West
Ted Bundy 50 years later: How investigators took down infamous serial killer who terrorized country for years
Sunday marks 50 years since Ted Bundy, one of America’s most infamous serial killers, abducted two young women on the same day from the same crowded Washington state beach.
Although it was not the first time Bundy struck twice in one day, snatching the two women in a four-hour timeframe was among the most brazen acts of his years-long cross-country crime spree.
Although Bundy confessed to 28 murders, some estimate that he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of women between 1974 and 1978.
TED BUNDY SURVIVOR REVEALS WHAT SAVED HER FROM SERIAL KILLER’S SORORITY-HOUSE RAMPAGE
Ted Bundy, pictured during his 1979 murder trial at the Miami-Dade County Metro Justice Building, killed at least 28 women and girls between 1974 and 1978. (Getty Images)
Janice Ann Ott, 23, and Denise Marie Naslund, 19, both disappeared from Lake Sammamish State Park, about 15 miles from Seattle, on July 14, 1974.
Bundy killed both women that day, The Seattle Times reported, but their bodies weren’t discovered for another two months.
FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X
Bundy approached various women at the park, asking them to help him unhook his boat from his tan Volkswagen bug. Four female witnesses would later describe an attractive man wearing a white tennis outfit with his left arm in a sling who spoke in a slight, possibly Canadian accent and was overheard introducing himself as “Ted.”
Three of the women refused; a fourth accompanied Bundy to his car, then ran after seeing that there was no sailboat.
TED BUNDY’S EX-GIRLFRIEND RECALLS HORRIFYING ENCOUNTER WITH THE SERIAL KILLER: ‘HE JUST LAUGHED’
Denise Naslund, right, was abducted by Ted Bundy four hours after Janice Ott, left, on July 17, 1974. Skeletal remains of both women were found about two miles away on Sept. 6 of that year. (Kings County Sheriff’s Department)
Ott, a juvenile caseworker at the nearby King County Juvenile Court, was seen by three witnesses leaving the park’s beach with the man. Before she left her home on her yellow bicycle that day, Ott put a note on her door to tell her roommate that she was going sunbathing, drawing a doodle of the sun on her note, according to Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park. Her husband, James, was in California attending medical school.
SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER
Naslund, who was studying to become a computer programmer, never returned from the restroom on a picnic with her boyfriend and another couple. Her mother would tell The Seattle Times that Naslund had the sort of helpful nature that could place her in danger.
King County police distributed a composite sketch based on descriptions of the man and his car, which was printed in area newspapers and broadcast on local television stations.
‘PARALLELS OF EVIL’: TED BUNDY SURVIVORS SPEAK OUT, LINKING THEIR GRUESOME ATTACKS TO BRYAN KOHBERGER’S
Ott and Naslund were lured off the crowded beach at Lake Sammamish State Park by Bundy, who wore a sling on his arm and claimed he needed help unhooking his sailboat from the trailer hitch of his vehicle. The park is pictured in 2020. (Chona Kasinger/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Bundy’s girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer, his friend Ann Rule and one of Bundy’s psychology professors from the University of Washington all recognized the composite and contacted police, according to King County Detective Robert Keppel’s book, “The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer.” But at the time, Rule wrote in her own book, detectives thought it was unlikely that the clean-cut law student was their suspect.
GET REAL TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB
Based on the description of the vehicle and the suspect, Keppel pored over thousands of automobile registration documents, The Seattle Times reported. Bundy was on the final list of potential suspects.
On Sept. 6 of that year, grouse hunters found skeletal remains near a service road in Issaquah, about two miles away – dental records showed that most of them belonged to Ott and Naslund, The Bulletin reported at the time.
Bundy was put to death on Jan. 24, 1989, at Florida State Prison. (Bettmann via Getty Images)
Bundy later identified an extra femur and vertebrae found at that scene as those of Georgann Hawkins, an 18-year-old University of Washington student who went missing in the early hours of June 11 of that year while walking from her boyfriend’s dormitory to her own, Keppel wrote.
Bundy later told journalist Stephen Michaud and FBI agent William Hagmaier that Ott was still alive when he kidnapped Naslund, and that he forced one woman to watch while he assaulted, then murdered the other. He later recanted that claim, along with others, in an interview on the night of his execution in 1989.
Before his capture, Bundy struck twice in one day once more on Nov. 8, 1974, first posing as a police officer and luring 18-year-old Carol DaRonch to his tan Volkswagen Beetle from a mall in Bountiful, Utah.
