, for many of them it's kind of a learning process. So he's probably testing, casting out his various fantasies. You know, what, you know, the method kind of changes, but the signature, the inner psychological motive that's driving the crime always stays the same. And in this case, it's still control over the victim. So Ted might be experimenting at this point to seeing whether he can perhaps keep a victim alive rather than necessarily enjoying them when they're dead. So serial killers will shift and change in how they commit the crime, but the reasons will always be the same. And again, it's control over the victim. So, you know, it's essentially, you know, he's like his fantasy of being a lawyer or like his fantasy of having the perfect girlfriend. You know, we often see that the beginning of his killings when he starts occur shortly after he wins back his lost love. This, this girl he was dating who broke up with him. And then he reconquered her and once he kind of re conquered her to return to him, he then drops her because the fantasy is much better than the reality. So that's often how they get into that serial pattern. So he's testing all these different things. But at the bottom of everything is always his need to control the victim and possess. It's all about possession and control.
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Nancy Grace
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Karen from My Favorite Murder
Hi, it's Karen and Georgia from My favorite Murder.
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Want the full story?
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
Take a listen, Hetty. She starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon. Do you know a lot about him?
Karen from My Favorite Murder
I mean, I watch the Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him. But incredible innovator, right?
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
She says he's a, quote, very strange man, but they do get along really well.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Give us examples.
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
I know they do get along intellectually. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane. She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings and she's like, that doesn't make sense. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of like, what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy Lamarr.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
And Billie Jean King, presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Nancy Grace
Goodbye crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Now, why anybody relied on Bundy to name his victims, I do not know because Bundy reportedly failed to recall Laura Ann among his victims when he was confessing to several homicides across Utah.
Oh, oh, okay.
So I guess he didn't do it because he didn't remember it. Really. I don't know what they were thinking. Anyway, fast forward now. The mystery surrounding her death went silent for 51 years until investigators at Utah County Sheriffs used new DNA technology to link Bundy to Laura Ann. What more do we know about Ted Bundy's reign of terror?
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Listen to the family of Susan Rancourt.
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
So her roommates knew right away something was wrong.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
I said, well, where did she go last night? I said, well, she went to a dorm leaders meeting and was on her way back to the dorm room and never came back. This is where we, where he abducted her. She had to walk through this to get to her dorm. I would be obsessed with searching for her. She had a bright yellow ski coat.
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
I would just look for that everywhere we went. I found myself looking in fields, in
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
ditches for this yellow ski jacket to
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
stick out like a sore thumb.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
And I'd be able to say, I found her and we lived for a long time. We are talking about the so called evil genius of prolific serial killer Ted Bundy. His killing spree across the country continued how. How Peter Vronsky, author of Sons of Cain, was he ultimately captured?
Peter Vronsky
Well, you know, that's the amazing part of it, that sometimes it's a random alert police officer that breaks the case, not realizing, you know, who he has under arrest. Ted Bundy attracts the attention of an officer who sees his vehicle. He doesn't appear to belong there. He pulls him over. You know, in fact, I think if I'm not mistaken, that the police officer suspected that he might have a DUI case on.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Yeah, it was a Utah highway patrol officer in Granger, which is near Salt Lake City, and he saw Bundy cruising a residential area in the early, early morning hours, got suspicious, and when he pulled up behind him, Bundy took off. Yeah, he didn't even know Bundy was doing anything wrong. And then when Bundy took off a speeding when he saw the patrol car, there's nothing that gets under cop skin. Then you take off at 9am when all they do is just pull up behind you, you know, so of course they chased him. And then when they get him, he sees the cop, sees the VW front Passenger seat was removed and put on the back seats. There was a ski mask, a second mask fashioned from pantyhose. I mean, come on, Stephen Lampley, a guy's carrying around a pantyhose mask that doesn't get you.
Peter Vronsky
And a pair of handcuffs and an ice pick, I think, as well. And rope.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Yeah. And burglary tools. I mean, and it's important about the handcuffs. Stephen Lampley, author of Outside youe Door on Amazon Because, Steve, he had changed his M.O. he had lost the fake cast and the crutches we were talking about. Then he began impersonating a police officer and would handcuff the victim. In fact, the first time that we know of, the first time he tried it, he accidentally put the cuffs on one victim's both of them on one wrist, and she got away. And in the parking lot they found the key to the cuffs. All right, remember that after a drama practice or something, one evening, a teen girl. So now these handcuffs are taking on a whole new meaning and significance. So what about this? What about it? Stephen Lampley. You know, it reminds me so much of Timothy McVeigh, you know, the OK City bomber. He was pulled over some traffic issue. Same thing here. What about it, Steve?
