Ted Bundy's Murderous Mysteries

by Kevin Sullivan

She was dressed in blue jean Levi cut-offs, real short, similar to hot pants, and off-white midriff blouse with three or four buttons. She took these articles of clothing off and sat down in her swimsuit. The suit was a two-piece black bikini. She put coco-butter on – it comes in a small orange jar.

  Prior to laying down, she laid her ten-speed bike down in the sand, in front of where she was going to sit. The bike was a bright yellow.

  When she lay down, she lay on what appeared to be a white, ordinary towel.

  She lay down until 12:30. I know this because I always look at my watch. At 12:30 p.m., a guy came walking up to her. He said something about a sailboat. It sounded like, will you help me with my boat. Or would you like to ride in my boat. The girl sort of hesitated, but then said, “Can I bring my bike with me?” He said, “Sure, okay.” She though the boat was at the lake, and he said, “No, it was at (his) parent’s house.” She looked like she wasn’t going. I couldn’t hear what was said then, but then I heard her say, “Under one stipulation, that I meet your parents.” He said, “Sure.” Then she said, “I don’t know how to sail.” He said, “That’s okay, it will be easy for me to teach you.” She asked him if there was room in the car for her bike. He said it will fit in the trunk. She got up, slipped her blue-jeans and her top on, and she then picked up her beach bag. I don’t remember what the bag looked like. The two of them then left.

  Monday, I heard on the radio that two girls were missing. I didn’t pay too much attention until today, then I heard they were missing from Sunday at the park.

  The guy I saw looked to be about 6’, 180 – 185lbs., his hair was brown and about collar length, wavy. He had a tan. It really showed up because of his white outfit. His shirt was a white T-shirt with some kind of design, I don’t remember what it was. He wore white shorts, similar to a swim suit, I don’t remember if he had shoes on. His left arm was in a sling. The sling was beige in color. I didn’t feel his arm was really hurt. I do remember he took his arm from the sling and moved it around. I didn’t notice any tattoos or any scars on him. He had real hairy arms and legs. If I saw the man again I can identify him. He looked to be twenty-five to thirty years old. I never saw any vehicle they left in. I do recall she sort of talked with an accent.

  I have signed the back of the photo, who I’ve identified as the girl.

  Theresa M. Sharpe

  July 17, 1974, 1:15 p.m.

  July 17, 1974

  JANICE ELLEN GRAHAM

  I left the house at 11:15 a.m. and arrived at Lake Sammamish State Park after 11:30 a.m. I looked around for a picnic table. There were none so I went to the bandstand to watch the races. A guy came up and said hello and I said hello. Then I kind of moved away. He asked me if I could help him for a minute. I said, “Yeah, what do you want?” He said he was waiting for friends, but couldn’t find them. He said he wanted to load his sailboat on his car. I told him sure.

  I would describe him as being 5’8” – 5’10”, sandy blond hair, curly, short on sides, longer in back, 150-160 pounds, about twenty-four to twenty-five years of age, dressed in a white T-shirt with red trim (neck line was crew–type) and it had short sleeves, blue Levis type jeans (long length, I think), I didn’t notice his shoes. Then we walked up to the car that was parked in the parking lot between the bandstand and restrooms. He asked me what I was doing. I told him I was waiting for my husband and parents. He said, “This is out of sight, there are so many people.” He stopped many times to hold his arm against his body as if it was hurting. That was when I first noticed he did not have a cast on (Bundy actually wore his arm in a sling). He said he hurt it playing racket ball. Then he asked me if I had ever played it, then he said it was a lot of fun.

  He asked if I lived around here and I told him Bellevue and where I worked. By that time, we were close to the car. This is when I noticed there was no trailer on the car or sailboat anywhere around. The car was a newish looking Volkswagen, bug, metallic brown in color. I asked where it was. This is when he said, “It’s at my folks house; it’s just up the hill.” I said I really couldn’t go with him because I had to meet my folks. That’s when I asked him what the time was. I did not notice if he looked at a watch, but he replied it was 12:30, and I said I was late already because I had to meet them at 12:15. He said, “Oh, that’s okay, I should have told you it wasn’t in the parking lot.” “Thanks for bothering to come up to the car.”

