In Washington State, investigators were still struggling to analyze the Pacific Northwest murder spree that had ended as abruptly as it had begun. In an effort to make sense of an overwhelming mass of data, they resorted to the then-innovative strategy of compiling a database. They used the King County payroll computer, a "huge, primitive machine" by contemporary standards, but the only one available for their use. After inputting the many lists they had compiled—classmates and acquaintances of each victim, Volkswagen owners named "Ted", known sex offenders, and so on—they queried the computer for coincidences. Out of thousands of names, 26 turned up on four lists; one was Bundy. Detectives also manually compiled a list of their 100 "best" suspects, and Bundy was on that list as well. He was "literally at the top of the pile" of suspects when word came from Utah of his arrest. [172] Arrest and first trial Items found in Bundy's Volkswagen, Utah, 1975

Ted Bundy was born Theodore Robert Bundy on November 24, 1946, in Burlington, Vermont. He started life as his mother’s secret shame, as his illegitimate birth humiliated her deeply religious parents. Eleanor Louise Cowell, who went by Louise, was 22 years old when she delivered Ted at a home for unwed mothers. Later, Cowell brought her son to her parents in Philadelphia. An infamous national figure since his Florida trials, Bundy’s life has been the subject of numerous dramatized films, a documentary series, and books attempting to shed light on his crimes. O'Connor, John J. (May 2, 1986). "TV WEEKEND; NETWORKS INTRODUCING NEW SHOWS". The New York Times . Retrieved June 5, 2014. The Trials of Ted Bundy". Deseret News. Salt Lake City, Utah. January 24, 1989. Archived from the original on September 11, 2013 . Retrieved April 28, 2011. Shortly after midnight on January 4, 1974, around the time that he terminated his relationship with Edwards, Bundy entered the basement apartment of 18-year-old Karen Sparks [79] (often identified as Joni Lenz, [80] [81] Mary Adams, [82] and Terri Caldwell [83] in Bundy literature), a dancer and student at UW in the University District, Seattle. After bludgeoning Sparks with a metal rod from her bed frame, he sexually assaulted her with the same rod [67] [84] [81] causing extensive internal injuries and rupturing her bladder. She remained unconscious in the hospital for ten days [83] and although she survived, she was left with permanent brain damage, with significant loss to her vision and hearing. In the early morning hours of February 1, Bundy broke into the basement room of 21-year-old Lynda Ann Healy, a UW undergraduate who broadcast morning radio weather reports for skiers. He beat her unconscious; dressed her in blue jeans, a white blouse, and boots; and carried her away. [85] Bundy stated he drove Healy to a secluded area, where he raped and murdered her before dumping her body. [86]

Improvements to criminal justice

With all appeal avenues exhausted and no further motivation to deny his crimes, Bundy agreed to speak frankly with investigators. He confessed to Keppel that he had committed all eight of the Washington and Oregon homicides for which he was the prime suspect. He described three additional previously unknown victims in Washington and two in Oregon whom he declined to identify if indeed he ever knew their identities. [288] He said he left a fifth corpse—Manson's—on Taylor Mountain, [289] but incinerated her head in Kloepfer's fireplace. [290] "He described the Issaquah crime scene [where the bones of Ott, Naslund, and Hawkins were found], and it was almost like he was just there", Keppel said. "Like he was seeing everything. He was infatuated with the idea because he spent so much time there. He is just totally consumed with murder all the time." [291] Nelson's impressions were similar: "It was the absolute misogyny of his crimes that stunned me," she wrote, "his manifest rage against women. He had no compassion at all ... he was totally engrossed in the details. His murders were his life's accomplishments." [178] Utah county still looking for two women's killers". The Deseret News. Salt Lake City, Utah. Associated Press. December 16, 1977 . Retrieved May 4, 2012. Carlisle, Al (2017). Violent Mind: The 1976 Psychological Assessment of Ted Bundy. Genius Book Publishing. ISBN 978-0998297-37-8 The Psychopath Next Door". Doc Zone. Season 2014–15. Episode 7. November 27, 2014. 3 minutes in. CBC Television. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

January 15: Lisa Janet Levy (20): Bludgeoned, strangled, bitten and sexually assaulted as she slept at the Chi Omega sorority at Florida State University (no secondary crime scene). [393] Douglas, C.R. (May 23, 2012). "Ted Bundy's lawyer: Bundy killed more than 100 women – and a man". Orlando Sentinel. p.Q3. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013 . Retrieved November 11, 2013.

