Surviving Ted Bundy | Full Episode

in January 1978 I was 20 years old I lived in the Kega sorority house on the FSU campus in Tallahassee I was happy to be with my other friends and Florida State was just a safe place when I moved to the sorority house my classmate fourth was Karen Chandler when I was at FSU it was very relaxed it was just a great time the classes had been about a week and everyone moved into the house on Saturday January 14th I walked home and walked into this sorority and there were kids talking about you know where they're going tonight what are they doing who are they going out with what party and then I saw my book in the trunk and said you know I have a test on Monday I'm going to go ahead and stay home and study tonight my roommate Karen came to the same time and I had a sewing project I had to do so she sat on her bed next to mine and we talked for a while and then Kathy was tired so I just went ahead and decided to go to bed, maybe it was around midnight, maybe a little before midnight that night, I heard the door to our room burst open.

I was opening my eyes a little because it somehow brought me to Consciousness and I'm awake enough to know that there is someone there as I open my eyes more and focus, he raised his arm and had something in his hand. I thought it was a pipe or a stick. I didn't know what it was, it came down and hit me. my face felt like pins, needles and knives in my face my roommate Karen was now moving and he reached out and hit her. I'm still awake and I'm moving so he came back to my side of the bed and when I see him raise his arm and this bright light shined into our room and this light was the car of one of the sorority sisters coming home after a late appointment.

She got scared and left the room. The next thing I remember is the feeling of being carried downstairs and I remember asking if Kathy was okay and they said she was going to be okay, you have to worry about yourself. Our detectives tried to track down a man who slipped into most of the students here, terrified, they put me on the stretcher and there was All this noise was the lights of the police cars and the ambulance. Police say he simply entered through an open door. People were talking and the radio was squawking. They say he was armed with a heavy Oak L and I thought he was at a carnival. because my mind went somewhere where I could understand my name is Kathy Kleiner and I was attacked by Ted Bundy in the early morning hours of January 15, 1978.

I got a call and the call basically said Sheriff, uh, there are multiple murders and assaults on girls, uh. They told me it was at KY Omega's house. I was stunned before I could settle on criminal investigator Ken Casares as my role as Sheriff. I had to get over my personal thoughts about these could be my own daughters. I was there before Kathy Kleiner. and Karen Chandler were taken out on stretchers. I prayed for both of them as they passed me. I didn't know if they were dead or alive at the time when I was told that two had definitely passed away inside.

I knew I woke up in intensive care. I didn't have any sure idea why I was there, but I knew something bad had happened. He had at least one skull fracture. I think every bone in my face was broken and my jaw was broken. I had a broken arm and I had a couple of fingers on my hand, hand that was crushed, maybe I had been in my room for a day or two and my parents were afraid of what was going to be on TV, so my Dad said before turning on the TV, I need to tell you something and he told me about Lisa and Margaret Margaret Bowman 21 and Lisa Levy 20 had been murdered right down the hall from Karen Kathy's room at the sorority house, both of them.

They had been strangled, beaten and sexually assaulted. I can't imagine how horrible that was to hurt their parents and it was very difficult because I couldn't really express my pain and my sadness to their families my jaw was broken in three places here here and here um it was hanging from this jaw joint um it What did they do? They put my jaw back together and wired it shut in the hospital. Kathy couldn't remember anything about the attack. She says those memories have slowly come back to her over the years. I remember the detectives were in my room before my family showed up and asked.

He asked me questions but I couldn't help the detectives at all, it was just a big confusion, very big for me, but it turned out that Kyo Mega's house hadn't been the only crime scene that night we were out, uh, that night when all of a sudden I get a radio communication from the sheriff's office that something is happening at a duplex, a young girl who lived there alone and the next door neighbor heard some banging, some sounds, this is happening less than six blocks away away. I sent a The investigator there found Cheryl Thomas on the ground bloodied and had been brutally beaten.

Cheryl Thomas was a dance student at FSU, like the Kai Omega victims, she suffered serious head injuries and was taken to the hospital in a coma. I thought it might be the same. individual and I told him how we have such a police presence, how could that person walk a few blocks and attack again, it was inconceivable. I got a call from Colorado about a fugitive criminal named Ted Bundy. He was familiar with the name they said. Do you know Ted Bundy? I said I have heard of him Theodore Bundy, a suspect in the rape murder cases of at least 36 young girls, 6 rapes and murders mainly in the West.