  He walked me about halfway back up toward the park. He went to the right toward the bandstand and I went to the concession stand and bought a snow cone. I stayed at the concession stand while eating it. It was about ten minutes later when I saw him walking with a girl to the parking lot. The girl had a yellow bike and it looked like a ten speed because of the curved handlebars. I thought to myself that it didn’t take him very long to get someone else to go to the parking lot with him. They were walking towards the parking lot (he was on the side closest to me) and the girl was in between him and the bike she was pushing. I could not see the girl very well. I wondered where he was going to put the bike. I met my folks about 12:45, and did not see him for the rest of the day.

  March 14, 1975

  Taken by ROGER E. DUNN

  Statement of DONALD STEPHEN BIRDSALL

  On Sunday, July 14, 1974, I went to Lake Sammamish State Park with Darrell Greenwood. I rode over in his boat. He dropped me off at the point where my parents were picnicking and then we split. I got to the park around 11:00 to 11:30 a.m. There was a Ragtime Band playing at the Rainier Beer party stand but the events hadn’t started yet. I saw Connie Gregory and her boyfriend Terry at the park. We threw the frisbee around for a while.

  At about 2:30 p.m., I was standing around in the crowd watching the keg throwing contest. I looked over and happened to notice a blonde girl talking to a guy. The guy was about twenty-three to twenty-four years old. He was about 5’8” – 5’9” tall, and weighed 155 – 160 pounds. He had blond hair that covered his ears. I don’t remember what he was wearing other than he had a T-shirt on. He had his right arm in a sling, and his arm was bandaged through his palm. The girl with him was about 5’4” tall, and slender. She had on cut-off jeans and was wearing either a bikini or halter top that was orange or yellow. Her hair was pulled back and hung down to the middle of her back. She had a white or yellow girl’s ten-speed bike with her. I only looked at them for fifteen seconds or so, and didn’t see either of them again.

  I recognized the girl as one I had seen riding her bike around the area. I first saw her about three weeks before riding past my parent’s house at 19501 S.E. 51, which is on the southwest corner of Lake Sammamish. I saw her again about a week later riding past, and then about a week before July 14, 1974, down by VIP’s Restaurant. I’ve seen photographs of Janice Ott, and I’m almost sure she was the girl I have described. The color composite drawing of “Ted” shows his hair as coming down too far on his forehead, and it is too dark. The eyebrows are too dark. The eyes are real good as are the nose and mouth. I think his face is a little too fat.

  This three-page* statement is true to the best of my knowledge. *Author’s note: this is a two-page statement.

  Statement ended on March 14, 1975, at 11:35 a.m.

  The following statement contains a description of a man that may have been Bundy, but if so, the witness has made some mistakes concerning his attire, or she may have been watching someone else who also wore a sling on his arm. Nevertheless, it’s a statement from an individual who was present that day, and as such, I’m including it here.

  Taken by DETECTIVERANDY HERGESHEIMER

  Statement of JACKIE M. TERRELL

  On Sunday, July 14, 1974, my youngest daughter, Becky, five yrs., and I went to Lake Sammamish State Park near Issaquah. We arrived at the park at approximately 12:30 p.m., and by the time we found a parking spot and got out of the car, it was approximately 1:00 p.m. I parked across from the Ranger Station entrance in the grass parking area, and
we walked from there through the wooded area toward the beach, past the concession stand. We stopped by the second life guard stand, south of the peninsula, and I lay on the sandy beach on a blanket while my daughter played in the sand nearby. I stayed in this area the entire afternoon, sunning and picnicking. We were about ten feet from the life guard stand.

  Later in the afternoon, I observed a young white male walking toward me from the area of the small peninsula, north of me. The reason I noticed him, among all the people, was because he had his left arm in a sling. He walked slowly, looking around, toward me and passed in front of me at a distance of about six feet. He walked right by the lifeguard stand, just on the east side of it, in the sand. I paid particular attention to him because I have suffered four broken arms and the sling the man had his arm in was very unusual.