One of the chapters, “The Open Road,” explores why unsolved murders increased nearly 80% between 1960 and the early 21st century. The rapid development of highways and interstates made it easier for criminal offenders to find victims and evade detection. Hitchhiking was common, and parents were less concerned with monitoring and surveillance. Without cellphones and GPS, it was much harder to know if someone was missing. In 1975, Bundy shifted much of his criminal activity eastward, from his base in Utah to Colorado. On January 12, a 23-year-old registered nurse named Caryn Eileen Campbell disappeared while walking down a well-lit hallway between the elevator and her room at the Wildwood Inn (now the Wildwood Lodge) in Snowmass Village, 400 miles (640km) southeast of Salt Lake City. [156] Her nude body was found a month later next to a dirt road just outside the resort. According to the coroner's report, she had been killed by blows to her head from a blunt instrument that left distinctive linear grooved depressions on her skull; her assailant had slit her left earlobe and her body also bore deep cuts from a sharp weapon. [157]

Ted Bundy’s body is transported to the Alachua County Medical Examiner’s office following his execution in 1989. Getty Images The night before his execution, Bundy confessed to 30 homicides, but the true total remains unknown, and Bundy occasionally made cryptic comments to encourage speculation. [313] He told Aynesworth in 1980 that for every murder "publicized", there "could be one that was not." [377] When FBI agents proposed a total tally of 36, Bundy responded, "Add one digit to that, and you'll have it." [378] Years later he told Nelson that the common estimate of 35 was accurate, [313] but Keppel wrote that "[Ted] and I both knew [the total] was much higher." [77] In an interview, Keppel stated his belief that Bundy had killed "at least 50, and maybe 75." [379] In September, Bundy sold his Volkswagen Beetle to a Midvale teenager. [183] Utah police impounded it, and FBI technicians dismantled and searched it. They found hairs matching samples obtained from Campbell's body. [184] Later, they also identified hair strands "microscopically indistinguishable" from those of Smith and DaRonch. [185] FBI lab specialist Robert Neill concluded that the presence of hair strands in one car matching three different victims who had never met one another would be "a coincidence of mind-boggling rarity". [186] Bundy was executed in the Raiford electric chair at 7:16a.m. EST on Tuesday, January 24, 1989. His last words were directed at his attorney Jim Coleman and Methodist minister Fred Lawrence: "Jim and Fred, I'd like you to give my love to my family and friends." [302] Hundreds of revelers sang, danced and set off fireworks in a pasture across from the prison as the execution was carried out, [303] [304] then cheered as the white hearse containing Bundy's corpse departed the prison. [305] He was cremated in Gainesville, [306] and his ashes scattered at an undisclosed location in the Cascade Range of Washington State, in accordance with his will. [307] [308] Modus operandi and victim profilesMichaud, Stephen G. "The Only Living Witness: The True Story Of Ted Bundy". True TV Crime Library: Criminal Minds and Methods. Turner Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011 . Retrieved April 24, 2011.

Schulte, Scott (November 20, 2006). "When evil walked our streets". Davis County Clipper. Woods Cross, Utah: Davis County Clipper, Inc. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012 . Retrieved May 6, 2012. Bundy often employed charm to disguise his murderous intent when kidnapping victims, and extended this tactic vis-a-vis law enforcement, the media and the criminal justice system to maintain his claims of innocence. His usual technique involved approaching a female in public and luring her to a vehicle parked in a more secluded area, at which point she would be beaten unconscious, restrained with handcuffs and taken elsewhere to be sexually assaulted and killed. Crass, Scott (2016). Statesmen and Mischief Makers: Volume III: Officeholders and Their Contributions to History from Kennedy to Reagan. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris. ISBN 978-1514469750. January 15: Karen Chandler (21): Bludgeoned as she slept at the Chi Omega sorority at Florida State University; survived although her skull was fractured, and her jaw, right arm, and fingers were crushed. [393] Tron, Gina (November 20, 2020). "What Did A Doctor Learn About Ted Bundy That Made Her Think He Isn't 'Pure Evil'?". Oxygen . Retrieved June 13, 2022.Pocatello police believe woman was Bundy victim". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Moscow, Iowa. February 9, 1989 . Retrieved June 10, 2013. KPRC issued technical difficulties during second part". May 5, 1986. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 . Retrieved July 12, 2020– via YouTube. Storey, Kate (January 31, 2020). "Elizabeth Kendall Dated Ted Bundy As He Murdered Dozens. She's Telling Her Side of the Story". Esquire . Retrieved May 22, 2021. Kaplan, Michael (January 4, 2020). "Inside Ted Bundy's life with girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall and her daughter". New York Post . Retrieved February 24, 2022.