Stephen Lampley
Well, it happens, you know, sort of related. Of course, they didn't arrest Jeffrey Dahmer. Jeffrey Dahmer had committed his first homicide of Stephen Hicks and had was going to take him to the dump and had him in the back seat of his car in trash bags when the police stopped him. Of course, now in that case, unfortunately, they did not take it to the next step and actually, you know, look into trash bags and why would they, you know, it's trash. But it happens a lot of times, these criminals, within the 21 years I was, I was a police officer, we would see people that would have felony warrants and be wanted for some pretty heinous stuff, driving around with expired tags and one headlight. So you really never know.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Expired tag and missing headlight. Well, Bundy manages to explain some of this away when he's caught cruising that residential area. He explains the ski mask was for skiing. He had found the handcuffs in a dumpster and the rest were just household items. Now, the detective, it was Jerry Thompson, remembered a similar suspect and car description from the Durant kidnapping. And he became suspicious. He saw searched Bundy's apartment. He found a guide to Colorado ski resorts with a check mark by the Wildwood Inn and a brochure about a Vermont high school play where Deborah Kent had gone missing, but still that wasn't enough to arrest him. They let him go. ROR released on own recognizance. We later find out the searchers missed whole stack of Polaroid photographs of his victims. As soon as he released was released ror he destroyed them, got rid of them. So what happens next? They put Bundy on 24 hour surveillance and Thompson, detective Jerry Thompson, flies to Seattle with detectives to interview people and they find out some so much they find out that in the year before he moved away, discovered in his home, his apartment he rented from someone were crutches, a bag of plaster of paris and a meat cleaver that he never used for cooking, surgical gloves, an oriental knife and a sack full of women's clothing. What about that Peter Vronsky? I mean, it just screams out evidence.
Peter Vronsky
Well, you know, certainly the plaster of Paris, of course, would connect him to the use of a fake cast that he wore in luring women into his vehicle. He would also use it as a way to knock them unconscious once they turned their back on him. So very slowly, police start making these connections to various cases that were unsolved in their jurisdictions. On top of that, you have to remember that Ted Bundy's girlfriend, even though she continued to have a relationship with him, she was sending this information to the police already. And so now police start back tracking and looking in much closer detail now that they had targeted, you know, who the individual was at the kind of reports they were getting. And so they were able to time, of course, much better when Ted possessed this plaster of, you know, this medical plaster which he was stealing. He was working at one point in a medical distribution company. In fact, some of the tools that he used on his victims were medical tools that he stole from the delivery company that he worked for. So very slowly, they began to assemble all this evidence that began to look in the perspective of what they now knew. It gave them a fresh approach to it. And the first charges, I think, that were preferred against Bundy was that of kidnapping in the Durang case. That's where it kind of begins.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Yeah, because that's. You're exactly correct. Big mistake. Bundy sells his VW to a teen in Midvale, Utah. Police already suspicious of him, get the car and the FBI breaks it apart. They find hair matching samples from Kieran Campbell's body. They also ID hair strands at seem to be those of Carol Duron and Melissa Smith. Then they put him in a lineup. And Duron immediately identifies him as, quote, Officer Roseland, now Stephen Lampley. Peter Vrotsky could One of you tell me why the victim who lived to, you know, lived through an attempted kidnapping, ID'd him as officer Roseland.
Peter Vronsky
Well, here's some insight for us into just, you know, he's not a genius, but he's very cunning. He has an animal like cunning. And so what Bundy had done in the Durang case is he had stalked her into the parking lot of a shopping mall. He knew what kind of car she was driving, and then he followed her into the mall and the her posing as a police officer, telling her that there appeared to be a break in in her car. He flashed a tiny fake badge. When she asked him to see his identification again, he looked clean cut. There was nothing odd about him. And so she followed him out into the parking lot. He then lured her away from her car, telling her that he would like her to fill out a report that they had actually arrested the person who had attempted to break into her car. And so she ended up following him into his own vehicle. And that's when he tried to snap these handcuffs on her and of course ended up putting both cuffs on her wrist and she managed to flee, flee the vehicle. But, you know, very slowly. That's how he would work. He would lure his victims in that way. And here you had one that survived. And so we got, you know, some insight into actually how he worked, how he would gradually find a victim. He probably approached many women in that mall. Some refused perhaps to go with him. Here was one who followed, you know, a law abiding citizen. You know, when someone comes to you and says, especially in the 70s, they're a police officer, they look like they could be one immediately, kind of with a respect for authority, you know, Salt Lake City, you know, in that region, people are more conservative, more respect over authority. So he used that to lure his victims.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
In that case, Stephen Lampley, police vet, author of Outside youe Door on Amazon. Steven, how did Bundy manage to escape more than once?