  The man was about twenty to twenty-six years old, 5’6” or 5’7” tall, average build, with an even, medium suntan, and brown hair that I would call short by today’s standards. The hair appeared to be combed back from the forehead, neatly groomed, exposing his ears. The hair would not have reached his collar. He had no mustache or sideburns. He was wearing an ordinary white-sleeved T-shirt, made of thinner material as I could almost visualize his tan through the T-shirt. He wore a red pair of boxer swim trunks with short legs. They may have had some white piping on the side where the seam would be. He was barefoot. I did not notice any unusual amount of body hair. I noticed no watch or jewelry. I would describe his facial expression as sort of expressionless without smile or frown. He casually glanced from side to side as he passed.

  The most unusual thing about him was the sling on his left arm. It didn’t look like a typical muslin sling, but rather a thin off-white dish towel. The sling covered from the wrist to the elbow and appeared to be frayed or worn along the outside edge toward the left shoulder. The sling was looped around his neck. The sling looked like he could take his arm in or out of it without untying it. The arm was not in the usual sling position. It hung lower than his wrist. Something unusual I noticed was a mustard-yellow colored cloth ribbon about 1 ½ to 2” wide which was coming downward parallel to his sling across his chest from the neck. The ribbon looked separate from the sling and didn’t seem to have any purpose. I couldn’t visualize any useful purpose for the ribbon.

  After he passed me he seemed to head for the concession stand and I didn’t observe him any further. I know the time was 4:00 p.m. because a swimmer asked me what time it was, and it was 4:00 p.m. It was just a few minutes after 4:00 p.m. when I observed this man I’ve described. It seemed unusual that he was alone because even with all the people around, almost everyone was with someone else.

  I have looked at the #2 composite sketch shown me by Detective Hergesheimer and it is a close resemblance to the man with the sling except that I would make his face thinner and his lips fuller. I don’t think he had a cast on under his sling as his arm did not look bulky.

  This statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.

  Signed by Jackie Terrell

  July 22, 1974, 6:45 or p.m.

  October 8, 1975, beginning at 11:44 a.m.

  Taped interview between Detective Roger E. Dunn and Jerry Edward John Snyder, thirty years of age who is an undercover DEA agent assigned to Group One in the Seattle office, B/P XXX-XXXX. (This would have been a redacted phone number). Agent Snyder is known by the nickname of Kelly.

  DETECTIVE DUNN: Kelly, could you in a narrative phrase start out with your activity on July 14, 1974, from the time you arrived at Lake Sammamish State Park, the approximate time, and what you did then.

  KELLY: It was on June 14, excuse me, July 14, 1974, myself and my family, which is my wife and my two sons and at the time a pet Doberman arrived at Lake Sammamish Park and parked in the main parking lot. We parked in the southernmost part of the main parking lot and went directly from the parking lot to the beach area. I believe the time was approximately 10:15 or 10:30 in the morning. We went directly to the beach, like I said, and we put down mats and the kids went into the water and due to the fact that dogs were not supposed to be on the beach, I had to get a few feet back of my wife, where she was sitting, and I was about several yards back.

  In the place where I positioned myself on the beach I noticed there was a young lady to my left, approximately twelve to fifteen yards away from me, dressed in a black two-piece bikini with blond hair. I remembered that earlier when we were arriving at the park, the same young lady was riding her bicycle, parallel to my vehicle. I don’t know the brand name, but it was greenish-yellow in color, looked like a racing bike of some sort. I remember it more distinctly as a yellow bike and she was riding that particular bike into the park and when I first noticed her, she just went by the car.

  DETECTIVE DUNN: Was it a boy’s frame? Or a girl’s?

  KELLY: I seem to recall a boy’s frame, but I’m not really sure of that. I’m just going to have to say that I think it was a boy’s frame.

  DETECTIVE DUNN: Did you notice anything about packs, or anything?

  KELLY: Well, while riding into the park she had what I would consider a book backpack, in other words it wasn’t very large, it was a rather small backpack that she had on her back. I believe she was wearing a white blouse and cut-offs, blue jean cut-offs.

  DETECTIVE DUNN: What color was the knapsack?

