Sgt. Tom Sheppard, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, 408-424-0352
Sgt. Bob Malone, Santa Clara Sheriff’s Department, 408-299-2211
Sgt. Duane Gull, Alameda Sheriff’s Department, 415-483-6520
Let me know when you want the information on our unsolved males, we’ve still got a couple of those laying around.
Sincerely,
R. F. VERBRUGGE
A portion of the left side of the following report was copied incorrectly, leaving a small portion of these words missing. I have attempted to fill in the blanks, and where I have been unable to confirm a particular word, I will denote it by a question mark.
INTER–OFFICE MEMO
TO: SHERIFF STRIEPEKE
FROM: DETECTIVE SERGEANT CARLSTEDT
SUBJECT: Meeting at CII, Sacramento on 6/26/74 with Dave Struve of the Special Projects Office
On June 26, 1974, RO and Captain John Hess met with Criminal Specialist Dave Struve at CII to discuss the information this department has developed concerning unsolved female homicides in seventeen surrounding jurisdictions with similarities to the six female homicides our county has experienced over the past two years. The other 17 jurisdictions have 22 unsolved female homicides. When Dave Struve received this information from this department, he checked the CII files back to 1970 and came up with 56 more female homicides that were similar to our cases but covering a larger area of Northern California for a total of 84 unsolved homicides.
This meeting was held to determine the following:
1. What criteria or similarities did each case have to meet for us to keep them as similar cases in the homicides we are investigating.
2. To ascertain if a suspect profile or victim profile can be developed with the information available from these cases.
3. The ultimate goal of having a seminar with all departments concerned with the information pieced together to come up with a suspect or suspects and the apprehension of those responsible in these numerous motiveless killings which at this time outnumber the Muslim or Zebra assassinations.
Santa Clara County (California) Sheriff’s Office wrote a letter to Detective Robert Keppel of the King County Police seeking possible connections between murders in California and Washington State, and Ted Bundy’s whereabouts at the time of these California homicides.
May 27, 1981
Der Bob,
We have recently read the article in Reader’s Digest about Ted Bundy. We have noticed several similarities in two homicide cases from our area that are unsolved and feel that Bundy would be considered a possible suspect.
The first case was the strangulation death of a twenty-one-year-old white female, whose body was discovered on February 16, 1973, in a wooded rural area near Palo Alto, California. The locater of a victim was on property owned by Stanford University. The victim, Leslie Marie Perlov, was last seen talking to a young man at the law library of the Palo Alto Municipal Court. The composite of the young man seen talking to Perlov at the law library closely resembles the composite of Bundy which appeared in Reader’s Digest.
The second case is similar in M.O. in so far as the victim, Janet Ann Taylor, was discovered March 25, 1974, in a rural area not far from Palo Alto. The cause of death was also strangulation.
If possible, could you provide us with any information concerning Ted Bundy’s whereabouts on or about February 13, 1973, and March 25, 1974?
We have enclosed a flyer and a photo copy of the composite from the Perlov case.
We appreciate your efforts to assist us on this matter. Please send your reply to Sgt. Ken Kahn, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, 180 West Hedding Street in San Jose, California 95110
Text from the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office bulletin concerning Leslie Perlov:
COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA
Office of the Sheriff
Your SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT needs help in finding the person who murdered LESLIE MARIE PERLOV after 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 13. Anyone seeing persons or vehicles in the vicinity of the QUARRY GATE ON OLD PAGE MILL ROAD should contact the SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT at 299-3844 between 8 A.M. and 5 P.M. or 229-3902 after 5 P.M.
Don’t hesitate in calling with any piece of information even if it seems minor to you, as it just might fit in with the information developed in the past week by 995 hours of investigation. Your efforts in helping solve this brutal murder will be greatly appreciated by not only the Sheriff’s Department but the entire community.
Thank you,
SHERIFF JAMES M. GEARY
King County’s response to Santa Clara County’s request for additional information regarding Bundy’s whereabouts and time frame.
