Editing Ted Bundy (section)

=== Idaho, Utah, Colorado ===
[[File:Ted Bundy Utah house fire escape.JPG|thumb|alt=565 First Avenue, Salt Lake City, UT|Rooming house in [[Salt Lake City]] where Bundy lived from September 1974 to October 1975, showing the fire escape used to sneak into his room and windows to the utility room where he concealed photo souvenirs of his murders.{{sfn|Keppel|Michaud|2011|p=99}}]]
In August 1974, Bundy received a second acceptance from the U of U Law School and moved to [[Salt Lake City, Utah]], leaving Kloepfer in Seattle. While he called Kloepfer often, he dated "at least a dozen" other women.{{sfn|Rule|2009|pp=130–131}} As he studied the first-year law curriculum a second time, Bundy was devastated to find out that the other students "had something, some intellectual capacity" that he did not. He found the classes completely incomprehensible. "It was a great disappointment to me," he said.{{sfn|Nelson|1994|p=55}} A new string of homicides began the following month, including two that would remain undiscovered until Bundy confessed to them shortly before his execution.

On September 2, Bundy raped and strangled a still-unidentified hitchhiker in [[Idaho]], then returned the next day to photograph and [[dismemberment|dismember]] the corpse before disposing of the remains in a nearby river.{{sfn|Sullivan|2009|p=86}}{{sfn|Nelson|1994|pp=257–259}}{{sfn|Rule|2000|p=527}} On October 2, he abducted 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox in [[Holladay, Utah]], a suburb of Salt Lake City.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|p=91}}{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1989|pp=143–146}} Bundy confessed that Wilcox was walking on a poorly lit "main roadway" when he parked his car and forced her into an orchard. He then restrained her, put her into his vehicle and drove back to his apartment, where he allegedly kept her for 24 hours.{{sfn|Sullivan|2020|p=221}} Bundy informed investigators that her remains were buried near [[Capitol Reef National Park]], some {{convert|200|mi|round=5}} south of Holladay, but they were never found.<ref name="Psychics" />

On October 18, Melissa Anne Smith—the 17-year-old daughter of the police chief of [[Midvale, Utah|Midvale]], another Salt Lake City suburb—disappeared after leaving a pizza parlor at around 9:30 p.m. Her nude body was found in a nearby mountainous area nine days later; post-mortem examination indicated that she may have remained alive for up to seven days following her disappearance.{{sfn|Sullivan|2009|p=96}}{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|pp=92–93}} On October 31, Laura Ann Aime, also aged 17, disappeared {{convert|25|mi}} south of [[Lehi, Utah|Lehi]] after leaving a [[Halloween]] party by herself just after midnight; she was last seen trying to hitchhike.{{sfn|Rule|1989|p=112}} Her nude body was found by hikers {{convert|9|mi}} to the northeast in [[American Fork Canyon]] on [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving Day]].<ref name="Deseret1977" /> The [[medical examiner]] estimated that Aime had died on November 20; twenty days after her disappearance. Both Smith and Aime had been beaten, raped, [[sodomy|sodomized]] and strangled with nylon stockings.<ref name="Bell-KillingSpree" />{{sfn|Rule|1989|pp=112–13}} Years later, Bundy described his post-mortem rituals with the corpses of Smith and Aime, including hair shampooing and application of makeup.{{sfn|Rule|1989|p=486}}{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|pp=334–335}}

In the late afternoon of November 8, Bundy approached 18-year-old telephone operator Carol DaRonch at [[Fashion Place]] Mall in [[Murray, Utah|Murray]],<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JXm3zfQuNEUC&q=fashion+place+mall+bundy&pg=PA61 |title= Ted Bundy: The FBI File |quote= Bundy was convicted of kidnaping Carol DaRonch, 19, from Fashion Place Mall earlier that day. |access-date= March 21, 2015 |isbn= 978-1599862552 |last1= Investigation |first1= Federal Bureau of |year= 2007 |publisher= Filiquarian Publishing, LLC }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> less than a mile from the Midvale restaurant where Smith was last seen. He identified himself as "Officer Roseland" of the Murray Police Department, told DaRonch that someone had attempted to break into her car and asked her to accompany him to the station to file a complaint. When DaRonch pointed out to Bundy that he was driving on a road that did not lead to the police station, he immediately pulled onto the shoulder and attempted to handcuff her. During their struggle, he inadvertently fastened both handcuffs to the same wrist, and DaRonch was able to open the car door and escape.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|pp=93–95}}

Later that evening, {{anchor|Debra Kent}}Debra Jean Kent, a 17-year-old student at [[Viewmont High School]] in [[Bountiful, Utah|Bountiful]], {{convert|20|mi|round=5}} north of Murray, disappeared after leaving a theater production at the school to pick up her brother.<ref name="map-Murray2Bountiful" /> The school's drama teacher and a student told police that "a stranger" had asked each of them to come out to the parking lot to identify a car. Another student later saw the same man pacing in the rear of the auditorium, and the drama teacher spotted him again shortly before the end of the play.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|pp=95–97}} Outside the auditorium, investigators found a key that unlocked the handcuffs removed from DaRonch's wrist.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|p=101}} Bundy eventually admitted to abducting Kent and keeping her at his apartment for a day, stating she was alive "during half of it."{{sfn|Sullivan|2020|p=216}}

