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Nobody will ever know what happened to set Ted Bundy off, but toward the end of 1973 he began murdering women at a frightening rate.
Kathy Devine-Devine was last seen getting into a green pick-up on November 25, 1973. Only 15 years old at the time of her disappearance, her decomposed remains were found on December 6 of that year fully clothed but with a her jeans slit between her legs. Her throat was cut and she was likely strangled. It was determined that she was dead soon after her disappearance and no solid leads emerged. Investigators believed it to be an isolated case. It was later found that Bundy owned a green pick-up at the time.
UPDATE! In March of 2002 another man was arrested for Devine's slaying. Click here for more info.
Joni Lenz-Found in the basement bedroom of a house she shared with other girls in Seattle on January 5, 1974, the eighteen-year-old Lenz survived a horrendous attack which included being beaten on the head and face with a bed frame rod and having a speculum, a medical vaginal probe, jammed viciously inside her. Lenz suffered brain damage and internal organ injuries. Bundy had apparently entered and exited via an unlocked basment window.
Lynda Ann Healy-On February 1, Less than a month after the Lenz attack, Healy was abducted from her basement bedroom without a sound. Bloodstains were found on her bed, the sheet and pillowcase were missing, and the nightgown she had been wearing was hung up in the closet. Bundy had dressed her in clothes before taking her from the house. A basement door leading directly outside was unlocked and no doubt the point of entry. Healy may have even willingly let Bundy in. Because authorities mistakenly believed at first that foul play may not be involved, her bedroom was never dusted for fingerprints and an apparent semen stain on her bed was never tested.
Eyebrows almost certainly raised in the ranks of police when the Lenz and Healy crimes resembled each other so closely. A later anonymous call also claimed a link btween the two.
Donna Manson-This abduction occured on the campus of Evergreen College when Manson, 19, disappeared while strolling to a concert on March 12. She was never seen again, dead or alive.
Susan Rancourt-Last seen at a meeting on the campus of Central Washington St. in Ellensburg on April 17. A man in a sling had been observed the same night attempting to obtain help getting a heavy load of books to his car.
Kathy Parks-Abducted from the Oregon St. campus on May 6 after leaving to walk to the student union. Not reported missing until the middle of the month.
Brenda Ball-Last seen in a tavern in Burien, Washington on June 1. A compulsive traveller, she was not reported missing for almost three weeks.
Georgean Hawkins-An 18-year-old University of Washington student, Hawkins was abducted from an alleyway after leaving her boyfriends frat for her own on June 11. The distance between the two fraternities was just 90 feet and she was observed at about the halfway point between the two buildings in the well-lit alley. A scream was heard by another person around the same time but other than that she basically vanished.
Brenda Baker-Only 6 days after Hawkins' disappearance, Baker was found dead in a state park. The fifteen-year-old runaway had been missing since she left home on May 25 and was a known hitchhiker. Her cause of death could not be determined from her decomposed remains.
Other than a strange rash of missing persons under mysterious circumstances, investigators were not inclined at this point to admit that a single killer was on the loose. That would soon begin to change.
Janice Ott-On July 14 at around 12:30 in the afternoon at Lake Sammamish State Park, Ott was overheard talking to a man in a white outfit and a cast on his arm who said his name was Ted and he needed help with his sailboat. Though she seemed annoyed at the request, she left with the man and was never seen alive again.
Denise Naslund-Around 4:30 the same afternoon Naslund left her boyfriend to use the bathroom. She was seen at the bathroom but never made it back to the beach where her boyfriend was waiting.
Police at least had something to go on in the Lake Sammamish cases, though they weren't linking them to any other disappearances or murders. Many people had seen the man with the cast approaching women and a composite sketch (pictured at left) was compiled from their descriptions. They also had a name to go with the face though it was unknown whether Ted was truly the suspect's real name. The combination was enough to elicit curiosity and jokes from some of Bundy's friends and co-workers.
It would not be long before the fate of Ott and Naslund was discovered. Forestry students found skeletal remains in dense woods about two miles from Lake Sammamish on September 7. After scouring the area investigators, including a young Bob Keppell, had collected the bones of Ott, Naslund, and the femur of an unknown person. Bundy later revelaed that the extra bone belonged to previous victim Hawkins, the girl abducted from the alley behind her frathouse over three months before.