The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History (15 page)

After the November election, Bundy worked briefly for the Seattle Crime Commission. His name had gotten around and he was hired as assistant director by the director, Thomas Sampson, on the recommendation of an individual from the Law and Justice Planning Office in Seattle. Prior to this, Sampson had no personal knowledge of Bundy, but it's apparent from later testimony he believed he had made the correct decision when he gave him the job: "Ted was well behaved, well dressed, intelligent and acted extremely proper at all times. He was [an] aggressive, hard nosed individual, who was competent, hard working, [a] good writer and extremely valuable in his public relation functions and always did his job well and on time."36

Dr. Ezra Stotland, a professor at UW, first met Bundy in 1968 when he stopped supporting the Democratic Party's pick for president and "formed an independent group which backed Nelson Rockefeller for the presidential nomination."37 This brought Bundy and Tim Clancy (both of whom would attend) along with a coworker, the Republic National Convention being held that year in Miami), into Stotland's presence almost daily as liaisons between Stotland's people and Republican Headquarters. Apparently everyone in the doctor's family liked Bundy except for his fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, who merely quipped that she "didn't like his act."38 Stotland, who believed he had his best working relationship with Bundy while the young politico was with the crime commission, spoke of having Bundy out to his house on occasion, where he hit it off somewhat better with the youngest daughter and entertained her by sometimes pitching her up in the air.

Bundy's duties while he was with the commission included analyzing statistics on white-collar crime, working on Washington State's hitchhiking law and contributing to monthly news bulletins. Ironically, he was also responsible for writing a report on sexual assaults against women. Bundy had a particular interest in how attacks were committed, the ratio of arrests to convictions, and how the numerous police and sheriff's departments worked together to solve violent crimes. Whatever he couldn't discover here, he would pursue as the opportunity arose, and in some locations, his inquisitiveness would be remembered.

As the winter of 1973 dawned, Bundy, whose time with the crime commission had come to an end, found employment with the King County Law and justice planning office, a position he would hold until April of that year. Although his official job description came under the heading "Recidivism Rate of Female Sexual Offenders," Bundy had plenty of time to pour over the mounds of statistics relating to all criminal activity in the state, arrests and prosecutions, and again, cooperation between law enforcement agencies- all with an eye towards how the missing girls' cases would be handled once the killing began. He learned about the pursuer before being pursued. It was all about discovering advantages, and he was determined to leave no investigative procedure undiscovered.

Indeed, that winter of 1973 would be a time of decisions for Bundy. Had he been like most of his peers, who were also in that period of transition as they set about discovering the proper course for their lives, it would have all been so much easier. But Bundy, who had that ever-present yearning to attack young females, had to confront two worlds at once, and balancing them wasn't easy. In his outer world, he had Liz and Tina, their mutual friends, and his political and social obligations related to his very public life. And then there was law school, which should have been a happy and defining moment in his life, but instead was looming like a dark cloud on the horizon.

The inward Bundy was very busy too. Although this unseen aspect of his nature rested just below the surface and beyond the reach or perception of his coworkers, Liz, or any other lover he might at any moment find himself with, it was surfacing on a regular basis, brought on by privacy and by the night. Bundy could live in his world of fantasy at any time, but he needed the cover of darkness for spying upon, planning, and attacking unsuspecting women. Meticulous in detail, Bundy became very good at observing others. And like a coiled snake, waiting and ready to strike with a deadly bite those unfortunate to cross his path, he was able to do so without arousing any suspicion, until he handed authorities the gift of his first name at Lake Sammamish during that surreal, daytime double attack.

Even if by this time there were still moments, however fleeting, where he believed he could become a lawyer, have a life in politics and someday be married, these were nothing more than the last gasps of a dying man. These things would never be, and while it is this writer's belief, based on somewhat veiled assertions by Bundy himself, that the sexual attacks on women began during this year (and may have included murder), once the killings of '74 began, such visions of normalcy were all but gone from him forever.

Attacking, abducting, raping, murdering, mutilating and making his victims a part of himself in the metaphorical sense were already a reality within the depraved mind of Ted Bundy, and the only difference between 1973 and 1974 would be the acting out of these fantasies; or acting them out to their fullest extent - murder.

By May of that year, he had obtained a better job in Olympia (home of a future attack site, Evergreen State College) for Ross Davis at the Republican State Central Committee. Here too Bundy was well liked and became good friends with Ross Davis and his family, occasionally having dinner at the Davis home, where he played and got along well with their children, and even spent time walking their dog. Once again, he was making a positive impression. Before his departure from the RSCC at the end of summer, he'd be elevated to the position of Davis's assistant. Once again, it seemed, everywhere Bundy planted himself his natural likeability placed him in the favor of those around him. And it was certainly clear to those acquainted with him that here was a man destined to have an important impact on society, perhaps in ways yet to be determined. They would be correct about this, but not in the way they originally anticipated.

With the coming of summer, the facade never looked better, and by July, it was time to begin the charade with Carla. He was making good money now, had been accepted into law school, and could well juggle his former love into a schedule that sometimes included Liz and sometimes any other women who happened to find the young Republican both handsome and available. Like a professional chess player meditating and plotting his next move, Bundy was quite skilled at keeping all the women of his life sequestered from one another. In fact, he made a point of sequestering Liz from just about everything during this period; not once did he ever mention the name Liz Kendall to Ross Davis.