KING COUNTY, STATE OF WASHINGTON
Department of Public Safety
June 1, 1981
Sgt. Ken Kahn, Detective Division
County of Santa Clara
Office of Sheriff
180 - West Hedding Street
San Jose, California 95110
Dear Ken:
Ted Bundy’s contacts in your jurisdiction were numerous from 1967 to 1974. The account of his activities is as follows:
June – August 1967: Attended Stanford University and lived in Palo Alto.
July 8, 1967: Had dinner in San Francisco with his girlfriend.
1969: Late Spring was in San Francisco with girlfriend. Stayed in Mendocino.
August 20, 1970: Bundy received traffic citation in Marin County.
May 16, 1972: Bundy sent Univ. of Wash. transcript to U of C, Berkeley.
June 13, 1973: Bundy stayed at Mark Hopkins Motel in San Francisco.
Information regarding Bundy’s whereabouts on February 13, 1973, are sketchy at best. Our records indicate Bundy sent an application to the University of Utah Law School on February 15, 1973; Bundy received a $400 invoice for consultation services on February 15, 1973; Bundy received a $400 invoice for consultation services on February 28, 1973.
Information on Bundy’s whereabouts on March 24, 1974, is as follows:
(1)Checking account:
03/23/74 Safeway Foods, Seattle
03/25/74 PEMCO, Seattle
03/25/74 Standard Oil
03/25/74 Two (2) deposits
03/26/74 University Bookstore, Seattle
03/25/74 43rd and Roosevelt, Seattle
03/26/74 Olympic Hotel, Seattle
The checks as well as credit card receipts possess Bundy’s signature.
Bundy’s lack of activity in February 1973 probably indicates he ran out of money or was imposing upon his Seattle girlfriend. Records for May 5, 1974, were also sparse and it turned out he was in Corvallis, Oregon – 265 miles from Seattle – killing Roberta Parks. (Author’s note: this is incorrect. Bundy abducted Kathy Parks on May 6, 1974.)
Bundy did have a San Francisco girlfriend who was the major reason he went to California. This girl’s identity has been kept quite confidential on our part. We wish to protect her from any press inquiries. However, if you see the need to contact her to further isolate Bundy’s activities in California, please contact FBI Agent Kathy McChesney in the San Francisco office. McChesney is my former partner who investigated Bundy with me and has also kept up a relationship with his (Bundy’s) girlfriend.
By the way, Bundy did have a beard for various periods of 1973. Leslie Perlov certainly appears to fit the profile of Bundy’s victims. Bundy was a frequent law library visitor throughout his prowling activities. (Author’s note: Incorrect in that Bundy was a regular visitor of the main student libraries on college campuses when he was hunting, and not law libraries. Law libraries may have been a part of it on rare occasions, and were probably spur of the moment events.) It may also interest you that Bundy used a sling and dropped books in front of a library as a scam to have girls lured to his parked VW Bug.
If I can be of fu
rther assistance, don’t hesitate to call (206) 344-2668.
Sincerely yours,
BERNARD G. WINCKOSKI
Det. ROBERT D. KEPPEL
Between July and August 1974, a female child of ten, a young girl of fifteen, and two nineteen-year-old women were murdered in Rawlins, Wyoming. The crimes remain unsolved to this day, and the remains of only one of the victims have been found. The authorities believe these murders were the work of one man. At one time they believed they had a promising suspect but because of the lack of evidence, no charges were ever filed against him, and that suspect died of a heart attack a number of years ago. This same individual they were looking at had previously been charged with the murders of two girls in another state, but the charges were dropped for a lack of evidence. Of course, Ted Bundy has been looked at concerning these murders, and it is true that he travelled through the state in March of 1975, and that he may have been within the boundaries (however briefly) of Wyoming on other occasions. That said, it seems unlikely he was in Wyoming that July/August of 1974, as July was a busy month for Bundy with the double abductions and murders from Lake Sammamish State Park on July 14, 1974, as well as other (and normal) activities he participated in.
