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Born in Burlington, VT
November 24, 1946
Bundy was born at the Elizabeth Lund Home For Unwed Mothers in Burlington, Vermont. The identity of his father remains a mystery. Bundy's birth certificate lists a "Lloyd Marshall" while Bundy's mother, Eleanor Louise Cowell, would later tell of being seduced by a war veteran named "Jack Worthington." Bundy's family did not believe this story, however, and expressed suspicion about Louise's violent, abusive father, Samuel Cowell. To avoid social stigma, Bundy's grandparents Samuel and Eleanor Cowell claimed him as their son; in taking their last name, he became Theodore Robert Cowell. He grew up believing his mother Eleanor Louise Cowell to be his older sister.
Lived in Philadelphia
November 24, 1946 - January 1, 1950
For the first few years of his life, Bundy and his mother lived in Philadelphia with his maternal grandparents.
Move to Tacoma, WA
January 1, 1950
In 1950, Bundy and his "sister" moved to live with relatives in Tacoma, Washington where Louise had her son's last name inexplicably changed from Cowell to Nelson.
Mother Married
Feburary 1, 1951
In 1951, one year after their move, Louise met Johnnie Culpepper Bundy at an adult singles night held at Tacoma's First Methodist Church. A Navy veteran and cook at a local Veterans Administration hospital, Bundy was eligible and lonely, much like single mother Louise. In May of that year, Johnny and Louise were married, and soon after Johnny adopted Ted, legally changing his last name to "Bundy."
Woodrow Wilson High School
September 1, 1961 - June 1, 1965
Bundy was a good student at Tacoma's Woodrow Wilson High School, and was active in a local Methodist church, serving as vice-president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship. He was involved with a local troop of the Boy Scouts of America.
University of Puget Sound
September 1, 1965 - June 1, 1966
Awarded a scholarship by the University of Puget Sound (UPS), he started there that fall, taking courses in psychology and Asian studies.
University of Washington
September 1, 1966 - June 1, 1972
After two semesters at UPS, he decided to transfer to Seattle's University of Washington (UW).
While a university student, Bundy worked as a grocery bagger and shelf-stocker at a Seattle Safeway store on Queen Anne Hill, as well as other odd jobs. As part of his course of studies in psychology, he would later work as a night-shift volunteer at Seattle's Suicide Hot Line, a suicide crisis center that served the greater Seattle metropolitan and suburban areas. It was there that he met and worked alongside former Seattle policewoman and fledgling crime writer Ann Rule. Familiar with Bundy and his crimes from a personal standpoint, Rule would later write the most famous biography of Bundy and his crimes, The Stranger Beside Me.
Bundy graduated in 1972 from the University of Washington with a degree in psychology.
Stephanie Brooks
March 1, 1967 - July 1, 1968
He began a relationship with fellow university student Stephanie Brooks (a pseudonym), whom he met while enrolled at the UW in 1967. Following her 1968 graduation and return to her family home in California, she ended the relationship, fed up with what she described as Bundy's immaturity and lack of ambition.
Discovers truth about parent
June 10, 1968
It was at this time that Rule states Bundy decided to pay a visit to Burlington, Vermont, the place of his birth. There, Rule writes, he visited the local records clerk and finally uncovered the truth of his parentage. After his discovery, Bundy became a more focused and dominant person.
Elizabeth Kloepfer
June 1, 1969 - June 1, 1976
In 1969, he started dating Elizabeth Kloepfer, a divorced secretary with a daughter, who fell deeply in love with him.[15] They would continue dating for over six years, until he went to prison for kidnapping in 1976.
Courted Stephanie
June 1, 1973 - January 10, 1974
While on a business trip to California in the summer of 1973, Bundy came back into Stephanie's life with a new look and attitude; this time as a serious, dedicated professional who had been accepted to law school. Bundy continued to date Elizabeth as well, and neither woman was aware the other existed. Bundy courted Stephanie throughout the rest of the year, and she accepted his proposal of marriage. Two weeks later, however, shortly after New Year's 1974, he unceremoniously dumped her, refusing to return her phone calls. He would later dismiss the proposal and break-up as part of a challenge he undertook, saying, "I just wanted to prove to myself that I could have her." It was a few weeks after this breakup that Bundy began a murderous rampage in Washington state.
UPS Law School
September 1, 1973 - March 1, 1974
In the fall of 1973 Bundy enrolled in the law school at UPS, but he did poorly. He began skipping classes, and he dropped out in the spring of 1974.
