ANN RULE, TED BUNDY, AND THE CAPTURE OF THE GREEN RIVER KILLER

Ted Bundy was not looking forward to sitting in the Florida electric chair. As the execution time grew near, Ted tried confessing to his murders and dangling burial information to his jailers in exchange for extending his life on Death Row. The Florida Governor denied his offer to "confess" and the execution date remained unchanged.

However, fans of the Netflix show Mindhunter (great show!) know the story of the invention of the FBI Profiling Unit. FBI agents traveled to various prisons to interview various serial killers to learn about serial killers and their motives and characteristics. 

When authorities in Washington State were at a loss trying to find the "The Green River Killer" they approached Bundy for his take on what this killer might be like. Ted called him "The River Man". Read more about the story here.

 

Washinton Police with Green River Killer Gary Ridgway

How Ted Bundy Helped Catch the Green River Killer After being given death sentences in 1979 and 1980, Ted Bundy was on death row when murders started happening in Washington state in 1982. Investigators were stumped by the slayings around south King County, as young women kept disappearing and with their bodies turning up along the Green River. Ted Bundy is known as one of the most notorious serial killers in American history, 

having admitted to killing 36 women, but possibly having as many as 100 victims during his murdering spree in the 1970s. After being given death sentences in 1979 and 1980, Bundy was on death row when murders started happening in Washington state in 1982. 

 Investigators were stumped by the slayings around south King County, as young women kept disappearing and with their bodies turning up along the Green River. The murderer on the loose became known as the Green River Killer, but officials couldn’t track down his whereabouts — until they were offered assistance from none other than Bundy, who gave them insight into the mentality of a serial killer. Eventually, with Bundy's help, Gary Ridgway was caught and admitted to his 49th murder on February 18, 2011, with actual estimates being closer to 80 victims. 

Crime Writer Ann Rule

In the late 1980s, my assistant Marjie, /told me about her cousin True Crime author Ann Rule. I became addicted to reading Ann's many books. 

Then, when email became the big thing in the late 1990s I struck up an email friendship with Ms. Rule. She had worked with Ted Bundy at the Suicide Hotline then helped get him arrested and spoke with him when he was in prison. Ann wrote the first book on Ted Bundy, "The Stranger Beside Me". Great book! Then she spent 20 years patiently waiting for the Green River Killer to captured. Those two cases we chatted online about for years.  Ann Rule was instrumental in both of these cases and someone needs to make a film about her life! Heads up ID Network and Netflix!