This podcast details true crime cases. It contains adult themes and may contain descriptions of violence.

It is not intended for children. Listener discretion is advised.

Thank you for joining me for today's episode of Once Upon a Crime.

I'm your host, Esther, and you're listening to Ted Bundy for the Defense, a series where we peel back the carefully constructed image of one of the most infamous serial killers in American history.

This isn't the Ted Bundy of myth or media shorthand.

It's the Ted Bundy who believed he could talk his way out of anything, even murder.

In this series, we examined Bundy's insistence that he was his own best attorney.

Not once, but three times, he rejected legal counsel and chose to represent himself in court,

first for aggravated kidnapping and later for murder. Bundy was convinced that his calm demeanor,

intelligence, and charm could persuade judges and juries that he was not the monster that the

evidence suggested.

But what unfolded in those courtrooms told a very different story.

This is Chapter 2 of Ted Bundy believed he was in control.

He believed he had already survived close calls.

He believed his intelligence, his ability to present himself as calm, rational,

and professional, would continue to shield him from serious consequences. Most of all, he believed

that if he spoke confidently enough and looked respectable enough, authority figures would listen.

On August 16, 1975, that belief was tested when Bundy was stopped by police in Granger, Utah.

What began as a routine encounter quickly escalated when Bundy fled from the officer.

After his arrest, police searched his vehicle and discovered items that were deeply unsettling,

handcuffs, rope, a crowbar, and other burglary tools.

Bundy responded the way he always did, without panic, without hesitation, and without telling the truth.

...