Original subtitles

Over four years,

a cruel, calculating predator terrorizes the United States.

It's up to three rookie detectives to hunt him down.

I think he actually enjoyed people who were dead.

Whatever it was inside him

was just building up and building up and building up.

Now, decades later, lead investigator Bob keppel

shares his extraordinary experience

of chasing one of America's most notorious serial killers.

Don't know.

Everything Ted Bundy did was a game.

Everything.

Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by discovery communications

June 1974. The pacific northwest.

In the last five months,

four female college students have vanished.

There really are no clues,

no theories as to the disappearance of the girls.

Fear spreads like wildfire

throughout Washington state.

30-year-old rookie homicide detective Bob keppel

is just two weeks into his new job

at king county sheriff's office.

After working one successful murder investigation,

he's now assigned the case of a fifth missing woman.

The Brenda ball case --

That was my first real case to be called out upon.

The 22-year-old was last seen

leaving the flame tavern in burien,

10 miles outside Seattle.

I contacted several people who knew her.

There was no trace of her anywhere.

A month into the investigation,

two more students are reported missing --

23-year-old Janice ott and 19-year-old Denise naslund.

Both were last seen on the same day

at lake sammamish, a popular beach

12 miles east of Seattle.

The cases are assigned to Bob keppel

and another rookie detective Roger Dunn.

Roger was a good partner to have

because he didn't mince words with anybody.

Although they don't know it yet,

the young detectives are on the tail

of one of America's most prolific killers.

In succeeding days, we were contacted by women

who had seen Janice ott walking with a male

wearing a sling on his arm.

So he had a special look to himself

that nobody else had there.

At least three people saw him come up

and talk with Janice ott.

They heard him say, "hi, I'm Ted."

Another witness also reports being approached

by a similar-looking young man,

who she claims tried to lure her to this car --

A vw bug.

But nobody can offer any information

on the other missing woman.

No one saw anyone approach Denise naslund.

She was gone.

The case makes headline news.

24-year-old Kathleen mcchesney,

one of only four female detectives in king county,

closely follows its progress.

At the time of these cases,

I wasn't that much older than the women

who ultimately became victims,

so I felt almost part of what was going on

in the college communities at the time.

Drawing from eyewitness testimony,

police release a sketch of the alleged perpetrator

from lake sammamish, a man they think is called Ted.

We had well over 500 calls a day coming in.

The problem is we couldn't be guaranteed

that the Volkswagen bug or the name Ted were real.

When we asked the women that were on the beach,

one of them heard the name Ted.

Another one heard the name ned.

And another one heard Fred.

So flip a coin.

Which one is it?

In terms of surveillance cameras,

people didn't have cellphones,

so at lake sammamish, for example,

if that were to occur today...

...you would have thousands of photographs

on a Sunday afternoon

that you would be able to get ahold of.

We had virtually a half a dozen or a dozen.

Keppel checks the whereabouts

of several well-known rapists and murderers

and turns up a promising lead.

John Paul Knowles was a serial killer

who was in a hotel right near lake sammamish state park

the week before the crimes occurred.

On September 7th, two hunters on a wooded hillside

two miles east of lake sammamish make a chilling discovery --

Human remains.

I was the one chosen to be kind of in charge of the search.

And we searched for maybe 10 minutes

and started finding bones.

What do you got there, Bob?

Just more bones so far.

Jawbones, as a matter of fact, aren't they?

Well, one kind of looks like a jawbone, yes.

Got teeth in it?

Yes.

The search lasts for a week.

It turns up 26 bones, including a skull and two jawbones

later identified as belonging to Janice ott and Denise naslund.

Bones of a third victim are also recovered,

but cannot be identified.

The bone fragments reveal the true horror of the crimes.

Have you ever seen anything like that?

No.

Guy's a psycho.

He's a pathetic screwball psycho.

What the hell's he doing to those women?

Would you stop talking about it, please?

That jawbone...

It was totally smashed.

He'd beaten her to a pulp.

What kind of sick mind makes you do something like that?

And why -- why is he doing something like that?

Just take it easy, Roger.

It's nuts.

I think Roger felt more personal responsibility

for not stopping the crimes.

And Bob approached it more from an investigator's standpoint.

So, he likes order, he likes conclusions to things,

and he doesn't talk about feelings.

The missing persons cases

of Denise naslund and Janice ott have now been designated

a large-scale homicide investigation.

