Ted Bundy for the Defense – Part One: Beginnings
From Once Upon A Crime by Esther Ludlow
January 20, 2026 · 25 min · Episode 373
About this episode
This episode examines the early crimes of Ted Bundy and the investigation leading to his first conviction.
In Ted Bundy for the Defense: Part One , we examine the earliest confirmed crimes of Ted Bundy and the investigation that led to his first conviction. This episode follows Bundy’s documented attacks beginning in 1974, starting with the brutal assault of Karen Sparks and the murder of University of Washington student Lynda Ann Healy. As young women continue to disappear across Washington State, investigators begin to notice a disturbing pattern—college-aged victims with similar physical characteristics, abducted under similar circumstances. We track Bundy’s movements from Washington to Utah and Colorado, including the Lake Sammamish abductions that introduced the “Ted” suspect and his relocation to Utah as law enforcement closed in. The episode details the disappearances and murders of Nancy Wilcox, Melissa Anne Smith, Laura Aime, and others, highlighting how Bundy’s crimes escalated while investigators struggled to connect cases across state lines. Part One also explores Bundy’s personal life and psychology—his unstable academic career, rejection from elite law schools, political ambitions, and turbulent romantic relationships—and how these failures fueled a growing sense of…
People in this episode
Host: Esther Ludlow
Topics covered
- Ted Bundy
- true crime
- investigation
- criminal psychology
- abductions
- murder
Keywords
- Ted Bundy
- true crime
- abduction
- murder
- investigation
- psychology
- Washington State
- Utah
- Lake Sammamish
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Washington
Places: Washington State, Utah, Colorado
More episodes of Once Upon A Crime
- Ted Bundy for the Defense - Part Four: Reckoning · March 3, 2026 · 29 min
- Ted Bundy for the Defense - Part Three: Unhinged · February 24, 2026 · 28 min
- The Other Ted Bundy: Suspicion, Denial, and the Warnings That Came Too Early · February 10, 2026 · 15 min
- Ted Bundy for the Defense - Part Two: The Mask Cracks · February 3, 2026 · 25 min
- Bonus Episode - Bill Mann - “The Black Dahlia” follow-up interview - The Suspect · January 27, 2026 · 42 min
- Ted Bundy for the Defense - The Myth on Trial · January 13, 2026 · 14 min
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