Joni Lenz
January 4, 1974
Shortly after midnight on January 4, 1974, Bundy entered the basement bedroom of 18-year-old Joni Lenz (pseudonym), a dancer and student at the University of Washington. Bundy bludgeoned her with a metal rod from her bed frame while she slept, and sexually assaulted her with a speculum.[24] Lenz was found the next morning by her roommates in a coma and lying in a pool of her own blood. She survived the attack, but suffered permanent brain damage.
Lynda Ann Healy
January 31, 1974
Bundy's next victim was Lynda Ann Healy, another University of Washington student. On the night of January 31, 1974, Bundy broke into Healy's room, knocked her unconscious, dressed her in jeans and a shirt, wrapped her in a bed sheet, and carried her away.
Donna Gail Manson
March 12, 1974
Donna Gail Manson (19). Abducted while walking to a jazz concert on The Evergreen State College campus, Olympia, Washington. Bundy confessed to her murder, but her body was never found.
Susan Rancourt
April 17, 1974
Susan Rancourt (18). Disappeared as she walked across Ellensburg's Central Washington State College campus at night.
Roberta Kathleen Parks
May 6, 1974
Roberta Kathleen Parks (22). Vanished from Oregon State University in Corvallis while walking to another dorm hall to have coffee with friends.
Brenda Ball
May 25, 1974
Brenda Ball (22). Disappeared from the Flame Tavern in Burien, Washington.
Georgeann Hawkins
June 11, 1974
Georgeann Hawkins (18). Disappeared from behind her sorority house, Kappa Alpha Theta, at the University of Washington in Seattle. Bundy confessed to her murder, but her body was never found.
Janice Ott
July 14, 1974
Janice Ott (23) and Denise Naslund (19), both from Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah, Washington.
Carol Valenzuela
August 2, 1974
Carol Valenzuela (20). Last seen at a welfare office in Vancouver, Washington.
Nancy Wilcox
October 2, 1974
Nancy Wilcox (16). Disappeared in Holladay, Utah.
Melissa Smith
October 18, 1974
Melissa Smith (17). Vanished from Midvale, Utah on her way to a friend's house.
Laura Aime
October 31, 1974
Laura Aime (17). Disappeared from a Halloween party at Lehi, Utah.
Carol DaRonch
November 8, 1974
Carol DaRonch (survived). Escaped from Bundy by jumping out from his car in Murray, Utah.
Debra Kent
November 8, 1974
Debra (Debby) Kent (17). Vanished from the parking lot of a school in Bountiful, Utah, hours after DaRonch escaped from Bundy. Her body was never found.
Shelley Robertson
January 7, 1975
Shelley Robertson (24). Disappeared in Golden, Colorado.
Caryn Campbell
January 12, 1975
Caryn Campbell (23). While on a ski trip with her fiancé in Snowmass, Colorado, Campbell vanished between the hotel lounge and her room.
Julie Cunningham
March 15, 1975
Julie Cunningham (26). Disappeared while on her way to a nearby tavern in Vail, Colorado. Bundy confessed to her murder, but her body was never found.
Denise Oliverson
April 6, 1975
Denise Oliverson (25). Abducted while visiting her parents in Grand Junction, Colorado. Bundy confessed to her murder, but her body was never found.
Lynette Culver
May 6, 1975
Lynette Culver (13). Snatched from a school playground at Alameda Junior High School, Pocatello, Idaho.
Susan Curtis
June 28, 1975
Susan Curtis (15). Disappeared while attending a youth conference at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
Nancy Baird
July 4, 1975
Nancy Baird (23). Disappeared while working at a convenience store. Confessed shortly before his execution. Layton, Utah. Her body was never found
Arrested
August 16, 1975
Bundy was arrested on August 16, 1975, in Salt Lake City, for failure to stop for a police officer. A search of his car revealed a ski mask, a crowbar, handcuffs, trash bags, an icepick, and other items that were thought by the police to be burglary tools. Bundy remained cool during questioning, explaining that he needed the mask for skiing and had found the handcuffs in a dumpster. Utah detective Jerry Thompson connected Bundy and his Volkswagen to the DaRonch kidnapping and the missing girls, and searched his apartment. The search uncovered a brochure of Colorado ski resorts, with a check mark by the Wildwood Inn where Caryn Campbell had disappeared. After searching his apartment, the police brought Bundy in for a lineup before DaRonch and the Bountiful witnesses. They identified him as "Officer Roseland" and as the man lurking about the night Debby Kent disappeared. Following a week-long trial, Bundy was convicted of DaRonch's kidnapping on March 1, 1976 and was sentenced to 15 years in Utah State Prison. Colorado authorities were pursuing murder charges, however, and Bundy was extradited there to stand trial.