The murders in Wyoming are often referred to as The Wyoming Rodeo Murders as many in local law enforcement believe they are related. Technically, however, they are listed as four different cases, and a brief synopsis of the cases is as follows:
On July 4, 1974, Carlene Brown and Christy Gross, both nineteen, attended the Little Britches Rodeo in Rawlins, Wyoming. Brown was a native of Rawlins, but Gross was from South Dakota, and according to information obtained by the police, the women had been living in hippie communes. Those who would tell the police that they had been seen at the rodeo had no answers as to how they may have gone missing. On October 27, 1983, the remains of Christy Gross were located in a field just outside Sinclair, Wyoming. Her skull had suffered fatal damage from two heavy blows to the head made by, authorities believed, a large rock. A ring she wore was also recovered at the site.
Exactly one month later, on August 4, 1974, Deborah Rae Meyer, fifteen, disappeared while walking to a movie theater in Rawlins and has never been seen again. On August 23, 1974, ten-year-old, Jayleen Banker, while attending the Carbon County Rodeo, became separated from friends and was never seen again.
Sheriff of Carbon County
Rawlins, Wyoming 82301
May 15, 1975
Detective Roger Dunn
King County
516 3rd Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98104
Dear Roger:
Enclosed are a few flyers on the missing females from this area that we are investigating.
Carlene Brown and Christy Rose have been known to live in hippie communes and are known pill poppers and smokers. Deborah Rae Meyer, as far as we can ascertain, is a pretty clean-cut girl and was a reliable employee at Gibson’s Discount Store here in Rawlins at the time of her disappearance.
Very truly yours,
Ed M. Tierney
Deputy Sheriff
What follows is a profile of the Washington State killer which came forth after the abductions and murders Bundy committed at Lake Sammamish State Park on July 14, 1974. Some of these are right on target while others are wildly inaccurate. Accompanying this information sheet was one of the composite drawings that came forth after Lake Sammamish and was based on eye witnesses at the park:
7-24-74
“TED”
Predator
1. Loner: see definition
2. Juvenile sex offense
3. Has a record – not the 1st time
4. Chronic sex-offender
5. Aggressive heterosexual offender
6. Might have girlfriends
7. Probably has been married
8. Peeper
9. M.O. on sex offenders
10. Sexual psychopath
11. Not a drugger
12. Usually steals an object from the victim
13. Sadomasochist
14. Combat duty in Vietnam
Four % of sex offenders look like it! The rest are normal looking.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Jerry Thompson Reports
I received the investigative case file of the murder of Melissa Smith directly from Jerry Thompson, lead detective for the Bundy case in Utah. While I have drawn from this report for my previous books on the case (and duplicating much of it for The Bundy Secrets: Hidden Files on America’s Worst Serial Killer), this single sheet was inadvertently left out as I believe it was shuffled into a stack of papers that had already been used, and therefore was mistakenly left out. What makes this single sheet so extremely important is that it includes an admission of guilt by Bundy to one of his housemates at 565 First Avenue in Salt Lake City. Also, I will be following it up with a file I will be using for the first time, and it contains many interesting tidbits about the investigation, interviews of witnesses, and case material from Utah.
On 11-26-75 a Chuck Shearer called County Attorney Dave Yocom and informed him that he was now residing at Scotty’s Motel on North Temple in Unit # 52. He stated that he had lived across the hall from Mr. Bundy for a few months; then he left town and since has come back and learned that Mr. Bundy has been arrested and that he may have some information about him.
Contact was made with Charles Shearer and his wife, Rosemary, at this apartment on 11-26-75. Rosemary’s mother and her 13-year-old sister were also present in the motel. A taped statement, which will be put in my case file, was taken from Mr. Shearer. It should be noted that an interview was made with both of these individuals some time ago, before Bundy was ever arrested at the apartment building at 565 First Avenue (Author’s note: Det. Thompson is referring to the October 1975 arrest – Bundy’s second incarceration – and not the August 16 arrest).