In a period of 7 years, they said we don't know where he is. Bundy was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list and I wrote his name in a notebook in my car Ted Bundy was the first name associated with the Tallahassee murders Ted Bundy was known for attracting women with his charm and then kidnap or collect them. at a bus stop and I said: Can I give you a ride? I didn't think this Cas's method of operation was similar, except for an attack on girls, so I didn't take it seriously at the time when I woke up. at the Tallahassee hospital.

I couldn't really tell you who he was or where he was. I know I had a headache and my face was very swollen. My mom and dad had to tell me what had happened because I really didn't know. I couldn't remember what happened and they had to tell me the news slowly Cheryl you were attacked Cheryl's jaw was broken in two places her shoulder was dislocated and she had five skull fractures leaving her permanently deaf in her left ear I felt very grateful because obviously If not If I had had the two neighbors from the store next door to call that night when they heard me crying and a heartbeat sound, I know I wouldn't have done it.

He would not have survived when the news spread throughout the FSU community. Cheryl remained in the hospital. Karen recovered at her parents' home nearby and Kathy went to her home in South Florida. I was flown to Miami with my family, my parents took me to an oral surgeon and they had to reopen my jaw because it wasn't going to be aligned properly, so now I had to be wired shut for an additional 9 weeks. It was very depressing when you had your mouth wired shut, you always had to wear nail clippers on a necklace around your neck because if you ever start choking or something, you have to be able to cut the wires. and to be able to breathe while K Cathy and her

surviving

companions healed.

Sheriff Kasaris looked for ways to get away from the person who did this to them by looking for clues in non-traditional places. I did a personal examination of Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy when I examined them both. On the bodies I found what I think was the most significant evidence and that was a bite mark and that bite could potentially be compared to whoever we found, it was almost like I was leaving whoever it was a signature I think. Before tasse and FSU I was a dick, but that was like closing a door in a way that was the end of we're safe, that kind of evil that surrounded me that night, I couldn't understand it, it just seemed surreal.

It didn't seem possible that Innocence at Florida State had disappeared, the university had asked fraternities for volunteers and if a lady needed to go to the library or campus or anywhere, one of us would go and escort her to wherever she was. The men began to sleep in the hallways of the bedrooms. The police patrolled all the time during that month. No one knew if they were sitting next to the person who had committed the crime. I mean, if they couldn't tell you who did it and how. Could you tell us who didn't do it in January 1978?

The police were stumped although they had evidence of bite marks, they had no one to compare them with. A few weeks after the sisters' murder we had information that a 12-year-old boy... Old Kimberly Leech disappeared from her school, so we thought it might be possible, but it was a 12-year-old girl that we are with dealing with college students in a sorority. Kimberly Leech disappeared from Lake City more than an hour away. His body was later found in a nearby park. Fear of the unknown attacker pervaded the area until news broke of an arrest in Pensacola. There was something on television when the news came.

Police arrested this 31-year-old man after a chase. at high speed Wednesday morning in Pensacola, Florida, he claimed To be a Florida State University law student, Pensacola police had pulled over a slow-moving Volkswagen Beetle and the mystery driver refused to give his name and He found out, of course, that the vehicle was stolen from a location near the sorority house in that Volkswagen found dozens of IDs and credit cards that had been stolen in Tallahasse in the previous weeks. The ID came back: it was Ted Bundy. The moment I heard Ted Bundy, I had the flashbacks, of course, of the phone call and that's exactly what if we had had Ted Bundy, who came to our town, if those who link him to dozens of sex slings have reason, Theodore Robert Bundy is one of the most savage murderers in history, Mr.

Bundy had been a very prolific serial killer for many years, it is very unusual that Mr. Bundy left a survivor Ted Bundy's murder spree out west ended when he went to prison in 1976, but in late 1977 he escaped and headed to Florida Florida St. Immediately after his arrest, he became a suspect in both the FSU and Kimberly leech attacks, we know he got here somewhere around January 2018. He rented a room in a boarding house adjacent to the Florida State University campus. Bundy was at his home on a college campus at the time of his crimes. West Bundy had attended college and even law school.

When Mr. Bunny was in school he took jobs working for political campaigns and apparently did an extraordinarily good job. There was absolutely no indication that he was the serial killer who eventually It turned out to be his charm. he's not stupid his intelligence his charisma everything about him made him different from all the other serial killers the first photo I saw of Ted Bundy after he was arrested he didn't look like a serial killer he looked normal the survivors learned more about who Ted Bundy was he was and the brutality of the crimes he was suspected of having committed.