Jail
August 16, 1975 - June 7, 1977
First time in jail
Escaped
June 7, 1977
On June 7, 1977, in preparation for a hearing in the Caryn Campbell murder trial, Bundy was taken to the Pitkin County courthouse in Aspen. During a court recess, he was allowed to visit the courthouse's law library, where he jumped out of the building from a second-story window and escaped. In the minutes following his escape, Bundy at first ran and then strolled casually through the small town toward Aspen Mountain. He made it all the way to the top of Aspen Mountain without being detected, but then lost his sense of direction and wandered around the mountain, missing two trails that led down off the mountain to his intended destination, the town of Crested Butte. At one point, he came face-to-face with a gun-toting citizen who was one of the searchers scouring Aspen Mountain for Ted Bundy, but talked his way out of danger.
Jail
June 13, 1977 - December 30, 1977
On June 13, 1977, Bundy stole a car he found on the mountain. He drove back into Aspen and could have gotten away, but two police deputies noticed the Cadillac with dimmed headlights weaving in and out of its lane and pulled Bundy over. They recognized him and took him back to jail. Bundy had been on the lam for six days.
On the night of December 30, 1977, Bundy dressed warmly and packed books and files under his blanket to make it look like he was sleeping. He wriggled through the hole and up into the crawlspace. Bundy crawled over to a spot directly above the jailer's linen closet - the jailer and his wife were out for the evening - dropped down into the jailer's apartment, and walked out the door.
Chi Omega murders
January 15, 1978
Just one week after Bundy's arrival in Tallahassee, in the early hours of Super Bowl Sunday on January 15, 1978, two and a half years of repressed homicidal violence erupted. Bundy entered the Florida State University Chi Omega sorority house at approximately 3 a.m. and killed two sleeping women, Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman. Levy and Bowman were bludgeoned and strangled, and Levy was also sexually assaulted. Two other Chi Omegas, Karen Chandler and Kathy Kleiner, were bludgeoned in their sleep and severely injured. The entire episode took no more than half an hour. After leaving the Chi Omega house, Bundy broke into another home a few blocks away, clubbing and severely injuring FSU student Cheryl Thomas.
Kimberly Leach
Feburary 9, 1978
On February 9, 1978, Bundy traveled to Lake City, Florida. While there, he abducted, raped, and murdered 12-year-old Kimberly Leach, throwing her body under a small pig shed. She would be his final victim.
Arrested
Feburary 15, 1978
On February 12, 1978, Bundy stole yet another Volkswagen Beetle and left Tallahassee for good, heading west across the Florida panhandle. On February 15, 1978, shortly after 1 a.m., Bundy was stopped by Pensacola police officer David Lee. When the officer called in a check of the license plate, the vehicle came up as stolen. Bundy then scuffled with the officer before he was finally subdued. As Lee took the unknown suspect to jail, Bundy said "I wish you had killed me." At his booking Bundy gave the police the name Ken Misner (and presented stolen identification for Misner), but the Florida Department of Law Enforcement made a positive fingerprint identification early the next day. He was immediately transported to Tallahassee and subsequently charged with the Tallahassee and Lake City murders. He was later taken to Miami to stand trial for the Chi Omega murders.
Jail
Feburary 15, 1978 - January 24, 1989
Jailed for the rest of life until his execution
Sentenced to Death
January 1, 1980
"It is ordered that you be put to death by a current of electricity, that current be passed through your body until you are dead. Take care of yourself, young man. I say that to you sincerely; take care of yourself, please. It is an utter tragedy for this court to see such a total waste of humanity as I've experienced in this courtroom. You're a bright young man. You'd have made a good lawyer, and I would have loved to have you practice in front of me, but you went another way, partner. Take care of yourself. I don't feel any animosity toward you. I want you to know that. Once again, take care of yourself."
Executed in the electric chair
January 24, 1989
At 7:06 a.m. local time on January 24, 1989, Ted Bundy was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida. His last words were, "I'd like you to give my love to my family and friends." Then, more than 2,000 volts were applied across his body for less than two minutes. He was pronounced dead at 7:16 a.m. Several hundred people were gathered outside the prison and cheered when they saw the signal that Bundy had been declared dead.
