Ann Rule's (very) close analysis of Ted Bundy's murderous career

Bundy with his long term girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall
photographed before the first bodies were found in 1974.

Vanity Fair

When Truman Capote’s bestselling book In Cold Blood was first pub­lished in 1966, it defined what was to become the modern true crime genre. Regarding the murders of 4 family members in rural Kansas, Cap­ote examined the viewpoints of the victims, killers and invest­igat­ors. This made for a thoughtful report, and provided in­sight into how and why the murders were comm­it­ted. 

Now examine this.  Ann Rule (1931–2015) was born in Michigan. Her grandfather and uncle were sheriffs, and she spent her school holidays with her grand­parents doing volunteer work in prisons. This fostered her interest in crime, especially asking who the prisoners were and what had led them there. Rule studied creative writing, criminology and ab­normal psychology at University, and worked in the Seattle police. 

In 1971, when Rule met Ted Bundy  (1946-89), she was a struggling 40 year old mother. Rule was building a career as a free­lance writer, writing true crime stories for True Detective Magaz­ine. She volunt­eered 2 nights/week on crisis hotlines at Seatt­le’s Crisis Clinic, where 25 year old psychology student Bundy was gaining work ex­perience. They formed an instant rapport! They lost cont­act in late 1973 after he stop­ped working at the clinic, but Bundy re­mained the epitome of decent Am­er­ican men: handsome, charming, intelligent, ambitious and in the Republican Par­ty. 

The publisher said Rule was commissioned to write the book that be­came The Stranger Beside Me as the spate of murders of young, att­ractive girls mounted. Paid a small advance, Rule was told her book would only be pub­lished if the murderer was caught. But note that in the 2000 update Rule wrote: Ted Bundy called me to ask for my help and to say that he was a suspect in women’s disappearance. 

In early 1974 a series of brutal murders of young women in Seattle shocked the city, all beautiful female students with long cen­tre-parted hair. Many were attacked as they slept in their university beds; others were lured into a beige VW by a man struggling with his limb in a cast. Eye witness descriptions pointed to Bundy, but auth­orities were flooded with leads and be­cause of his respectable pers­ona, he was not seriously followed up. 

Bundy, looking thoughtful, between his legal team
Florida court room 1979

In late 1974, Bundy moved to Salt Lake City. The killings in Seattle stopped and a series of murders of young women in Utah, Col­orado and Idaho began with a similar modus operandi to those in Seattle. Pol­ice in these states began honing in on Bundy as their main suspect. 

Rule refused to believe in Bundy’s culpability, even when he was extradited to Colorado to face murder charges. Bundy escaped from custody in 1977 and made his way to Florida, where he kil­led 3 women, and raped and killed a schoolgirl. Finally people saw that Bundy was neither attractive nor the folk hero others had proposed. 

With his capture and trial in Florida in 1978, Rule acc­epted that the man she thought she knew was indeed a serial killer and the per­p­etrator of the crimes she’d been writing about, and with. Bundy was sentenced to death for the Florida murders, but staved off death for 11 years of appeals. In time he confessed to 30+ mur­ders across 7 states, to delay his execution. Still, he was exec­uted in Jan 1989 at 43. 

Rule’s wrote the book from Bundy’s perspective, beginning with his arrival in Florida and working backwards. She researched and pub­lished ev­ery detail of his life, from his complicated childhood to the med­ia circus of his trials. Rule had a keen eye, police exper­ience and intelligence. NB her ability to put to­gether a graph­ic detailed account of Bundy’s personal life, person­ality, mental status, criminal behaviour & activity. No one, except his longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall, had more personal insight into Bundy.

How did his childhood contribute to the killings? Rule an­alysed Bundy’s IQ; the mental makeup of Bundy’s person­ality; other murders he may have committed; his wife and daughter; the complicated relationship with his mother; the autopsies and the victims and his behaviour during the trial.

 

Some of the beautiful young women Bundy targeted

Rule admitted her naivety in being unwilling to see the truth for ages, despite the evidence. Even after she acknowledged Bun­dy’s guilt, she continued out of a sense of loyalty to visit and write to him in prison for the rest of his life. The reader could clearly feel the em­ot­ion­al trauma her friendship with Bundy caused her, at least until she conceded that she had been manipulated.

A true crime classic, The Stranger Beside Me was first published in 1980 (WW Norton). Rule revised the book, with updates pub­lished in 1986, 1989, 2000 and 2008. The .1989 update of the book featured Bun­dy’s execution, and the 2000 update included the exper­iences of many women who met Bundy in the 1970s. The 2008 update featured more near-miss stories from potential victims. Rule told the story of each of Bundy’s victims with great compassion.

Why would people read this lengthy book? The main reason was that it delved deeply into Ted Bundy’s planning, stalking and methods of killing. But the evidence was very personally written and Rule was critic­ised for being way too close to her old mate. See Too Close to Ted Bundy in which Victoria Beale accused Rule of mak­ing very poor ethical choices. I agreed with Beale. 

 

Some of Ann Rule's best sellers 

After the huge success of The Strang­er Beside Me in 1980, the queen of crime writing died at 83. She’d written 30+ true crime books, many hitting #1 on the bestseller list, but fans were still asking questions about her Ted Bundy story.