Stephen Lampley
Well, I'm not familiar with the second escape. I do know he did escape twice. One of the times was when he wanted to act as his own attorney. And of course, the judge allowed that. And one of the conditions, I don't know, I don't know that Ted made the condition of the judge just, you know, said, take the cuffs off, take the leg shackles off, because he is now, quote, unquote, an attorney. So Ted then wanted to research some information on his case and ask permission to use the law library or the library at the courthouse, which they granted. Well, he went behind A bookshelf that was obscured from view lifted up the second floor window of the courthouse and jumped and escape that way. He was very cunning. Very, very, as Peter said, a very cunning individual. Very well organized and very thought.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Amazing. Amazing.
Stephen Lampley
Yeah.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Well, he then ends up in Florida and the infamous FSU Chi Omega sorority house murders. You know, to Peter Vronsky, he graduates from getting a single victim to actually going in a sorority house and just going berserk. What happened at fsu, Peter?
Peter Vronsky
Well, Ted Bundy is by now disintegrating. He is no longer acting in that kind of organized way. He's just looking for victims at random. And so he comes onto this house on near campus or on campus, and he goes room to room, assaulting victims in those rooms, battering them on the head with a club that he had found, you know, at random upon entering the building. So he's no longer the kind of organized, prepared serial killer. He's in the disintegrating stage. It's almost, you know, the way he kind of achieved his fantasy of getting into law school, school and then disintegrated here. He achieved his fantasy of possessing victims, you know, becoming kind of a serial killer. But the fantasy now was no longer, you know, the reality wasn't as satisfying as the fantasy. So he batters all these victims in that room. He kills two. He seriously, critically injures another, I think three other victims in that place. It's a mass attack, and it's completely at random, completely unplanned. He leaves, behind, you know, a lot of evidence now, and he'll kill one more time again. He'll now snatch a young schoolgirl. There's a lot of witnesses because he's hanging around, you know, the school. He attempts to kidnap, abduct another young woman, but her brother intervenes. So he's getting sloppy. He is disintegrating, which happens often with serial killers who are reaching that burnout stage when, you know, when they realize that their fantasies were much more satisfying than the reality. And now what? Some may retire and not commit a crime until DNA evidence catches up to them. Like the Green river killing or the Golden State Killer. Bundy is the other kind. He's the disintegrating kind. It's not that he wants to get caught. A lot of people think, well, serial killers really want to get caught. It's not about that. It's a complete disintegration, his relationship between his fantasies and the reality. And Bundy is disintegrating in Florida.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Now, the interview that Ted Bundy gives very, very revealing. Bundy himself speaks to and exclusively to the Focus on Family President James Dobson.
Nancy Grace
Listen, are you thinking about all those
Ted Bundy (interviewee)
victims out there and their families who are so wounded, you know, years later, their lives have not returned to normal, they will never return to normal. Absolutely. Are you carrying that load that way?
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Is the remorse there.
Ted Bundy (interviewee)
Again? I know that people will accuse me of being self serving, but we're beyond that now. I mean, I'm just telling you how I feel. But through God's help, I have been able to come to the point where I much too late, but better late than never feel the hurt and the pain that I am responsible for. Yes, absolutely. In the past few days, myself and a number of investigators have been talking about unsolved cases, murders that I was involved in. And it's hard to talk about all these years later because it revives in me all those terrible feelings and those thoughts that I have. Steadfastly and diligently dealt with, I think successfully with the love of God. And yet it's reopened that. And I felt the pain and I felt the horror again of all that. And I can only hope that those who I've harmed, those who I've caused so much grief, even if they don't believe my expression of sorrow and remorse, we will believe what I'm saying now that there is loose in their towns and their communities, people like me today whose dangerous impulses are being fueled day in and day out by violence in the media in its various forms, particularly sexualized violence. Violence.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Ted Bundy died in the Rayford Electric Chair, 7:16am EST on January 24th. Morning.
Nancy Grace
Another victim of notorious and might I say evil serial killer Ted Bundy has been named and connected to Bundy by DNA. Her name was Laura and Amy. The Utah County Sheriff, Mike Smith said at a news conference, we bring this case to a closure and more importantly, closure to the Amay family. Okay, Can I tell you something? As a victim of violent crime, there is no closure. I just gave an interview, did an interview with Mr. Sean Hannity. He wanted to talk about why I became a prosecutor. And I, I will occasionally mention Keith's murder, my fiance's murder, but I do not like talking about it in depth. Since I spoke in that interview, I've had the worst dreams and horrible, horrible feelings having to relive that. I mean, I did it because I wanted to do it. So other crime victims say you can come out on the other end, but it, it proves the point all over again that there is no closure. Your life is forever changed. There's no going back. That said, I disagree with what the sheriff said, but yet I am so grateful to the Utah County Sheriff, Mike Smith, for having this done, for finding the answer. I mean, it is one step to going forward. I don't mean closure. I mean taking another step in your life. 51 years later. Oh, that poor family. Are there more Ted Bundy victims? I guarantee you the answer to that is yes. And we wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace Crime Stories Signing off. Goodbye friend.
