Ted Bundy Case: Stranger Beside Me By Ann Rule

OPINION Well, at first I thought, Ted Bundy would offer a lot of material especially forensics…then it turned out his case really offered frustration and a bite mark. Along with the lack of evidence linking Bundy to cases, there was a lack of scholarly resources to be found. I was able to find some resources, but the most prevalent one used was Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule, who was a long time friend of Bundy. I personally feel many lives could have been saved if the authorities across the country had a better way to communicate, which is a great solution that came out of this ordeal. Also Bundy’s girlfriend at the time, reported him several times to authorities and none of the authorities really acted on it until a series of unexplainable murders occurred. I feel if they would have listened to her, more lives could also be saved. Also when Bundy escaped from jail, other inmates had told
the Chief Jailer, that they heard someone in the ceiling at night, and the Chief Jailer never followed up with that information.
If he would have checked Bundy’s cell, he would have seen the hole in the ceiling, I’m more surprised that the Chief Jailer himself didn’t hear Bundy during his practice runs through the crawl space, considering his cell was below his room. In aspects relating to the case in Utah there were tons of missed opportunities to stop Bundy. Even Bundy himself said, that if Police had been much more critical of his apartment they would have found his trophies there. Apparently Bundy also kept photos of his victims in an album hidden in the apartment, which was destroyed when Bundy was release from jail. The Florida cases were processed and handled with speed and diligence. I feel that the Florida legal community was adamant about getting Bundy through the court system as quickly and properly as possible. This is probably from the fact that Bundy is a jailhouse-Houdini, and Florida may not have wanted to be another victim to his acts. I
would have fought to include perhaps circumstantial evidence, that evidence even though not binding, is enough to put the idea into jurors’ heads that he is a monster and linked to more than two deaths. I would have been more involved in picking jurors, from what I read, the state of Florida really let Bundy pick his jurors, who were predominately African-American. I would have wanted a bigger cross section of the community and as many females as possible, the jury decision was later learned to be a tie that was never resolved. I also would have fought to include more forensic evidence if possible. I’m not sure if they found or had access to the murder weapon, but I would have included that in evidence. Even the foreign objects that Bundy used to sexual assault Lisa Levy as well as the damage his did to her breast. It is rather gruesome, but they are the facts to the case. I also wonder if they could have collected saliva from the breast wound? If that were possible, that would be included too. As far as the Chi Omega case, it went fairly well. The Kimberly Leach case revolved around eyewitness testimony. I think it was done fairly and wouldn’t add much to evidence because the fibers were so unique to Bundy’s jacket that they were the smoking gun in this case.