  KELLY: That burlap type fabric, the real thick fabric. Anyway, once we got into the parking lot I didn’t really pay that much attention to her until going back to what I said earlier when I arrived at the beach, the same girl that was riding next to my vehicle was the same one who was lying on the beach. The reason that I noticed that of course was the bike and the clothes that she had were lying next to her. As far as my position on the beach, as I explained earlier, my family was located in front of me and I was approximately ten yards in back of my wife. I was located almost directly in front of the refreshment stand located on the back part of the beach and almost directly to the far left side of the floating raft which is located in the water. Approximately fifteen to twenty yards, excuse me, twenty feet away from my right side was at that time, a life guard stand. Approximately five to ten feet in that basic vicinity, in back of me were three fairly young females sitting on blankets, sunbathing themselves.

  The young lady that I previously described that was to the left of me in the black bikini bathing suit … the basic articles that were accompanying the young lady were the knapsack that I described earlier, the clothing that I described earlier, and the bike. I noticed that there were various books laying on the blanket that she had and they looked like paperback books and I didn’t pay any attention to, or couldn’t see what type or what the names were of the books. Other paraphernalia that might have been laying around that I can’t totally recall, but it seems that there was sun tan lotion also.

  Approximately 10:45 or 11:00 a.m., it was several minutes after we had been on the beach, I noticed a white male walking, he was to my right. Walking down the beach toward me and the reason I noticed him, or looked at him anyway, I noticed that he was looking at all the girls as he walked down the beach. He would stop, almost come to a complete stop, after he had walked up to a girl laying on the beach and as if what it appeared to me that he was trying to pick up a girl or trying to find someone that met with his qualifications. The man continued to walk up to me and then eventually walked past and stopped at the place where the girl with the black double piece bathing suit was laying down and he stopped and said something to the effect of “Hello, Miss” or “Excuse me, Miss” or words to the effect like that. And I don’t recall any further conversation other than that he sat down in a cross-legged position and spoke with the young lady for maybe five minutes.

  As far as the description of the white male, he was approximately twenty-five to twenty-nine years old, 5’10” to 5’11” or maybe 6’ would be pushing it. He was approximately 165 pounds, and he had a hair style that w
as collar length, wavy, sort of light-brown color. He was wearing white boxer-type shorts with a stripe on the side, the leg side, I believe the stripe was red and he was wearing not a turtle neck but a pullover shirt which was beige in color and had what I would consider had a rust stripe type dual color in it. On his left arm I noticed he was wearing a shoulder harness to support his left arm which appeared to me to be wrapped in adhesive tape, could have been a cast but it looked like an adhesive bandage wrapping all around the arm.

  As I explained earlier, the man I described and the female I described sat there for approximately five minutes discussing various and sundry things and eventually the young lady stood up and put on her clothing, the white blouse and the cut-offs, rolled up her blanket. Prior to that, she put all the books and various things that were laying on the blanket into her knapsack and put the knapsack, I believe, over the bike, picked up her bike and the two of them walked off headed in the direction of the refreshment stand, more to the right of the refreshment stand as you are facing it and at that time I lost eye contact or didn’t bother to look any more at the individuals going away.

  Subsequent to the young lady that I described earlier who was subsequently identified as Janice Ott, I was shown a series of photographs or a photograph of Janice Ott and on that date I positively identified the photograph of Janice Ott as being the young lady that I saw on July, 14, 1974, on the beach. And on the same date, I was shown a photograph of a similar type of bike which was owned by Janice Ott and I identified that photograph of the bicycle as being similar to the one that I saw Janice Ott have on the beach on July 14.

  Approximately two days after Janice Ott was believed missing, or was definitely missing, I came home from work that evening and spoke to my wife and said something to the effect that they had information on a girl who was missing from the Sammamish Park and at that period of time we talked about the fact that we were there and how weird it was to be somewhere where someone would be missing and possibly dead. My wife, at that time, based on information that she had heard from the news, made comments on what the girl was wearing and that the police were looking for that individual and also said that the police had made a statement to the press that the man had his arm in a sling and they had somewhat a basic description of that person. Recalling what I had seen the two days prior to that I telephoned the King County Police Department and spoke to an officer and explained there was a possibility that I might have information that could assist them in the investigation, and I believe it was the following day or possibly two days later that I eventually spoke to a King County Police Officer and related all of the previous facts that I have given in this interview.