Ted Bundy’s image on a television screen on the lawn of the Florida State Prison. (Getty Images)
Bundy attempted to snap handcuffs onto the teen, but DaRonch was able to escape. A key that fit the lock to those cuffs was found in a high school parking lot where 17-year-old Debra Kent was last seen leaving a high school play to pick up her younger brother.
In 2015, a patella bone found in 1989 at the site where Bundy told investigators he’d left Kent’s body was positively identified as the teen, Wired reported. After 40 years, her family finally got closure and a death certificate.
On Aug. 18, 1975, Highway Patrol Sgt. Bob Hayward stopped Bundy’s tan Volkswagen, which was lingering outside a home in Granger, Utah.
After finding a ski mask, a crowbar, an ice pick and handcuffs in the car, the officer placed Bundy under arrest – but he was soon released.
In October of that year, DaRonch and two other women pointed Bundy out in a police lineup, leading to his arrest on attempted kidnapping charges, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was convicted of aggravated kidnapping in March 1976, The Deseret News reported at the time.
In October of the next year, while Bundy was serving that prison sentence, investigators were able to link Bundy to the January 1975 disappearance of Caryn Eileen Campbell with the discovery of her hair in his Volkswagen, The New York Times reported.
Campbell, a 23-year-old registered nurse, was last seen walking down a well-lit hallway between the elevator and her room at a Colorado hotel in January of that year; her nude body was found a month later next to a dirt road just outside the resort.
After he was charged with first-degree murder in Campbell’s death, Bundy infamously escaped a law library at Aspen’s Pitkin County Courthouse in June 1977, leading police on a six-day manhunt before his capture, ABC reported. He would escape a second time after losing enough weight to slip through a ceiling duct in his Colorado prison cell.
Before he was captured for good, Bundy killed two Florida State University sorority sisters and injured three more in January 1978, then killed 12-year-old Kimberly Leach.
Bundy was apprehended in February 1978, and his nationally televised trial began in June 1979. He was convicted in the deaths of the Florida State students on July 24, 1979, then for Leach’s death in January 1980.
Bundy was put to death on Jan. 24, 1989 at Florida State Prison – the declaration of the killer’s death at 7:16 a.m. drew cheers from the estimated 200 people in attendance, the Times reported.
Read the full article from Here
Acres: 7,769 acres
Start Date: June 9, 2026
Location: 18 miles southeast of Quemado, NM
Personnel: 169
Containment: 100%
Cause: Lightning
Summary: Containment lines are holding, and much of the repair work is completed on the Bear Fire. The Gila Las Cruces Type 3 Incident Management Team will transfer command of the fire back to the Gila National Forest and a Type 4 Incident Commander on Wednesday morning. Firefighters will continue to patrol and secure the perimeter while repair is completed.
Remarking on the success of firefighters on the Bear Fire, Incident Commander Marcus Cornwell said, “The support from the State of New Mexico Forestry Division, local landowners, and the Village of Quemado were instrumental in helping suppress the fire. Providing firefighters access to private land and use of Quemado High School proved pivotal.”
This will be the last daily update provided by the Gila Las Cruces Type 3 Incident Management Team. Any future updates for the Bear Fire will come from the Gila National Forest.
Weather: Today’s high temperature will be in the mid 80s. Moisture moving in from the south will improve relative humidity and drop temperatures slightly. The forecast shows daily chances of thunderstorms through Friday.
Safety: A Temporary Flight Restriction is in place through this evening. If you fly, we can’t! The Gila National Forest enacted an Area Closure Order for the Bear Fire.
Evacuations: Catron County Emergency Management lifted SET status for residences within zones 2, 3 and 4 on Thursday, June 18th. For more information about the change in evacuation status, visit Catron County Emergency Management.
Smoke: Smoke may be visible in and around surrounding communities. Air quality will vary based on fire activity, weather, and wind patterns. Residents should reduce prolonged outdoor activity when smoke is present and check the Air Quality Index before recreating or working outdoors. Sensitive groups should take extra precautions to limit smoke exposure. For real-time smoke conditions, visit https://fire.airnow.gov.
Fire Restrictions: The Gila National Forest is in Stage 1 Fire Restrictions due to long term severe drought in the Gila region, increased tree mortality across the forest, and forecasted hotter, drier weather conditions. Stage 1 Fire Restrictions limit campfires on forest land to designated recreation sites and campgrounds with constructed metal fire rings. Open burning is also prohibited in the unincorporated area of Catron County and in Catron County Fire District 30.
Public Information: 2026.bear@firenet.gov
Incident Information:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GilaNForest
InciWeb: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/nmgnf-bear-fire
###
PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – Fireworks are on sale in Oregon until July 6, but state and local rules limit where they can be used and what types are allowed.