Since that time and since Mr. Bundy’s arrest, it appears that Mr. Shearer has decided to come forth with a little bit more information than he originally did before. A brief summary of that tape is that Mr. Bundy was drinking one night and was fairly well plastered (drunk) with Charles Shearer. And Mr. Bundy made the comment to Mr. Shearer that the police were looking for him (Mr. Bundy) in regards to his car, that it was used in the kidnapping of three girls in the Utah area.
In fact, Chuck states that Ted told him that he had abducted the three girls, as near as he can recall. When Chuck asked him, “What did you say?” he stated that Mr. Bundy did not comment any further and got off the subject and would not answer him. His wife Rosemary also stated that as near as she could tell, that’s exactly what he said.
Chuck Shearer also told of an incident between a girl and Bundy one night at 565 First Avenue:
One other item he mentioned is that they had a party or a get-together in his apartment one night. Ted just came walking in. A friend of theirs by the name of (Author’s note: I’m redacting her name), about 19-years-of age, living in the Kerns area (unknown exactly where), was lying on the bed. When Ted came in, he walked over to her and pinched her between the legs. She then got up and asked him what the hell was going on. She went back to Chuck and told him, “You sure have weird friends.” He states there was no other pass made by Ted other than that, and he would do numerous things like this, which they thought was very, very strange. For further details of this interview see the full taped statement.
Utah Detective Jerry Thompson interviewed individuals who knew Ted Bundy. Also of interest is a transcription of a recorded phone conversation that Jerry Thompson had with a sheriff’s deputy in another jurisdiction concerning the escape of Ted Bundy. It is also presented on paper as a normal Q&A report. All of the information presented here can be considered excellent backstory info, and to my knowledge, most—if not all—of this information presented here will be new to readers.
On 1-29-76, after thi
s detective received information from the FBI Laboratory, I contacted Bob Denning, the Undersheriff of Clear Creek county Sheriff’s Office in Denver, Colorado. He was informed with our findings and he was also asked to submit his hair samples to the FBI Laboratory in regards to the homicide of Shelley Robertson, which occurred in July of 1975. He stated that he would have them in the mail immediately this date, 1-29-76, and would notify me of any information that he received from them or anything else and requested that he be kept posted. Detective Bob Keppel from King County Sheriff’s Office in Seattle, Washington, was called by this officer and was also informed of our finding from the FBI Lab. He was also informed that they stated that they had not received his hair samples yet. He stated that he would apologize, that they had had a run around from a change in administration problems and that he guaranteed that they would be in the mail before the day was out. He also informed this officer that Mr. Bundy was in the Seattle area at this particular time and that he was under surveillance at different times. One time they would be on him and then they would back off a bit and go back and forth.
This same date, Mike Fisher from District Attorney’s Office in Aspen, Colorado, was called at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, by this detective and informed (him) of the lab information from the FBI Lab, as he is back there on a school and is due back in Colorado Friday night, 1-30-76. Mr. Fisher informed this officer that he would be getting back into Aspen Friday night; that he would immediately get with his people, and that he would set up a meeting, they would go over the case, and that he would get back to me just as soon as they came up with any information letting me know if there would be a warrant or if there would not be.
On 1-31-76, Saturday morning, Dave Yocom from the County Attorney’s Office contacted me and stated that he could not get ahold of Mike Fisher in Colorado. The information he got from the people in Colorado is that he did not get in on a flight Friday night and had not gotten in yet; that he had left word with them over there to have Fisher call as soon as he came in. At approximately 3:00 p.m. this same date I was called and contacted by Sheriff Whipple of Aspen, Colorado, who stated that he had not been able to get ahold of the District Attorney, Mr. Tucker, and that he would find out from them what their feelings were on the case; if they were going to issue on Mr. Bundy, he would get back to me no later than noon on 2-2-76, Sunday.
Ted Bundy's Murderous Mysteries Page 19