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Nancy Grace
Sequences shortened and simulated Service opens doors and at American Military University, it can open doors for the whole family. If you have a loved one who served in the military, you may qualify for reduced tuition. AMU offers flexible online programs designed to fit your schedule so you can keep moving forward wherever life takes you. Learn more at AMU Apus Edu Military Open doors to the future for you and your family with the help of American Military University.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Mom, can I have Lingokids? Dad, Lingokids, please.
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When did we become the Lingokids House?
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
No idea.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Last week it was dinosaurs.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
This week it's Lingokids. Why Lingokids? Because it's the best thing ever.
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We can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes.
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With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs and shows, LingoKids is the number one
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
entertainment platform for young kids.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs.
Peter Vronsky
Lingokids. Everything kids love.
Narrator/Host (possibly Nancy Grace or main Crime Stories narrator)
Download it for free.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Hi, it's Karen and Georgia from My Favorite Murder.
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Want the full story? Take a listen.
Georgia from My Favorite Murder
She starts dating Howard Hughes. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane. So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy and Lamar and Billie
Karen from My Favorite Murder
Jean King, presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Nancy Grace
Goodbye.
This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.
Episode: SERIAL KILLER TED BUNDY BUSTED IN DECADES OLD TEEN MURDER
Date: June 20, 2026
This episode dives deep into the shocking revelation that infamous serial killer Ted Bundy has been definitively linked by new DNA evidence to the decades-old unsolved murder of Utah teen Laura Ann Amie in 1974. Nancy Grace, with expert guests serial killer historian Peter Vronsky and police veteran Stephen Lampley, revisits Bundy’s reign of terror, details the hunt for Laura Ann’s killer, and explores the psychology, methods, and grim legacy of one of the world’s most notorious murderers.
“Laura Ann vanished after she left a Halloween party to go buy a pack of cigarettes. All the way back in 1974. Her body was discovered by hikers near an embankment near the American Fork Canyon Road days later.” — Nancy Grace (04:39)
“As a victim of violent crime, there is no closure… it is one step to going forward. I don't mean closure. I mean taking another step in your life. 51 years later. Oh, that poor family.” — Nancy Grace (66:41)
“He certainly tested high on intelligence… but genius, I don't know, but certainly intelligent.” — Peter Vronsky (08:46)
“He could change his appearance pretty much at will... he had a lot of stuff, in lack of a better word, going for him.” — Stephen Lampley (09:37)
“Ted Bundy redefined… what serial killers, the modern serial killer really is like, or can be like.” — Peter Vronsky (13:56)
“People expect serial killers to be… knuckle dragging ogres… That’s not the case. And Ted did so much to change that perception.” — Stephen Lampley (15:30)
“I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, he said very quietly, ‘Do you know what? I’m going to kill you.’ And he put his hands on my throat and started squeezing...” — Rhonda Stapley (12:20)
“He described his murders as possessing his victims—physically, as one would possess a potted plant, a painting, or a Porsche… For him, it was control over a body.” — Peter Vronsky (18:48)
“He confessed that he would return back to the grave sites sometimes after work and that he would spend the night with the corpse…” — Peter Vronsky (19:41) “He not only brought the heads home, but he also would apply makeup on some of the corpses.” — Peter Vronsky (20:48)
“He even used crutches and a cast on his leg that he made from plaster of Paris in order to win the confidence of these women.” — Stephen Lampley (31:01)
“Detectives were getting about 200 tips a day and they just couldn't take in that a clean cut law student with no criminal history at all could be the perpetrator. And he continued killing. That happened.” — Nancy Grace (35:25)
“It’s the amazing part… it’s a random alert police officer that breaks the case, not realizing who he has under arrest.” — Peter Vronsky (49:22)
“He was very cunning… very well organized and very thought.” — Stephen Lampley (60:29)
“He goes room to room, assaulting victims… It’s a mass attack, and it’s completely at random, completely unplanned. He is disintegrating.” — Peter Vronsky (60:54)
“I much too late, but better late than never, feel the hurt and the pain that I am responsible for… I have felt the pain and I have felt the horror again of all that…” — Ted Bundy (64:20)
“Are there more Ted Bundy victims? I guarantee you the answer to that is yes. And we wait as justice unfolds.” — Nancy Grace (67:50)
This episode provides a detailed, chilling exploration of Bundy's crimes, the break in the Laura Ann Amie case, expert insights into serial killer psychology, flaws in police response, and the lasting trauma for victims’ loved ones—with a clear-eyed reminder that our darkest monsters often wear the most convincing masks.