In Portland, fireworks use and sales are banned year-round.
Fireworks are also banned on beaches and in state and national parks.
Statewide, fireworks that fly into the air, explode, act unpredictably or move more than 12 feet horizontally are illegal. Banned fireworks include sky lanterns, missiles, rockets, Roman candles, firecrackers, cherry bombs and M-80s.
Fountains, sparklers, ground spinners and smoke devices are among the fireworks allowed under state rules.
Officials said people should not call 911 to report illegal fireworks. They said reports should go to the non-emergency line for the area.
First responders said there were 263 fires across Portland during last year’s fireworks season, and 27 were caused by fireworks.
For more details about fireworks regulation in Oregon, click here.
In Washington, fireworks sales legally begin Sunday and run through July 4.
Copyright 2026 KPTV-KPDX. All rights reserved.
The Utah Jazz are just hours away from the 2026 NBA Draft to determine who will be their franchise’s next cornerstone piece to add into their exciting core with their second-overall pick on the board.
And in the lead-up to the Jazz’s selection, there’s been tons of buzz surrounding who will be the one landing at that No. 2 slot. Between AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cameron Boozer, each has seen various connections to Utah as being the guy they’ll end up with.
However, as we continue to get closer to when the Jazz are on the clock, we’re starting to get some clearer intel on who their selection ultimately might be. And in reality, it might just be a two-man race, rather than three.
Darryn Peterson Remains in the Driver’s Seat at No. 2
ESPN‘s Jeremy Woo recently released his final 2026 mock sorting out how each of the draft’s 60 picks are going to go. When it came to the Jazz, the pick would be none other than Kansas guard Darryn Peterson; someone that Utah has reportedly shown “strong interest” in leading up to the draft.
If Peterson ends up going first to the Washington Wizards, though, AJ Dybantsa seems like the most likely outcome for the Jazz at two.
“Sources say the Jazz have shown strong interest in Peterson throughout the process, and the expectation from rival teams has been that Utah will pick whichever of Peterson or Dybantsa falls to them,” Woo wrote.
“Peterson’s initial decision to only visit Washington was more reflective of his confidence in his security as a top pick and desire to hear his name called first.”
Despite the noise that had surrounding Peterson, his canceled workout, and any possible disinterest in landing with Utah, that buzz has since been shut down in the days leading up to Tuesday night’s first round.
Not only did Peterson confirm he has met with the Jazz before coming to New York following his canceled draft workout, but he also made it clear at Monday’s media day that he’s not dodging any team that’s willing to select him.
That, of course, would include the Jazz. So no worries on that front.
But even if Peterson does end up going ahead of the Jazz’s slot in what would be a surprise pickup for the Wizards at the first pick, Utah’s decision looks like it could be a relatively simple one. BYU’s AJ Dybantsa would be sitting up for grabs, and would be an ideal fit on the wing to Utah’s two-guard spot for the future.
So if Woo’s intel is a sign of anything, it seems like, even with the appeal that might be had in Duke’s Cameron Boozer as a potential option at number two, he’s looking more and more like the odd man out when it comes to being the guy for Utah.
Both Peterson and Dybantsa have a projected ceiling that tops what Boozer brings to the table, and fits better with this current Jazz core as their future two-guard. In a draft where all three prospects are seen as franchise-changing talents, those factors might just be what’s narrowly separated the top two as the targets to watch for Utah.
All of the chatter that’s ensued before the draft surrounding who the Jazz are going to take with their highest pick on the board in over 40 years will officially come to an end Tuesday night. But with the time quickly approaching before that decision becomes final, the writing might be on the wall for who they’ll be landing on.
Be sure to follow Utah Jazz On SI on X for daily Utah Jazz news, rumors and analysis!
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
-
New Hampshire2 minutes agoThree seriously injured in head-on crash on I-293 in Hooksett, N.H. – The Boston Globe
-
New Jersey2 minutes agoCothren Helping Build a More Inclusive Hockey Community | FEATURE | New Jersey Devils
-
New Mexico10 minutes agoBear Fire Update for June 23, 2026
-
North Dakota20 minutes agoTimothy Paul Ganyo
-
Ohio25 minutes agoGALLERY: Photos of former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel
-
Oklahoma32 minutes agoOHP remembers K-9 for protecting countless lives during career
-
Oregon35 minutes agoFireworks on sale in Oregon until July 6
-
Pennsylvania40 minutes agoPennsylvania company builds goals for US Soccer, FIFA World Cup matches
