The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History by Kevin M. Sullivan Page B

light, barely discernable, yet it would be the one bit of evidence that finally gave this case its first real clue as to the killer's identity.
    There were just too many witnesses to this apparently nice man with a sling on his left arm needing help with his sailboat. Although Sammamish did not yield any physical evidence for authorities to use, it did give them a name, maybe. He had identified himself as "Ted," and he drove a light brown (or tan) Volkswagen Beetle. There was always the chance he hadn't used his real name, but it was all they had to go on. Yet their assumption was correct. His full name was Theodore Robert Bundy, most recently a law student at the University of Puget Sound, and very much a rising star in the Washington State Republican Party. An unlikely candidate at first glance for serial murder, to be sure. But his uncovering would come later. It would be another fifteen months before his unmasking, so he still had a good deal of time left in that shadow world, a world in which he was able to move about quite freely and kill at will.

    So why did he so foolishly use his name at Lake Sam? Well, it is possible he did this to cover his actions, should he be seen by someone he knew. He had come to the lake a week earlier when a much smaller crowd was there, yet he ran into some friends, and out of politeness stopped awhile and had a beer with them. Why was he even at the lake that day? In my opinion, he was either doing a dry-run in preparation for the double abduction the next week, or he may have been seeking a victim. So he understood the possibility of discovery was very real, and he would need to take measures to camouflage his actions. How would it look if he were leading a young woman to the parking lot, only to be stopped by someone he knew who was calling him by his real name? He could break off the abduction at that point, but if the girl said something like "I thought your name was [whatever]" it would raise suspicions with his friends. This is why Bundy would occasionally allow himself to be seen by those who knew him with a cast or sling on his arm. He understood there was a real possibility of someone seeing him, maybe not in Olympia, or Ellensburg, but in Seattle, the hub of his life. And so, if a friend or coworker were to mention seeing him fumbling with a briefcase while on crutches (as someone did in the U District in June), or having a hard time carrying books with one arm in a sling, that person might think, "Oh yeah, Bundy injured his arm recently," and quickly forget about it.
    It is also important to realize that the press, before the attack at Lake Sam, was giving the public sporadic doses of information about the odd happenings around the state, based on what it was getting from the authorities. There were no conclusive answers as to where the young women had gone, so it was still a matter of speculation. However, even without the recovery of the body of even one victim, the authorities knew what they were facing. They couldn't admit what they really believed to an anxious, hand-wringing public, whose fears were already on the upswing: "As you know, we have a killer on the loose. No college-age females are safe, we can't protect you, and oh, by the way, he hasn't left a single clue behind, so it's unlikely we'll ever catch him until he does." To say such things would sound ridiculous, yet it wasn't far from the truth. The investigators were working very hard, but thus far, to no avail.
    Now however, with the arrival of "Ted," the police had something to go on, even if he did drive one of the most popular cars of the time. Enlisting the help of the public, the police asked for anyone with information concerning this person to please come forward. The public was also encouraged to mail or drop off at the station any photographs taken at the lake that day. With any luck, police believed, they just might locate a picture of the killer in action.
    Although this double abduction fell under