Rachel Sharp (2:51)

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Kayla Brantley (3:02)

Rachel Ted Bundy is one of America's most prolific serial killers. He was known for being very handsome, and because of that handsome charm, he attracted women that he would then murder. Can you walk us through Ted Bundy's profile? Who exactly was he and what do we know?

Rachel Sharp (3:20)

Yeah, so as you mentioned, he is one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. What we know about his reign of terror, some of it still remains a mystery. He claimed on his deathbed that he had murdered 30 women across around seven states. However, investigators believe that number is probably far higher and the actual confirmed victims is a lot lower. The only victims he was actually convicted of and definitively tied to when he was alive were victims between 1974 and 1978 across Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah. So the scope of the murders is absolutely huge. And we might never really know how many victims he really did prey on and kill.

Kayla Brantley (4:10)

But one thing that we do know is that he confessed to at least 30 murders. And one of those murders is Laura and Amy, which is, you know, the subject of this episode. How did he confess to that specific murder on his deathbed in 1989 when he was executed? What did he exactly say?

Rachel Sharp (4:33)

Yeah, so it was the night before his execution date when he was about to be sent to the electric chair. He'd sat on death row for years after finally being convicted of murder for murder of a little girl, actually in Florida. And it's largely seen as a way to kind of delay the execution, that he opened up and spilled everything and claimed that he had killed 30 women, including obviously Laura and Amy. But at the time that obviously, other than his confession, there obviously wasn't a lot of evidence to actually prove whether he was telling the truth. You know, some of that information could have been a red herring, some of it could have been just a delay tactic. So obviously investigators didn't then just plow ahead and say, okay, case closed. He's responsible for all of these crimes.

Kayla Brantley (5:23)

So, Rachel, can you walk us through the night in 1974 when Laura and Amy disappeared?

Rachel Sharp (5:30)

She was a 17 year old girl. She'd grown up on a farm with her younger sisters and her parents. And just before her murder, she had actually gotten into a little bit of trouble and her sister said that she'd actually ran away. So at the time that she went missing, she was actually staying with friends. And that is quite important because that delayed how quickly people began looking for her. So it was a night of Halloween and she was at a friend's house at a Halloween party, like a lot of 17 year old girls obviously would be at that time. And she told friends she was leaving to go and buy some cigarettes and she just never returned. And as I say, it took a little while before she was reported missing and searched for because she was staying with friends at the time. And it would be a month before her body would then turn up.

Kayla Brantley (6:23)

What were the circumstances under which her body was discovered?

Rachel Sharp (6:26)

Yeah, so it was around a month later, and it was on November 27, 1974. Her body was found in an embankment up in the mountains near American Fork Canyon Road. So a really remote area. She was naked and she'd been raped and strangled, and her body had obviously been there for some time. Her father could only identify her remains because of the scars that she had on her back from when she fell off a horse when she was younger. So really horrific. And, you know, her sister has said that that's something that stuck with her dad and she never really got over this.

Kayla Brantley (7:04)

Rape and strangulation. Was that typical of Bundy's previous murders?

Rachel Sharp (7:08)

Yeah, so that does fit his MO for some of his victims. But Bundy also killed and preyed on his victims in many different ways. He bludgeoned some to death, he strangled some, he beat some to death. He was very violent. And on one of the victims, there was really distinctive bite marks. And that was how they actually identified him to that victim, by leaving this horrific bite mark on their body. So one of the things that he did was he, as you mentioned, he was very charming. He was quite good looking, and he would drive around in his VW Beetle and he often approached women under the guise of being injured. He'd sometimes wear a sling or a cast and go up to women as this, you know, charming man asking, can you. Can you please help me put something in my car? Can you help me do this? And he was actually just luring them to their deaths, getting them inside his car, driving them to remote locations, such as up in the Utah mountains, places like that, where he then would sexually assault them, strangle them, beat them to death. So really, really horrific sort of MO One of the big cases that you know, and one of the final crimes that he committed was at the Kai Omega Sorority house in Tallahassee at the Florida State University, where at that time he was actually on the run. He was on the run for crimes across the west coast, but he'd somehow made his way to the east coast where People weren't really as familiar with the fact that there was this killer on the loose. He was on the FBI's most wanted list at the time. But even so, you know, students over in Florida aren't aware that this has been happening over in Utah, in Idaho, in Washington state, and it was a Saturday night. He broke into the sorority house and went room to room while these girls were sleeping, beating them to death with, you know, just whatever objects he could find. He murdered two students, two survived after suffering horrific injuries. And, you know, his attack only came to an end because he was interrupted by another sorority girl coming home after going out and he got startled by the headlights. So he ran off, broke into another apartment where he attacked a third student. She also luckily survived as well. And it was not long after that that he was finally arrested for the last time, by which point he'd also murdered a 12 year old girl who is the last known victim. And that was the kind of end of his killing spree as we kind of know it. But when it began, the FBI says it's hard to know. Was it when he was young? Was it when he was a teenager? We just don't know and possibly never will.