His story was a shock. I think when I found out about those women it was immensely sad. There are all these families devastated in the months after the attacks while Florida authorities were. building their case, the survivors slowly began to move forward with their lives for Karen Chandler, which surprisingly meant returning to Kaio Mega's house when I returned, they gave me space, it wasn't like they treated me like special china. doll to which they could T. I felt that everyone treated me more or less as they had treated me before, so life continued as if I had never left.

Cheryl, the former dance student, now suffered from balance problems and didn't know what she was like. In the future it would seem that she knew she couldn't hear again, but I asked the neurologist if she would one day be able to dance again. He said that was totally up to you, so I knew I had the choice to train my body again or I won't dance again. I made the decision. I was going to go back and get my degree. Cheryl moved to Texas and studied ballet at another university, but for Kathy life took a different turn.

Life changed completely for me. I didn't go back to university. I got married 6 months after the attack, my parents thought I needed someone to take care of me and to make sure no one came in the middle of the night and attacked me again and I was fine with that, but no matter how much they wanted to. They couldn't leave Bundy behind to bring him to justice. They needed to come face to face with his attacker. We wanted more than anything to make sure this was the guy who did it. We want him locked up because he will never get the chance. to hurt another woman FBI agents and Florida police are questioning a man named Theodore Robert Bundy and every dayAs the media becomes increasingly fascinated with alleged serial killer Ted Bundy, he will remain in Pensacola under tight security until authorities can determine if he will. being charged with the Florida State University murders I feel like they were so focused on Ted Bundy, and I'm sure Ted Bundy enjoyed the media that they forgot about the women When Florida authorities investigated Bundy, they first asked why their method of attack would have changed.

Usually he was organized, planning to pick up and then kidnap the young woman and here it was obvious that he had become disorganized. They developed a theory that Bundy had originally stockpiled and targeted Cheryl Thomas. There was a guy I had seen riding his bike near my house. Ted Bundy looks like him, so sometimes I wonder if maybe it was him. I had no doubts about that location and we believed that Mr. Bundy went to Cheryl Thomas' residence and when he got there there was apparently a car that he had broken down. right in front and there was a man there working on the car, he found that he got a little scared, then he went to Kyle Mega's house and when his attack on the brotherhood was interrupted, Bundy returned to Cheryl's house, you know, I compared Ted Bundy with a killing machine like a shark because the shark just feeds frantically on whatever is available just as if the shark had the need to eat he had the need to murder his case escalated with a witness who put Bundy on the spot. sorority house one of the sisters um kega Nita ner came home that night after going on a date, she walked in through the back door of the sorority house and saw a man coming down from the upstairs area by the stairs.

It would have been unusual for Nita to see a man because no man was allowed upstairs in Shorty's house. She didn't see him from the front, but she saw a profile, opened the front door and immediately left the sorority house. Neri identified Bundy from a lineup, and as the case built up, investigators still having that key piece of evidence to analyze, we drafted a search warrant to search Mr. Bundy's home. mouth and obtain models of his teeth to compare with the impression of the bite mark left. The search warrant for his mouth was probably the first in the history of the nation, so I went to his cell one night, told him he'd come with me, and he went. with me to my dentist's office, the doors opened, he saw we were in a dental office, he immediately started yelling where is my lawyer, I want my lawyer, you can't do this, he knew exactly what we were going to do once we did it we read the search warrant for his mouth he realized we could use the Force he sat in the dental chair he opened his mouth he said do what you have to do Ken you know I'm not a violent person the state asked four dental experts to compare the Bundy Matching the marks, the four concluded that Mr.

Bundy was the one who left the bite mark. We were sure to go to the grand jury with the evidence we had. Last night there was an indictment after a brutal crime in Tallahassee, Florida. and what was unusual about the accusation was how it was delivered. I have copies of the indictment to give to each of you. We got the print media, the radio, the television media, to come out, Mr. Bundy, and they were able to see the reading of the indictment that night, what do we do? here you have Ken, let's see, you always say an accusation, okay, why don't you read it to me, let's read it, come on?

Theodore Robert Bundy, you are charged with two counts of robbery in the uh, two counts of first degree murder, three counts of attempted. first degree murder I was obviously not very happy I didn't let that stop me He said Theodore Robert Bundy assaulted Karen Chandler I Kathy Kleiner It's not surprising that the former law student took an active role in his defense Mr. Bundy took statements from the Witnesses in the case itself are highly unusual, but Mr. Bundy had legal training. I think he was acting like the lawyer he always wanted to be, since he didn't remember anything about the attack.

