Ted Bundy's Crime Spree: A Timeline of Terror

On July 14, 1974, notorious serial killer Ted Bundy committed one of his most audacious acts, abducting two young women, Janice Ann Ott and Denise Marie Naslund, from Lake Sammamish State Park near Seattle. Both women vanished within a four-hour window, and their bodies were discovered two months later. Eyewitnesses described Bundy as an attractive man in a white tennis outfit with a sling, who introduced himself as "Ted." Ott had left a note for her roommate indicating she was going sunbathing, a seemingly innocent outing that would lead to tragedy. Bundy's violent spree continued with the abduction of 18-year-old Carol DaRonch on November 8, 1974, where he posed as a police officer to lure her into his Volkswagen Beetle in Bountiful, Utah. A key linked to handcuffs found in Bundy's car was discovered at the scene where 17-year-old Debra Kent was last seen. Despite being arrested, Bundy was released shortly after, only to be identified by DaRonch and two other women in a police lineup later that year, leading to his arrest on attempted kidnapping charges. In January 1975, Bundy was linked to the murder of 23-year-old registered nurse Karen Campbell, whose body was found a month after her disappearance from a Colorado hotel. Bundy was ultimately convicted for the murders of several women, including two Florida State University students in 1979. He was executed on January 24, 1989, at Florida State Prison, an event that drew cheers from the public, marking the end of his reign of terror.