Kayla Brantley (9:56)

We're taking a quick break after this.

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Kayla Brantley (10:46)

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Kayla Brantley (11:26)

So, Rachel, you Told us about the murders of the sorority house and Kimberly, the 12 year old. Her murder. Ted Bundy was on the run. He had already escaped from jail in Aspen about a week prior. He murders her and then eventually this is what leads to his arrest, his conviction, his death sentence. Can you tell us about the case of Kimberly Leach?

Rachel Sharp (11:48)

Yeah. So Kimberly Leach, the last known victim of Ted Bundy, she was just 12 years old, which again is a bit of a differentiation to most of his other victims. Most of them were women with dark hair. They were kind of college age young women who he could kind of lure in by being charming. She is quite different in that she was just 12 years old and he snatched her from her school just days after the attack at the sorority house. So she was snatched from her School on February 9, 1978, which I want

Kayla Brantley (12:26)

to interrupt and say is just shocking because he was already on the run, goes into a sorority house, kills, bludgeons, harasses these college girls, then gets away with it enough to then kill a 12 year old girl.

Rachel Sharp (12:40)

Yeah.

Kayla Brantley (12:40)

And then is still on the run.

Rachel Sharp (12:42)

Absolutely. I mean, also, he actually was on the run twice. So he'd escaped from jail twice before even getting to Florida. So the first time he was actually even on law enforcement's radar was actually just a few days after Laura Amy's murder. He attacked a woman called Carol Durance and he basically botched a kidnapping. And it was through her help that after she managed to escape, she was able to help police identify him. And he was charged with kidnapping. He was charged and convicted and was serving just a one to 15 year sentence when he was being transferred to Colorado to face charges for murder in Colorado of a nurse, Karen Campbell, when he then managed to escape by jumping out of a window of a law library at a courthouse and going on the run. So bizarre. He, you know, ran up into the mountains, he hid there for several days, then he was captured, he was back behind bars again in Colorado. Then he managed to escape a second time in December 1977. And as you say, it was just two weeks after that that he then ended up all the way in Florida committing these awful murders at the Chi Mega sorority house, fleeing yet again, and then killing 12 year old Kimberly Leach. So this was just so many missteps, so many missed opportunities to get this man behind bars. And that's only, you know, when he was actually on police's radar. Like how many more times was he before that as well?

Kayla Brantley (14:19)

After the murder of Kimberly Leach, Ted Bundy was arrested for driving a stolen car and attempting to evade a police officer. He wasn't even properly arrested for this murder, but he was quickly connected to Leech's disappearance. And it wasn't until two months later that Leach's mummified remains were finally uncovered. This, of course, led to the charges of kidnapping, murder, which led to his conviction and his execution. Ted Bundy for years had denied killing her, but on the eve of his death, he finally confessed to killing Kimberly at the same time that he confessed to killing Laura and Amy. Obviously this story is so dense. There's so many different aspects. I want to talk a bit about the trial and the media circus surrounding it. Ted Bundy's fans. Ted Bundy on the stand in the courtroom. Can you talk us through that a bit?

Rachel Sharp (15:19)

Yeah. So, I mean, he actually ended up going through several trials, one of the most high profile being the trial around the murders and attacks at the sorority house. And during that and during some of his early trials, he actually chose to represent himself. So this is a real marker of how arrogant this man is. He had actually studied law at two different universities. He was very intelligent and he actually represented himself. And what is insane about this is that that meant that the two survivors of the attack in the sorority house, Karen Pryor and Kathy Kleiner, were forced to go on the witness stand and be cross examined by the man who had tried to beat them to death.

Kayla Brantley (16:04)

Wow. And who had murdered their friends.

Rachel Sharp (16:06)

Exactly. So it's just, yeah, crazy that they were just totally re. Traumatized in that way, having to go through that all over again. And as you say, he also attracted a fan following, which is bizarre that so many people were supporting this man. And he ended up being found guilty and being convicted of the murders of Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy in the sorority house, as well as the attempted murders of the three other students who survived. Then he had the trial after that of Kimberly Leach. And this was the one trial he actually decided not to represent himself. And instead his team went for a different tactic, claiming he was not guilty by reason of insanity. What he did then was yet another bizarre thing. So he was convicted, he was sentenced to death during the death penalty phase, when he was, you know, arguing that he shouldn't be sentenced to death, he actually got married in the courtroom. To who? To his longtime lover, Carol Boone. She had taken the stand, he decided he would cross examine her and he asked her to marry him on the stand. And it turned out they'd actually got a marriage license a few days earlier and they were married in the courtroom. And Actually, she gave birth to his child not long afterwards. So while he was in prison, after he'd been convicted of murdering a little girl, he was able to have a conjugal visit and conceive what we believe is his only child. So it really did become a spectacle and just an absolute circus when, you know, this man had murdered multiple, multiple people. He managed to turn the courtroom into such a circus.