I think that was helpful, but my feeling at that time I don't want to show him any fear because I don't want him to think anything about him it bothers me it's under my skin it scares me he was sitting there um looking at me and I looked at him and I didn't I didn't take my eyes off him of him and he had a smile on his face that made me feel sick to my stomach, but he also knew that I was leaving and he wasn't and that gave me some power. I felt like he had done my job.

He had answered his questions and I hope I didn't give him any satisfaction. Months passed as the case moved toward trial in Miami. Kathy Kleiner struggled to get back out into the world after I was attacked. She was afraid of men. It was something that I didn't want to be controlled and I went to work in a sawmill because I thought that's where I would see more men and it worked, that experience helped me a lot. Kathy would soon need that new found confidence. The survivors were ready to testify against Bundy, but this time his life was in their hands knowing that I was going to have to testify.

I think I just needed to be determined and know that this was going to happen and be as prepared as possible. I could that's why we looked into each other's eyes once again and I stared at him. Why do you think people are so fascinated with Ted Bundy? For more information about the case, visit Facebook within 48 hours. I think I always knew I was going to have to testify in court, if it went to trial, which camera goes to the fourth floor, get away from here, you know you shouldn't be here, excuse me, there was a total media circus, we will be with prosecutor Larry Simpson and it was the first. important case that was actually broadcast live evaluating it as it unfolded in the courtroom only one camera fixed on the tripod records the courtroom proceedings its 20 television crews from around the country have been covering the trial get a first look row you can get everything there I think Mr.

Bunny was playing for the cameras Robert, my name is, he had a lot of fun at the trial. Bundy again took an active role in his defense team. Z, participate in this motion by participating in his own defense. Bundy and his lawyers hoped to convince the jury that he was intelligent, articulate and innocent. A victim of circumstances. Bundy had a lot of interaction with the judge. He argued his own motions as well as a lawyer. I think young women definitely filled the courtroom every day to watch. the accused star every time he turns around I have that feeling that no, no, you know he's going to be the next one to get me, since the lead prosecutor, Larry Simpson, felt pressure at or near the cause of death to make sure that Bundy was removed from the cases forever. west were not particularly strong cases we know we needed to finish the job in Florida the survivors also felt that pressure when Cheryl Karen and Kathy took the stand I felt it was important for the jury to see a real person who had been subjected to what Ted Bundy had five skull fractures and multiple contusions to the head.

It was just my mission to tell my story and I didn't really want to look at him, I didn't want to talk to him, I didn't want anything. what to do with him, the defense asked if this is the man you saw attacking you that night in your room at Kai Omega and I had to say I don't know because I never saw his face. I wanted to help put the nail in that coffin. He walked away to help the other girls who couldn't do it. I couldn't help and she was intervening. Although survivors were unable to identify Bundy from that night, someone else might need the sorority sister to come forward.

Do you remember the man you saw? on the doorstep of Kyle Mega's house on the morning of January 15, 1978 Yes, I do, could you point it out to us? Please, man in the dark suit with a red IT. Perhaps the prosecution's most damning evidence was the bite mark left by one of the victims. This is a photograph of the bite mark and as you can see there is a ruler in place and this is what the forensic dentist did in court. They made the mark. In fact, you can place this model directly in the photo and you're done.

He lay there like that and then turned his head slightly and did it again. He fits like a glove, but bite mark analysis was a new and relatively uncertain science and the ever-smiling Bundy seemed confident. When the trial came to a close, of course, he was worried. when he went to the jury, but I knew in my heart and from the evidence that was there that he was the one who really murdered my friends, the jury was out a little less than 7 hours and he came back to Verdi with the jury. I am the accused. He is charged guilty, the verdict that he was guilty on all charges was convicted and now, any sentence he received couldn't be bad enough as far as I'm concerned, it's ironic that he ended up in Florida because we were a very active death .

The death penalty state imposes the death penalty. He was sentenced to death on my birthday. I don't think the death penalty should be something you want or don't want, but if it had come out, there would be women who were going to die. I don't have any ideas. Doubt in my mind after the FSU trial. Bundy was also convicted of murdering 12-year-old Kimberly Leech and received another death sentence after he finished the trial. I felt like it was all going to end and I wouldn't be on the news or in the news again. or anything, but that didn't happen, it was probably crazy for me to think that while Bundy was on death row, his notoriety only grew.