It enabled us to think that we needed to look

more into other missing persons.

But every other missing person that could have been out there

at the time, we found alive.

But there were these few that were never found.

Over the next six months,

keppel expands his investigation

to include a further five missing women --

Lynda Healy, Donna manson,

Susan rancourt, georgann Hawkins,

and his original case, Brenda ball.

Could they have fallen victim to the same ruthless killer?

It wasn't a popular theory

that they were all abducted by the same person.

It had never happened before, so why would it happen then?

Since getting assigned the case seven months ago,

keppel and Dunn still have no hard evidence

pointing to a suspect.

And one of their best early leads has already gone cold.

The known killer in the area, John Paul Knowles,

had left town before ott and naslund's disappearance,

and there's another reason to exclude him.

The suspect was thought to be anywhere from 5'10" to 6'.

John Paul Knowles was closer to 6'6".

Despite Knowles being ruled out as a suspect,

keppel believes the cases are linked.

But to prove it, he needs evidence.

The problem is forensic science in the 1970s is in its infancy,

and DNA analysis hasn't been invented.

Dental records were the only way they could be identified.

For instance, Susan rancourt -- She had a bridge.

Brenda ball -- she had fillings.

So I had basically memorized the dental charts

of all known missing women,

so I knew quite a bit about what I was to find.

March 2, 1975, on Taylor mountain,

just 10 miles from where the first bones were found,

two forestry students stumble across a human skull.

Detective keppel is one of the first on the scene.

As soon as he sees the skull's teeth,

he knows the victim's name.

Brenda ball.

That same day, I found another skull,

which turned out to be Susan rancourt.

And then later on, we found a skull

belonging to Kathy parks from Oregon state university.

Remains of another victim later prove to be

that of 21-year-old college student Lynda Healy.

All four skulls had fracture marks.

The head injuries sustained

by the victims at both sites

confirm Bob keppel's worst fears.

It was a pretty good indicator

that they all suffered damage from the same person.

And that's not all.

The killer's not just dumping bodies.

He's decapitating them.

In the pacific northwest,

female college students are disappearing

at a terrifying rate.

What do you got there, Bob?

When decapitated bodies start turning up,

police realize they're chasing a crazed serial killer,

the likes of which has never been known before.

It's unreal and it's a nightmare

and nothing in anybody's manual would prepare you

for something like this.

Now, with remains found at two sites

and tips flooding in,

the king county sheriff's department recognizes

they need more man power to work the case.

Radio check.

A task force is established

with Bob keppel and Roger Dunn lead detectives.

There was nothing like this case

that I could find in the history,

anywhere in Washington state.

Since young women first began disappearing

13 months ago,

investigators have positively identified six bodies.

Only 18-year-old georgann Hawkins

and 19-year-old Donna manson remain unaccounted for.

In Seattle, fear grows that they, too,

may have fallen victim to the brutal predator

known to police as "Ted."

It was very hard to solve because we had nothing.

We had no good suspect that stood out.

Officers spend thousands of hours

trying to get their heads around the challenging case.

But just one month later,

the task force is disbanded with no real progress

having been made.

Keppel and Dunn are left with more than 3,000

possible suspects and no solid leads.

When their captain offers just one more detective

to assist them, they make a bold move.

They choose one of keppel's former trainees,

24-year-old Kathleen mcchesney,

a detective in the checks and fraud division.

She was eager to get out of checks and fraud

because that's a loser place if you're a detective.

There were certainly some men

who didn't think that women should be in law enforcement,

but Bob keppel is an individual who is focused on work,

and he doesn't care what his partner looks like.

He only cares how they act and the intellect that they provide.

Detective mcchesney offers the investigation

something incredibly valuable --

A female perspective on how the killer targets his victims.

This was someone who was very bright, very smart,

who had a little bit of the gift of gab

and able to convince someone to go with him.

Why do they keep falling for it?

I mean, why do they go off with an unknown guy -- this loser?

I think he... Loves women.

I think he knows what they want.

Women like that.

I'd like that.

I want to meet a nice guy.

At first, that's him.

The first killing is dangerous --

Scary, probably...

Exciting.

So he tries it again.

Is he gonna keep on killing?

Oh, he's hooked.

He can't stop.

Seattle in the 1970s was a pretty loose,

liberal sort of community.

People were more trusting and certainly less suspicious

of strangers than they are today.

