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Ted Bundy was one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. He is accused of abducting, r*ping, and brutally murdering dozens of women during the 1970s. Elizabeth Kendall was Ted Bundy's partner whom he started dating back in 1969. At the time she was a divorced mother working as a secretary for the University of Washington medical department.
She had recently moved to Washington after graduating with a Business degree from Utah and was struggling with alcohol dependency. When the couple started dating, Elizabeth had plans of raising a family with him. However, things changed in 1974, when Ted went on a massive killing spree.
Elizabeth saw a newspaper description of the killer, mentioning the name Ted, and realized that the description matched her boyfriend. However, she stayed with Ted, convincing herself that her suspicions were wrong. When she finally alerted the police, she was ignored.
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Kendall later wrote about her life in a memoir The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy, published in 1981. The book became the inspiration for the 2019 biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.
Her book was republished on January 7, 2020, with an additional chapter by Ted Bundy's stepdaughter Molly. As of now, Elizabeth Kendall has been sober for forty-four years, overcoming her past hardships. She narrated her experiences in Amazon Prime's Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer which was released on January 30, 2020.
Elizabeth had no idea what Ted Bundy would turn into
Ted Bundy was arrested for his crimes and executed on January 24, 1989. Twenty years before, in October 1969, Elizabeth Kendall met Bundy while hanging out in a bar named Sandpiper Tavern in Seattle. Ted at that time, was studying psychology at the University of Washington.
He was well-dressed and drove a Volkswagen Beetle, which immediately made a good impression on the young woman. He invited her to dance, and the two eventually found an immediate connection, and soon Ted invited her to meet his parents. They wanted to get legally married in February 1970 but decided against it due to a fight.
Elizabeth stayed with Bundy, and two years later she got pregnant with his child. She knew she had to terminate the pregnancy, with Ted's changing attitude towards her. She confessed that Ted was verbally abusive to her, even threatening to break her neck.
The pair dated from 1969 to 1974, but Elizabeth and her daughter Molly had very little idea that Ted Bundy was a murderer. His crimes began with stealing little things, to sneaking into other's houses, then moved towards abduction, rape, and murder.
His process was to lure young women to isolated areas, before making them unconscious, sexually molesting them, and then murdering them. Elizabeth's suspicion began to grow when she saw the description of the serial killer in a local newspaper, that resembled her boyfriend. The description mentioned that the culprit's name was Ted, and he drove a Volkswagen Beetle.
As per an Esquire article published on January 31, 2020, Elizabeth reported that she saw a plaster of Paris in Ted's drawer, which matched the suspect's casted arm. It was used by Ted, as a blunt weapon to make his victim unconscious. She also found a hatchet in his car, that he defended to have used to chop a tree in his parent's cabin. It was on August 8, 1974, when she informed the Seattle Police that her boyfriend matched the suspect's description, but she was not taken seriously by the law enforcement.
Elizabeth and Molly decided to speak out about their experiences
Before Ted's execution, the two still exchanged phone calls and letters while he was in prison. She found it hard to believe that her partner was a cold-blooded criminal. Elizabeth even accompanied his parents on Ted Bundy's trial in March 1976, for the kidnapping of Carol DeRonch, the woman who managed to escape him.
She soon began to drink heavily. In 1981, she wrote The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy, but the memoir didn't get enough public attention. When Ted became one of the most wanted criminals in the entire country, people started paying attention to her book. In her memoir, Kendall writes about one time when Ted admitted that he tried to kill her.
Elizabeth in a conversation with Vanity Fair, published on January 31, 2020, opened up about coming into the spotlight after years of keeping distance from public scrutiny. It was in 2017 when she shockingly discovered that a film was being made on Ted Bundy's life from the perspective of his partner. Elizabeth looked into it with her attorneys and came into a collaboration with the producers.
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile was directed by Joe Berlinger. Its screenplay was adapted from her memoir. Berlinger, along with Lily Collins (who played the role of Elizabeth) had a conversation with Elizabeth and her daughter. The movie was released on May 3, 2019, and distributed by Netflix.
On January 30, 2020, Amazon Prime Video came with a docuseries named Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer. Directed by Trish Wood, the crime thriller consisting of five episodes finally gave Elizabeth the chance to speak her story in her own voice.
It's been 44 years since she recovered from her alcohol addiction. Even after all these years, she continues to feel fortunate, that she and her daughter survived a serial killer.
Viewers can watch Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer on Amazon Prime Video.
