RIP Ann Rule

[Steadmund Brand]

True crime author Ann Rule has passed away at the age of 83...a prolific writer with 30 some odd true crime books.. I have read many and have always meant to read more...RIP Ann


Steadmund Brand

[Pcdunn]

She wasn't faring well recently. I believe she was wheelchair-bound, and also there was some dispute over her heirs dealing with her money.

I hope she rests in peace now.

[Beowulf]

Naturally introduced to Ann Rule through the Stranger beside me. Great book. I still find it amazing it took her so long to see through Bundy.

Interesting article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/28/crime-writer-ann-rule-and-killer-ted-bundy-were-friends-before-they-were-famous/

I think I said on here once that it may be my sister had a date with Bundy. If it were 'he' then 'he' picked her up at my mothers house in a gold vw bug, no seat on passenger side. My sis said forget it, not sitting on floor, stamped back in. I asked her why she did not go out with the guy, she told me. I could only think I would have gone.

It was about the time he escaped from Washington and was on his way to Florida.

She had the long brown hair parted in the middle. I had red hair. I think I would not have been asked at any rate.

When he died I was so into the story I went to bed and at the exact moment they executed him I awoke, turned on the set, and saw it was that moment.

He really did seem to have made a wrong turn into a guy he never should've become. You have to wonder what if there is something that turns us? Or is it choice?

[Mayerling]

Naturally introduced to Ann Rule through the Stranger beside me. Great book. I still find it amazing it took her so long to see through Bundy.

Interesting article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/28/crime-writer-ann-rule-and-killer-ted-bundy-were-friends-before-they-were-famous/

I think I said on here once that it may be my sister had a date with Bundy. If it were 'he' then 'he' picked her up at my mothers house in a gold vw bug, no seat on passenger side. My sis said forget it, not sitting on floor, stamped back in. I asked her why she did not go out with the guy, she told me. I could only think I would have gone.

It was about the time he escaped from Washington and was on his way to Florida.

She had the long brown hair parted in the middle. I had red hair. I think I would not have been asked at any rate.

When he died I was so into the story I went to bed and at the exact moment they executed him I awoke, turned on the set, and saw it was that moment.

He really did seem to have made a wrong turn into a guy he never should've become. You have to wonder what if there is something that turns us? Or is it choice?

Hi Beowulf,

I think, if it was Bundy, your sister was sensible and lucky. You have at least had her company on this planet longer than the families of Bundy's victims had of their lost ones.

My guess is people like Bundy, Gacy, Dahlmer, etc. just have a minimal sense of shame. They don't care (despite efforts at evading punishment as long as possible) about what their actions do affecting the people who may love them (family or friends). Bundy's smirking in court, treating the entire affair as a pleasantry is a proof of this - no attempt to show any contrition (which would have showed he was still part of the human race). Even at the end, it was a realization that he did not have years of appeals anymore but just months, days, hours before he would be put down. He showed fear about that - but still tried to lay blame on pornography and television violence. Still he offered to show locations of other victims, and offer "closure" to families - not to make amends really but to buy still more precious time for himself. But nobody really cared anymore.

Jeff

[Beowulf]

I am so glad my sister was more sensible at that age than I was.

I often think of one girl he killed whose mother and she were so close the mother kept the girls room the same for years afterward. That woman was so heartbroken. That particular girl brought home for me the cruelty of the acts he committed and I know I haven't scratched the surface but the living who loved these people suffered and are still suffering from the loss of these sweet girls.

When you look at that and think of his charm it falls away and the horror of that inside man appears.

[kensei]

It was about the time he escaped from Washington and was on his way to Florida.

Actually it was Colorado he escaped to Florida from.

Rest in peace Ann Rule, so sorry to hear of this. I read her Bundy book and also "Green River Running Red" and they were excellent.

[Oscar D'Oslavah]

Rest in peace Ann Rule, so sorry to hear of this. I read her Bundy book and also "Green River Running Red" and they were excellent.

RIP indeed, for Ms Rule. Two of her others that were (IMO) very good were _Small Sacrifices_, and _Bitter Harvest_. I've always thought her true-crime books were well written, and that she took pains to be fair to all parties, as far as possible.

[Barnaby]

Hey Beowulf,

Your post got me wondering how extensively Bundy traveled. For example, I am "investigating" an unsolved late December 1974 murder in Western Pennsylvania. The victim is 20, brunette, pretty, hair parted down the middle, etc. Cause of death was strangulation and her body appears to have been transported to a wooded area where it was found.

I know of this only because my mom worked with her at the time and always told me the story when I was a child and concluded that it was either the victim's husband or Bundy. I was more rational as a child and accepted the more likely conclusion that the husband got away with it. But looking back, if this murder occurred in the Pacific Northwest it would be a Bundy crime, no doubt.

Now I still highly doubt Bundy took such a road trip between finals at Utah and a trip back to Seattle, but anything is possible.

[Beowulf]

Bundy traveled between several states they knew of for sure. Colorado, Oregon, Utah, Florida and Washington My own feelings are he felt it lowered his chances of being caught. I'd not rule him out because it was another state.

The information about Bundy going from the prison escape to Florida basically he had about 2 or 3 weeks before being caught, has always confused me as to when he could've had a date with my sister.

The information out there, and I'm quoting, is 'after he escaped prison in Colorado, after stealing a car, Bundy drove eastward out of Glenwood Springs, but the car soon broke down in the mountains on Interstate 70. A passing motorist gave him a ride into Vail, 60 miles (97 km) to the east. From there he caught a bus to Denver, where he boarded a flight to Chicago. In Glenwood Springs, the jail's skeleton crew did not discover the escape until noon on December 31, more than 17 hours later. By then Bundy was already in Chicago.

From Chicago, Bundy traveled by train to Ann Arbor, Michigan. There, on January 2 in a local tavern, he watched his alma mater UW defeat Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Five days later he stole a car and drove to Atlanta, where he boarded a bus and arrived in Tallahassee, Florida' (Wikipedia)

However, Phoenix is right down the line from Colorado, and the man who came to my mother's house to pick up my sister for their date drove a VW bug with the passenger seat missing. I answered the door and remember his likeness, vaguely. He did look like Bundy and dressed the same way. My sister said he was renting a room from an elderly couple who originally told her he was their son but after talking to him on the phone she found out, I think, they thought that would make her introduction to him more acceptable. She met them at a garage sale and they gave her their 'son's' number, and my sister spoke to him on the phone and the date was arranged. She said he was very likable and funny.

The timing had to be after his escape for this date because I was in NY just a few months before, and for about 4 years. During that time before the date he was incarcerated. Before that time I was again in Phoenix but my sister I remember had a daughter. My niece was about 3 and my mother was baby sitting for her while she went on the date. It was how we pieced together the time, looking back. That window of time is the only one we can figure. I guess it could've been someone else but the look of him, I do remember him, was just like Bundy. Hair, clothes and the VW with the missing seat, very much seemed it was him. I've always wondered about that info of theirs and the travel line of his. Did they get that information from Ted himself? I'd think they'd have to. If he murdered on the way, it would be a good reason to leave out or change a few details of his whereabouts.

I also remember, and this could be very unrelated, but that same summer there was a head of a woman found in South Mountain Park. Phx was very low on crime in the 70s, very low. That was uncharacteristic. Never solved.