But after the murders,

women were becoming afraid to go out,

afraid to talk to people,

afraid to do the kinds of things that they had done very safely

and without a thought prior to that.

She didn't show up to the final.

I talked to the professor the next day.

He said he was really surprised that she didn't show up.

Rumors circulate that the killer preys

on a particular type.

Victims were all women, of course,

of a certain age,

generally their late teens, early 20s.

But age and appearance

are only part of the killer's m.O.

The fact that he went to college campuses

and found victims was

because he was so comfortable in the college setting.

He knew how to talk to co-eds.

He knew how to approach them.

So that was his area.

That was where he did his work.

With no viable suspect,

the stress mounts on the lead detectives.

The media were surrounding us, seeking information,

but it wasn't just because it was sensational.

It was because the community really needed to know

what was going on.

This is a little different than most homicide cases

that we handled.

I don't know that people realize the burden that detectives have

or the responsibility or guilt.

I think that Bob was thinking about that all the time.

Working such an impossible, high-stakes case

in the glare of the media spotlight,

keppel, Dunn, and mcchesney are living in a pressure cooker.

But they refuse to lose hope.

I think people perhaps thought it was Un-solvable.

We never believed that.

I think one of these days we'll find him.

I can't tell you when, but we will.

But with so many potential suspects,

they're drowning in paperwork.

It was overwhelming, and in a case like that,

it's possible that you're gonna overlook something.

And that's your biggest nightmare.

Swamped by names, dates, car models, and alibis,

keppel realizes they have too much data to process.

Desperate to make sense of it,

he comes up with a startling idea.

I ran into the computer person,

and I started talking to him

about what could he do to help us.

I thought there was a chance

the computer could take all the names we had

and categorize them and link them together.

In 1975, with computers in their infancy,

it's a revolutionary concept.

We believe it was the first time computers

have been used in a criminal investigation.

Being able to use computers

was absolutely an essential part of putting that case together.

Now able to cross-reference owners

of vw bugs with up to 30 other sub-categories,

keppel and his team reduce their list

of potential suspects from nearly 3,000 to just 100.

Now they must Wade alphabetically through

the new computer-generated list,

eliminating suspects as fast as they can

before the killer strikes again.

We definitely wanted an alibi --

Something when it would prove whoever we were looking at

was not at lake sammamish on Sunday, July 14th.

It's a painstakingly slow process.

In two months, they eliminate only six names.

Incredibly, during that time, no more women go missing.

So, where is Ted?

Either the killer was dead or had moved on.

If the killer has fled Washington state,

his trail could easily go cold.

Then suddenly, the detectives catch a break.

You always hope that your offender makes a mistake.

Oh, I was convinced he was the right one.

After a year hunting a serial killer

known only as "Ted,"

king county detectives keppel, Dunn, and mcchesney

have two unexplained disappearances

and 94 possible suspects.

October 15, 1975.

A 28-year-old man is arrested

for the attempted kidnapping of Carol daronch,

an 18-year-old telephone operator.

Impersonating a police officer,

the man lured her to his car and attacked her

before she managed to escape.

His vehicle was a Volkswagen bug,

which was our suspect vehicle.

And there were some things about the description

that also reinforced it probably was this Ted person.

Has the ruthless killer made his first mistake?

Detectives immediately check the man's name

against their list of possible suspects.

Theodore Robert Bundy was Ted ♪7.

In his vehicle, there was a mask with eye holes cut out,

a crowbar, and a pair of handcuffs.

There were things that you would expect a serial killer to have.

Ted Bundy immediately becomes the prime suspect

in the Washington state slayings.

Still, investigators must check Bundy's alibis

against each of the six known murders.

They go straight to the person who knows him best --

His long-term girlfriend, Liz.

You know he's been charged --

Aggravated kidnapping.

No. That's not possible.

He wouldn't. You can ask anyone.

Liz...

Those are all the items found in his car.

Can you explain any of that?

No.

He didn't do anything.

I love him.

We're gonna get married.

I shouldn't even be here.

Is he violent with you?

No.

Once or twice.

Despite protesting his innocence,

Liz wasn't with her boyfriend

on the day that two young women went missing at lake sammamish.

And now it emerges that she had been wary of Bundy

since the first composite sketch was released in July 1974,

more than a year ago.

She was concerned when Ted started to demonstrate behaviors

that were unusual

and, in fact, to her words, somewhat scary.

She was among hundreds of other women

who had turned in their boyfriends as possible suspects.