Books and television shows appeared focusing on his good looks and charm rather than rejecting him. Kathy decided to accept it. I read everything I could about Ted Bundy and watched all of his movies because I think learning about him helped me move on because I just wanted to disassociate myself so that he was no longer a part of me in 1981, 3 years after the attacks Kathy had a son , Michael. She didn't want her to know that she was afraid of being attacked. She just wanted to be a normal mother with a normal child. One night I was putting him to bed and he looked at me. and he touched my face and told me mommy what happened happened right there in your face and I told him that a bad man came into my house one night and had hurt me you just don't understand that at a young age you don't understand it I really understand it , but you kind of understand it and you feel like you know I'm not going to let anyone hurt you.

I felt it was important to keep her safe. She was such a loving person. How could anyone do that? I'm sorry and I. He thinks in his mind that he always thought it could happen again and that it would be there. You know, to help my mom. How do you deal with traumatic events? For more information on Kathy Kleiner's Survival Story, visit 48 hours.com for most of the 1980s Ted Bundy sat on Florida's death row appealing his convictions at the time Kathy Kleiner was divorced and focused on his young son Michael. I was a single mother for 5 years and he and I grew up together, we are very, very close.

My mom was the most loving, affectionate, happy person, she never let what happened to her affect her. Kathy had grown accustomed to projecting a tough exterior, but that softened in 1987, when an old high school friend came back into her life over the years, I thought. about Kathy from time to time Kathy is very special and you could tell she was very special back then so I called him and he came over one day for lunch on a weekend and basically never left. I mean, I felt Kathy's energy right away when we first met. They saw each other, it was just her smile and she really looked into your eyes and happy eyes, all of that together was like a boom when Kathy told me a little bit about Ted Bundy's attack, she just blew my mind and she was crying .

I wanted to take away all her pain and you couldn't take away this pain in her family. Kathy found happiness and leaned on them for support when Bundy's appeals finally ran out. In the end he was negotiating for her life and began to confess. murders he confessed to 30 murders and now he was trying to give information but it was vague I will tell you where more women are buried please don't kill me and I imagine those were the last words he heard from his victims please Don't kill me, the serial killer Ted Bundy was scheduled to die in Florida's electric chair at 7:00.

There was an atmosphere of public hanging as hundreds of death penalty supporters gathered when it happened, we got a call, we had the TV on and at that moment we saw the white flag that they hold and wave when someone has been electrocuted. Scott and I were sitting on our little couch and in my condo and I cried and cried and cried for all the victims who didn't get to see as much after

surviving

. Ted Bundy Cathy is speaking publicly about his experiences in hopes that she can help others. I think telling my story has helped me heal, but I feel like it also helps people to know that I went through something so horrible and came out of it.

On the other side, I want people to know, no matter what they've been through, that they can do it too. There is no one way to heal from trauma. Karen and Cheryl feel like they've talked about Ted Bundy enough. I was avictim until I left that hospital I was a Survivor until he was executed, we came up with something that after that is no longer a part of me I want to be more than Cheryl Thomas who was attacked by Bundy I just want to be Cheryl Thomas I got married and I had two wonderful children.

I earned my master's degree from Galludet University and worked with the hearing impaired and dance. I have had a marriage of 40 years. I have two wonderful children who support themselves. I have three wonderful grandchildren. Not really. Think more about Bundy Cathy's journey takes her back to Tallahassee for the first time in over 40 years. She has come in part to thank former Sheriff Ken Kasaris. Kathy is someone I have thought about over the years and someone who has a good memory. Here, yes, I will see you again. I can not believe it. Thank you very much, right?

I really want to do this. This is something I needed to do together. Kathy and Ken return to Kai Omega's house totally different, it's strange. The Swy house looks so different that it doesn't bother me like I thought and your room was in the back, that's right, it's nice to be here. I'm fine and I'm with Ken, so he's given me strength. Good thank you. Through everything that happens in life, you have to keep at it. This case is probably about over a hundred victims who lost their lives because of Mr. Bundy. As time progresses, the hope is that it is the women, not Bundy, who will be remembered. to be glorified, it is doomed, they were important people, they were people like me, they lived and breathed, people who had futures and they are gone and we only remember this inhumane thing for Kathy and Karen, the sorority sisters they lost are always with them, I think in them from time to time when I'm with my grandchildren or when I had children I wonder what their lives would have been like what they would have done I feel that because I survived Ted Bundy and there were so many victims who didn't I don't I want to take advantage of the opportunity they gave me and not take advantage of it.

I want to make sure I keep going for them. Ted Bundy confessed to at least 30 murders, but it is believed that he may have killed more than a hundred women in at least six. Statedid a massive renovation project on a couple's home that led to the murder. Did you guys argue? Is it possible that without this house Shanti would still be alive? I think that's completely true. Coming 48 hours on CBS