Kayla Brantley (17:47)

Now bring us up to date with Laura and Amy. He confessed in 1989 to her murder. What's the new development? How has DNA finally proven that he was her killer? And where does this now bring us?

Rachel Sharp (18:03)

Yeah, so, I mean, obviously since 1989, he has been believed to be her killer, but it wasn't yet confirmed. And then now there has been a big break in the case and that they've been able to use advanced DNA technology that wasn't available at the time and identify some fluids found on her remains to Ted Bundy. The way investigators have explained that it worked, they were able to separate mixed DNA profiles found on the victim to then get a single male profile. And then that profile was checked against all the profiles on file for different people, and it came back a match to Ted Bundy. So not only has he now, you know, being confirmed to be Laura's murderer, but investigators said that this is kind of only the beginning, really, that they now have a full profile for one of the most infamous serial killers. They now have that on file, you know, a good sample of his DNA, so that can be now used by police agencies all across the country to see if there are any other cases that are yet to be solved that are also tied to him. And, you know, as much as this was, you know, great step forward for Laura and her family, they did suggest that they are expected to have another announcement in the near future that there is possibly another victim that they will soon have identified and confirmed as belonging to Bundy in not too distant future.

Kayla Brantley (19:31)

What has Laura's family said about finally getting this confirmation after all these years?

Rachel Sharp (19:37)

So Laura's family, her sister, Michelle Impala, she was just 12 years old when her sibling was murdered. And she's spoken out over the years. She's really kept attention on her sister's case and, you know, made sure that people know that she was an amazing sister. She was a great older sister and really looked out for her and the other sisters that she loved animals that, you know, they really loved growing up together on the farm and, you know, really making sure that her story was shared. So she joined investigators at the press conference announcing this big break. And she said that, you know, she thinks her sister would be really happy to know that the case was no longer cold. She also had a scathing comment for Ted Bundy saying that she's glad to know that he is, quote, gnashing his teeth in hell. So there's clearly a lot of anger and upset there, what he put her 17 year old sister through and you know, what the family has gone through for the last however many years not knowing what she went through in those final moments.

Kayla Brantley (20:40)

But I'm sure there's some type of relief that even though he has been suspected to have that confirmation finally after all these years, I would hope would bring the family some type of respite.

Rachel Sharp (20:52)

Absolutely. I mean, she said that she was also just so grateful that people still cared to do this after such a long time and that people still showed that interest and that passion about solving her sister's case. Yeah.

Kayla Brantley (21:03)

And I think that it's always important to remember the victims because obviously Ted Bundy, you know, he's infamous. There was a limited series where Zac Efron played him and, you know, Lily Collins played his wife and you saw this charming family man. But when you remember the grisly details of what he did to these victims, I think it's important to shine a light on that as well.

Rachel Sharp (21:26)

Absolutely.

Kayla Brantley (21:27)

Well, thank you, Rachel.

Rachel Sharp (21:29)

Thanks, Kayla.

Kayla Brantley (21:30)

So that's it for today. We'll be back with a new episode next Wednesday. The Trial USA is part of the Crime Desk. Subscribers come listen ad free. Get early access to new shows, full access to the archive and the member only podcast the Trial Plus. Visit thecrimedesk.com to find out more. A link is in the show Notes. Follow us on TikTok at the crime Desk and on Instagram the Trial pod. Leave a comment on Apple podcasts or Spotify or send us a voice note on WhatsApp 447-796-57512 and start your message with the word word. Trial.

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Kayla Brantley (22:47)

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Rachel Sharp (22:51)

Here's a show that we recommend.

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Hi, I'm Rachel Fisher. And I'm Desi Jetekin. And we're the host of Hollywood Crime Scene, a true crime podcast that focuses on celebrity crime, infamous crime, movies and cases from Los Angeles. From movie, TV and music stars to athletes, as well as the wealthy and politically elite, we cover the seedier side of the lifestyles of the rich and famous. New episodes drop every Tuesday, and you can check us out wherever you listen to podcasts.

Rachel Sharp (23:22)

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