After Liz called police

with a tip about her boyfriend,

they ran a background check on Bundy,

but found nothing suspicious.

Now they must dig deeper.

We began to investigate him.

We contacted everybody we could find

that had anything to do with him --

His professors at the university of Washington,

locations where he'd worked,

locations where he'd lived, his relatives.

Outwardly, Ted Bundy appears handsome,

charming, and polite.

Could this clean-cut 28-year-old former law student

really be capable of such atrocities?

Our son is the best son in the world.

We still don't believe it.

It just can't be.

I keep shaking my head day after day, saying, "how can this be?"

Everyone thought we were wrong.

I mean, when you have governors speaking on your behalf,

that helps you look like a good person.

But the fact that Ted was from Seattle

and had been in the Seattle area at the time of our cases

led me to believe that we had a really good suspect here.

We couldn't find anything that would eliminate him.

I think Ted Bundy was very successful

at separating the different parts of his life,

whether it was from women he was seeing, his professors --

They were never able to see the dark side of him

because Ted was a master manipulator.

I'll plead not guilty right now.

In November 1975, one month after Bundy's arrest,

Bob keppel travels to Aspen, Colorado,

to meet with detectives and prosecutors

investigating the murder of 23-year-old caryn Campbell.

Their prime suspect -- Ted Bundy.

We knew that if he got a conviction in Colorado,

it would strengthen our case,

and we'd be able to use their conviction in our courts.

Also in attendance

are detectives from Utah and California.

It's only when they compare case notes

that they realize the true extent of Bundy's crimes.

On march 1, 1976, Ted Bundy is found guilty

of the kidnapping and assault of Carol daronch.

He is sentenced to between 1 and 15 years

in Utah state prison.

He is also charged with the Colorado murder

of caryn Campbell after locks of her hair

were discovered in his car.

But while Bundy awaits trial, the unthinkable happens.

I received a telephone call that said,

"he's gone.

He's escaped."

On new year's Eve 1977,

while serving a sentence for attempted kidnapping

and awaiting trial for the murder of caryn Campbell,

Ted Bundy escapes from his jail cell in Colorado.

I called several people that I knew that knew Ted Bundy

and told them that they should call us right away

if they hear from him,

otherwise, I'd arrest 'em.

I told his mother that.

A nationwide manhunt is launched,

and Bundy shoots straight to the top

of the FBI's most wanted list.

Ted Bundy became a household name.

The media made him a folk hero.

There was something odd about it.

No one knows where Bundy is,

but detective Bob keppel is sure about one thing.

I absolutely thought that he would kill again.

It's been four days since the fsu murders occurred,

and the mood both on campus

and here in this usually peaceful city

is still one of apprehension.

The earmarks were there

that Ted Bundy was very likely the offender.

The deadly attacks on young women

in the university sorority house

displays a new level of bloodthirsty recklessness.

Four weeks later, he strikes again.

Only this time, his victim is much younger

than his usual targets --

12-year-old schoolgirl Kimberly leach.

That frightened a large number of people.

Ted Bundy -- He was in such a frenzy

because he had not killed for so long,

so whatever it was inside him

was just building up and building up and building up.

One week later, in pensacola, Florida,

police pull over a car with stolen plates.

The driver -- Ted Bundy.

It's an incredibly lucky break.

Bundy is arrested and put on trial for the Florida murders.

Theodore Robert Bundy.

Armed with eyewitness reports

and physical evidence tying him

to the sorority-house crime scene,

the prosecution's case is strong.

She had been beaten severely.

At trial, Bundy denies the allegations,

and ever the public showman,

the former law student even acts as his own attorney.

You watch Bundy's behavior throughout that trial,

and he was really enjoying himself.

Don't shake your finger at me, young man.

The sentence of this court -- That you, Theodore Robert Bundy,

be adjudicated guilty of murder in the first degree.

In July 1979, Bundy is convicted

on three counts of first-degree murder,

three counts of attempted murder,

and two counts of burglary.

A majority of the jury advises and recommends to the court

that it impose the death penalty upon the defendant,

Theodore Robert Bundy.

Do you understand?

Though Bundy receives the death sentence

for the Florida slayings,

there are dozens more unsolved murders,

including eight in Washington state

that detectives keppel, Dunn, and mcchesney

believe Bundy committed.

We felt disappointed that we weren't able

to get justice for those victims' families

in Washington state.

