Elizabeth Kendall dated Ted Bundy for five years but never once thought her boyfriend was one of America's most prolific serial killer. While she was at home dreaming about marrying Bundy, he was out kidnapping, raping, and murdering dozens of women.
Kendall was shocked when he was arrested in 1978. Their relationship, which lasted from 1969 until 1974, was already over by then but she was the person Bundy called from prison. That was when it all came out.
Looking back at that "awful" time, Kendall admitted she really struggled to come to terms with the truth.
"I still have a sense of disbelief that this man that I loved and that seemed to be a great guy could go out and do such horrific things," she said in an interview with ABC News’ Amy Robach for a "20/20" special, according to Fox News.
"It’s just so hard to accept. I always felt loved. But with Ted, it’s impossible to tell. It could’ve been love; it could’ve been just another manipulation. I hate to even say this because it makes him sound normal, but I do think he loved us."
The two met at a bar in Seattle. Kendall was a single mother at the time and was intrigued by Bundy.
"I saw him sitting at a table," she said. "I went over and talked to him because I told him he looked lonely."
They immediately hit it off and for a while things seemed perfect. Bundy was loving and caring toward Kendall and her daughter, Molly, and "put a lot of energy" into making them happy.
"He always seemed to embrace us as a family unit," Kendall recalled. "I loved going to places with him. He was never at a loss for words, whereas I was on the shy side."
By 1974 their relationship began to become strained. Kendall said she noticed "subtle changes" that made her feel like she was losing Bundy, or that he was seeing someone else. Never in her dreams did she think her boyfriend was stalking, abducting and murdering women.
"There was no context for that," Kendall said, adding that there were red flags but she kept "talking herself out of it."
It was only after police nabbed Bundy in 1978, and he called her from prison, that the truth sunk in.
"It took him telling me himself that he had something wrong with him," Kendall said. "It was awful, and yet it took me so long to really fully accept that he did those things. Even after he told me that, I still was spending endless hours trying to figure out how this could be, how this man that I thought I knew could do these things. It was really a struggle."
For 10 years Bundy sat on death row. He confessed to killing 30 women between 1973 to 1978 in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Florida, according to Fox News. He was executed in 1989.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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