That summer, on the advice of Marlin Vortman, Bundy decided to remain in Washington and attend the newly-opened School of Law at the University of Puget Sound, where Vortman would also be attending. Bundy had been friends with Marlin and his wife Sheila since the political campaigns of 1968, and as Marlin was older than Bundy and had already experienced a measure of professional success in his life, his words fell on a receptive ear. Even so, enrolling in the night program would be a disaster for Bundy from the start: As one who always cast an arrogant and critical eye towards anything he deemed mediocre or cheap, whether inanimate objects or people, Bundy despised attending classes in an older building in downtown Tacoma. Never mind that the school was in its infancy, and that it mattered little what building was shielding the students from the elements. What mattered to Bundy was the image. What mattered to him was the facade.

From the beginning, he began to spiral downward academically, and for whatever reason, he failed to perform in the manner he expected. This difficulty he would keep secret (like his initial failure to land an acceptance at a law school outside of his adopted state) for as long as possible; he didn't need any cracks appearing in the outer Bundy. This only added to that mounting pressure within, a pressure that had now reached a stage that it wasn't easy for him to ignore, and that would shortly be unleashed upon the unsuspecting people around him.

The Carla situation would come to a head that fall too. Having wrapped himself in a newly improved package that year, he chose July to unveil himself to his lost love. Having no reason to disbelieve the facade, Carla once again found Bundy appealing and considered the possibilities. After all, they had maintained occasional contact since the breakup, and he was just as charming as ever. Yet charm was never the problem; his professional floundering was Bundy's Achilles' heel, at least in Carla's eyes, and his failure to perform to her standards the first go-round was a death-blow to their relationship, the ending of which caused her little or no grief. But now things were different, and it wasn't long before she was ready to give Bundy a second chance. The breakup which had so devastated him that it caused him to temporarily flee the state had now come full circle. Having written the epitaph to the union long ago, he now saw a resurrection in the making and was probably quite surprised by it all.

That Christmas, while Liz and Tina were as usual spending the holidays with her folks in Utah, Carla visited him for a week in Seattle. While he was only weeks from launching himself into a life of unrelenting murder, the couple, safe within the confines of the vacationing Vortmans' apartment, discussed, and at least verbally agreed, to be married. He had no such intention, and made no attempt to contact her after she returned to San Francisco. It would be sometime in February 1974, after Bundy had started down that murderous road, that an infuriated Carla would telephone him, demanding to know why he hadn't called her. But Bundy had completely changed. He had no desire to keep this particular lie going any longer. He had made his point, and she was met with little more than silence from the man who previously was never at a loss for words. Stronger than Bundy, Carla ended their conversation by screaming that he was never to contact her again.

Overall, December 1973 was not ending on a high note for Bundy. Beyond being accepted for the second time to the University of Utah's law school, there wasn't much to smile about. Yet he was coming to the end of one life and entering another. It is both strange and ironic that he chose this time of the birth of a new year to break out of his cocoon, almost like a celebratory gesture to himself. He also was becoming something new; something to counter all the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of so many from a world that was so unlike him. He would be their reality check. Not all would be well during the coming year. He, who in reality had little power, would soon wield a great deal of psychological power over a region in ways it had not seen before or since. He was ready to interact in the highest of ways. He was, in fact, ready to act as God.

3

METAMORPHOSIS

In the spring of 1974, a time so unlike any other, for so many Washingtonians, Theodore Bundy and Thomas Sampson were again working together at their new employer, the Department of Emergency Services in Olympia. Here they were "simply coworkers" Sampson remembered, "And off the job, we were friends, and ate together infrequently and played racket ball."' Bundy was known to have played racket ball at Evergreen State College and came to know the campus quite well. Sampson remembered playing Bundy at least once on its courts, and possibly more. Bundy, who was drawn to the college scene like a moth to a flame, would have had one eye on the ball and the other on the pretty coeds who seemed to be everywhere. One of those coeds, Donna Manson, had already had a fatal encounter with Bundy one chilly evening in March, and was never to be seen again. But this wouldn't disrupt a game with Sampson, for Bundy, always the master of compartmentalization, could be a raging sexual sadist/murderer in the dark of night, only to reappear as the smiling and cheery man around the water cooler the next morning. Here was a man who could, if he so desired, have sex with a freshly killed female, and then, only a short time later, make love to a smiling, warm-to-the-touch woman, and be capable of looking her squarely in the eyes.

By the spring of that year, he had managed to kill at will without leaving a trace of evidence behind. He had fed the dark impulses of his soul and would feel satiated for a time. He seemed to be working almost on a monthly cycle; a fact that was painfully obvious to investigators, who had little to go on and were forced to wait for the next young woman to be slaughtered. True, up till now these vanishings were described by police (for public consumption only) as strange and ominous disappearances, but everyone with a badge knew the girls were dead. Even now, police couldn't come out and say what they really thought, depriving the victims' families of that sense of hope, however fleeting it might be. They would continue to release what information they could to an already uneasy public. Whoever was taking these young women was either extraordinarily good or exceedingly lucky. Whichever it might be, authorities believed, he couldn't continue killing ad infinitum and not make a mistake. And if he kept operating in Washington, they believed, he would eventually be caught. Of course, the killer might decide to leave the area, and if he did this on the heels of yet another successful abduction, they might be left holding a sizeable bag of open-ended cases; a possible outcome, but one nobody wanted to consider.