I know he murdered Denise,

and I-i hate him.

Oh, I was convinced he was the right one.

All I knew was I just needed evidence.

10 years later, as his execution draws near,

Ted Bundy asked to meet with Bob keppel face-to-face.

Hello, Bob.

Diabolical genius, deceptive, manipulative --

Words authorities used to describe Theodore Bundy.

The authorities also say Bundy's trying to head off execution

by confessing to some of the murders he's suspected of

and by hinting that he'll provide details

about the other killings.

I expected maybe he would stall things out, but no.

He wanted to talk about murder.

What did you want to tell me?

Now, 26 years later, Bob keppel listens

to 1989 audio recordings of his confrontation

with the monster that is Ted Bundy.

The "why" didn't matter

because the "why" never catches anybody.

Keppel questions Bundy about the unidentified victim

found at the issaquah crime scene.

The name Bundy gives

is one keppel has suspected for over a decade.

But her name is not enough.

Keppel needs more proof.

But the way he disposed of the body

is even more horrifying.

I just had to take it with a straight face.

I'm thinking about the next question.

He did what you call murder-rape.

Most people do rape-murder.

But he's different.

I think he actually enjoyed people who were dead.

As the only victim of his original eight

unaccounted for,

keppel fears Donna manson suffered the same cruel fate.

You're not gonna find her head.

Why not? Where is it?

As his execution draws near,

notorious serial killer Ted Bundy

agrees to confess his crimes to Bob keppel,

the detective who spent four years hunting him.

What happened to Donna manson?

What did you do with her?

You're not gonna find her head.

Why not? Where is it?

In Liz's fireplace.

Mm-hmm.

Don't know.

Maybe he's doing it to elicit some sort of response

that is about him and maybe gives him

continued control until the end of his life.

Everything Ted Bundy did was a game -- everything.

You could ask any medical examiner

if it's possible to do what he did with that skull.

Burn it all the way up?

I doubt it.

Though Bundy may be exaggerating

details of his heinous crimes,

keppel has what he needs.

He admitted to the eight murders in Washington state.

Still, Bundy has one final surprise in store.

How many did you kill in the northwest?

11.

11?

Well, I got eight.

The problem is that we didn't know

which three he was adding up

because we hadn't found any missing person cases,

and we definitely had not found any bodies.

Who were the others in Washington?!

What were their names?!

Give me more!

The conversation was now over.

You just signed your own death warrant.

He didn't give enough to me for me to speak on his behalf

to the governor of Florida.

The games are over.

One of America's worst serial killers

is finally going to get the punishment

many believe he deserves.

I would love to see him being drug to the electric chair.

Now, that may sound cruel, but that's exactly how I feel.

Now, in January of 1989,

15 years after Bundy started killing,

keppel finally closes the case.

He will never know whether there were

another three victims in Washington,

but his close encounter with Ted Bundy

leaves a lasting impression.

Bob was just shaken.

He said, "I think I witnessed the devil."

Bundy's execution was the 20th in the state of Florida

since the death penalty was reinstated.

Normally, a state execution is met with a storm of protest,

but as channel 7's Joan lovett reports

Bundy received little sympathy.

In the early hours of January 24, 1989,

Ted Bundy is executed by the state of Florida.

Outside the prison, thousands rejoice.

Bob keppel isn't one of them.

I had actually flown home from Florida,

and I went to bed.

And when I woke up, he was already dead.

I didn't have any feelings about it.

That's what his strong suit has been

is that he's been able to look at terrible, terrible things

and back off and look at it from the role of the investigator.

Otherwise, I don't think he could do his job.

The Ted Bundy investigation

is Bob keppel's second as a homicide detective,

but it's the first of 50 serial-killer cases

with which he will be involved over the course of his career.

The lessons that I'd learned in that case

helped me with every other case that I ever had to investigate.

Kathleen mcchesney went on to become

an executive assistant director at the FBI.

She gives much credit for her achievements

to her early mentors who took a chance

on a young, ambitious female detective.

From Bob keppel and Roger Dunn,

I learned you could have an impact on society.

You could have an impact on somebody's life.

And that's a real treasure --

A real gift to be able to do that.

Having helped convict and imprison

one of America's most notorious serial killers,

Bob keppel doesn't mince his words.

I could tell you how I teared up

and I felt really good and all that stuff.

That's not true.

None of that happened.

I was in the business of dealing with killers.

That's all it was.

No more.