In November, Kloepfer called King County police a second time after reading that young women were disappearing in towns surrounding Salt Lake City. Detective Randy Hergesheimer of the Major Crimes division interviewed her in detail. By then, Bundy had risen considerably on the King County hierarchy of suspicion, but the Lake Sammamish witness considered most reliable by detectives failed to identify him from a [[police lineup|photo lineup]].{{sfn|Kendall|1981|pp=78–79}} In December, Kloepfer called the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office and repeated her suspicions. Bundy's name was added to their list of suspects, but at that time no credible forensic evidence linked him to the Utah murders.{{sfn|Rule|2009|pp=148–49}} In January 1975, Bundy returned to Seattle after his final exams and spent a week with Kloepfer, who did not tell him that she had reported him to police on three occasions. She made plans to visit him in Salt Lake City in August.{{sfn|Rule|2009|pp=149–150}}

[[File:Caryn Campbell Ted Bundy victim.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=A smiling young woman with short hair parted on the side|Caryn Campbell: Bundy's 14th documented murder victim and the subject of his first homicide indictment.]]
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, Colorado|Snowmass Village]], {{convert|400|mi|-1}} southeast of Salt Lake City.{{sfn|Rule|1989|p=126}} 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.{{sfn|Rule|2000|pp=132–136}}

On March 15, {{convert|100|mi}} northeast of Snowmass Village, [[Vail, Colorado|Vail]] ski instructor Julie Lyle Cunningham, aged 26, disappeared while walking from her apartment to a dinner date with a friend. Bundy later told Colorado investigators that he approached Cunningham on crutches and asked her to help carry his ski boots to his car, where he clubbed and handcuffed her before sexually assaulting her at a secondary site near [[Rifle, Colorado|Rifle]], {{convert|90|mi}} west of Vail.{{Sfn|Keppel|2005|pp=402–407}}{{sfn|Sullivan|2009|pp=130–131}} Weeks later, he made the six-hour drive from Salt Lake City to revisit her remains.{{sfn|Sullivan|2009|pp=130–131}}{{sfn|Keppel|2010 |loc=Kindle location 7431–98}}

Denise Lynn Oliverson, aged 25, disappeared near the Utah–Colorado border in [[Grand Junction, Colorado|Grand Junction]] on April 6 while riding her bicycle to her parents' house; her bike and sandals were found under a [[viaduct]] near a railroad bridge.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|p=110}} Bundy stated he abducted Oliverson, killed her in his car near the Utah state line and dumped her body in the [[Colorado River]]. This admission was supported by gas receipts, which showed that he was in the city on the same day that Oliverson went missing. On May 6, Bundy parked outside of the Alameda Junior High School in [[Pocatello, Idaho]], {{convert|160|mi|round=5}} north of Salt Lake City, and after seeing 12-year-old Lynette Dawn Culver walking alone, lured her into his vehicle before driving her to his [[Holiday Inn]] hotel room.{{sfn|Sullivan|2009|pp=137–138}} There he raped Culver and drowned her in the bathtub. He disposed of her body in the [[Snake River]] north of Pocatello. Bundy reportedly provided intimate details about Lynette's personal life in his confession.<ref name="Culver"/><ref name="Moscow"/>

[[File:Caryn campbell ted bundy.jpg|thumb|alt=An outdoor hallway. Hotel rooms are on the left and a balcony is on the right.|Caryn Campbell disappeared while walking down this brightly lit hallway to her hotel room in January 1975.]]
In mid-May, three of Bundy's Washington State DES co-workers, including Boone, visited him in Salt Lake City and stayed for a week in his apartment. He subsequently spent a week in Seattle with Kloepfer in early-June and they discussed getting married the following [[Christmas]]. Again, Kloepfer made no mention of her multiple discussions with authorities in King County and [[Salt Lake County, Utah|Salt Lake County]]. Bundy disclosed neither his ongoing relationship with Boone nor a concurrent romance with a U of U law student (known in various accounts as either "Kim Andrews"{{sfn|Kendall|1981|pp=140–141}} or "Sharon Auer"{{sfn|Rule|2009|pp=164–165}}).

On June 28, 15-year-old Susan Curtis vanished from the campus of [[Brigham Young University]] in [[Provo, Utah|Provo]], {{convert|45|mi|round=5}} south of Salt Lake City. Her murder became Bundy's last confession, tape-recorded moments before he entered the execution chamber.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|p=343}} The bodies of victims Wilcox, Kent, Cunningham, Oliverson, Culver and Curtis were never recovered. In August 1975, Bundy was baptized into [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], although he was not an active participant in services and ignored most church restrictions.<ref name="Smith1979" /><ref name="Bennett-Connaughton1978" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|p=158}}: "Bundy joined the Mormon Church that September."</ref> He would later be [[excommunication|excommunicated]] following his 1976 kidnapping conviction.<ref name="Smith1979" /> When asked his religious preference after his arrest, Bundy answered "[[Methodist]]," the religion of his childhood.{{sfn|Von Drehle|1995|p=389}}

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 employed 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 offender]]s 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.{{sfn|Keppel|2005|pp=62–66}}